New Book Explores Pierre Cardin’s Early Years, Links With Japan – WWD – Pen 18

Centenary Man: With the 100th anniversary of Pierre Cardin’s birth coinciding with the birth, a new book sheds light on the late couturier’s early years, leading up to the launch of his revolutionary Space Age collection Cosmocorps in 1964.

Jean-Pascal Hesse, the long-time lead author of Designer’s Communications, has unearthed a trove of rare documents and photographs for a volume titled “Pierre Cardin: Mode Myth Moderne” or “Pierre Cardin: Fashion, Myth, Modernity”. It is scheduled to be published in French by Flammarion on 21 September.

Cover of “Pierre Cardin: Mode Myth Moderne”.

Courtesy of Flammarion

The book has a foreword by Jean-Paul Gaultier, who famously began her career in Cardin’s studio, and the cover photograph – model Celia Hammond in a cloud-like pink hat and reflective pink coat in the mirror – shows it This is a 1962 image by British photographer Norman Parkinson.

Inside are several images of Roland de Vasal, who documented Cardin’s early years in haute couture, including the invention of the bubble dress, which led to the launch of his ready-to-wear line in 1963.

Pierre Pellegri, another close Cardin colleague who heads the Maxim restaurant, sourced the images by Japanese photographer Yoshi Takata, who met Cardin in 1954 and invited him to teach a cutting class at the Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo in 1957. done, marking the first phase of a long run. Artistic and commercial collaboration between Cardin and Takata.

It was thanks to Takata that Cardin was introduced to his collection Hiroko Matsumoto, the first Japanese model of French couture.

Hiroko Matsumoto in Pierre Cardin.

Courtesy of Yoshi Takata / Pierre Pellegri

Hesse has written two previous monographs on Cardin, published in 2010 and 2017, but this time decided to move away from the coffee table book format. The handy tome explores what influenced Cardin’s designs in the 50s and 60s, based on personal memories of the designer and his close circle.

Cardin’s creations were worn by style icons including Jackie Kennedy, Lauren Bacall and Jean Morrow. Together with Paco Rabanne and André Courrèges, he pioneered futuristic creations using materials like PVC that still influence designers today. Before dying in 2020 at the age of 98, Cardin built a global empire thanks to his extensive use of licensing.

The 256-page book will retail for €49.90. Hesse has also written books about Maxim; Cardin’s Palace Bulles residence on the French Riviera; The designer’s now-closed Théâtre des Ambassadors in Paris; The Marquis de Sade, whose castle in the village of Lacoste was acquired by Cardin in 2001, and destinations including Provence and Capri.

A contact sheet from the collection of Roland de Vasal.

Archives of Roland de Vassal / Courtesy of Flamarion

Originally published at Pen 18