Pierre Cardin was seen expanding his empire globally, moving into once closed markets and selling hundreds of licences to make himself the undisputed king of designer merchandising. Photo: AFP
Pierre Cardin, who died Tuesday (Dec 29) aged 98, was a man of many paradoxes – a designer who sought flamboyant yet simple styles, an aesthete with a head for business, and a futurist now associated with retro.
He rose to the pantheon of France's post-war fashion giants only to shake it all up by leading what was in the 1950s a revolutionary concept – designing "ready-to-wear" collections for the high street.
