Legendary¹ French fashion designer Pierre Cardin has died at the age of 98, France's Fine Arts Academy announced on Tuesday in a statement on Twitter.

 

法兰西艺术院周二（12月29日）在推特发布声明表示，法国传奇时装设计师皮尔·卡丹去世，终年98岁。
 

 

"The Perpetual Secretary, Laurent Petitgirard, and the members of the Academy of Fine Arts are deeply saddened to announce the death of their colleague Pierre Cardin. He had been elected on 12 February 1992 to the chair of Pierre Dux," the Fine Arts Academy said.

 

His creations adorned² many stars of the day, among them Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Jeanne Moreau, Jackie Kennedy, Charlotte Rampling, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

 

Cardin was among the first designers to capitalize on the business side of fashion, becoming a household name thanks to powerful branding.

 

He also broke with tradition through his futuristic designs -- and by producing landmark³ unisex and ready-to-wear collections at a time when both were effectively unheard of.

 

Cardin was born in 1922 in San Biagio di Callalta, a small town in northeast Italy about 20 miles from Venice. He was born Pietro, but he became known as Pierre after his family relocated to France to escape fascism two years later.

 

As a young man, his first steps into fashion coincided with a move to Paris, where he worked on the costumes of Jean Cocteau's film version of "Beauty and the Beast." In 1946, he was hired as a tailor by his subsequent mentor⁴, Christian⁵ Dior, who had just opened his couture house in Paris.

 

Four years later, at the age of 28, Cardin founded his own eponymous fashion brand, first designing theater costumes, then moving into haute couture in 1953.

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