Pierre Cardin

On July 2, 1922, little Cardin was born in a poor farm family in the suburbs of Venice. Two years later, the conflagration of World War I spread throughout Italy.

After experiencing countless hardships, the family reluctantly settled down in Grenoble, southeastern France. Old Cardin rode up to the high snow-capped mountains every day to pick ice cubes, transport them to the city and sell them to wealthy families, earning a few small bucks to support his family's livelihood.

One sunny summer day, seven-year-old Cardin picked up a rag doll on the grass, which was abandoned by a rich girl. Little Cardin went home with the doll in his arms, found rags and needle thread from his mother's sewing basket, and carefully sewed a small skirt for the doll by the dim oil lamp. He took apart the seams and seams until he was satisfied. The rag doll finally put on a beautiful dress. This small floral skirt became the first skirt designed by Pierre Cardin in his life, and it also foreshadowed his future life path.

When little Cardin was eight years old, his family moved to Saint-Ledion. His father sent him to a local primary school. Little Cardin was not interested in reading. After school, he often sneaked to the store window and stood there obsessively looking at the various clothes inside. He dropped out of school at the age of 14 and became an apprentice in a small tailor shop.

Pierre Cardin seems to be born with the talent to make clothes. In just two years, his craftsmanship has surpassed that of his master. He often designs some novel styles of clothing, which are very popular among local ladies. From time to time, people come to ask him to design women's clothing. Pierre Cardin was very fond of novel, elegant and diverse stage costumes. In order to broaden his horizons, he began to study various stage costume styles, worked in a tailor shop during the day, and worked as an actor in a local amateur theater troupe at night to accumulate personal experience. The novelty and gorgeousness of the stage costumes left a deep impression on Pierre Cardin and had a major impact on his future design style.

Going to Paris

At that time, Paris was the fashion center of Europe, and Pierre Cardin missed Paris day and night. When he was 17 years old, he rode a broken bicycle to Paris, but World War II had already begun. Paris was full of fleeing people, and the streets and alleys were filled with German soldiers with loaded ammunition. Because he violated the curfew, he was imprisoned by the German occupying forces. Fortunately, he was not a Jew and was released.

Time flies, and another five years have passed. Pierre Cardin's clothing design level and production technology have made great progress, and he is considered the best tailor locally.

On this day, Pierre Cardin was drinking in a small bar, and an elegant old woman came to him. She was a countess originally from Paris. She was very interested in Pierre Cardin's fashionable clothes and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with him. When she learned about Pierre Cardin's life experience and that his fashions were designed and made by herself, she said emotionally: "My child, you will become a millionaire. This is destined!" After that, she wrote him the name and address of her good friend, the manager of the Paris Paquin women's fashion store.

At the end of the stormy year of 1945, Pierre Cardin entered the door of Paris. He found Pakan Women's Clothing Store. This fashion house is very famous in Paris and specializes in designing and sewing costumes for some major theaters. The fashion store owner interviewed him personally. Pierre Cardin's superb skills conquered him and he was left immediately.

Soon, goddess of luck reached out to Pierre Cardin again, giving him the opportunity to design costumes for an avant-garde film "Beauty and the Beast" by the famous artist Jean Cocteau. The embroidered velvet outfits Pierre Cardin designed for the character became instantly famous, and a striking new star in the Paris fashion world began to shine. As he himself said later: "I learned it from beginning to end, from the initial drawing, cutting, sewing, sampling, to sales, all on my own."

Subsequently, Pierre. Cardin went to work for a period in the fashion house of Schiaparelli, the most authoritative French fashion designer at the time.

Schiaparelli broke into the Paris fashion scene in 1927. She initially designed clothes individually for a small group of girlfriends. Later, one of her black and white knitted pullovers became popular in Paris. The pullover had a child-doodle-like butterfly image on the chest. This was inspired by the pattern of tops knitted by American immigrants. Since then, her business has grown in size. Pierre Cardin's experience of becoming famous is very similar to hers, which shows that he did learn a lot in Schiaparelli's fashion store.

Dior was the leader

When Pierre Cardin heard that there was a vacancy in the design studio of high-end clothing expert Dior, he immediately applied for it. So, he was lucky enough to become Dior's assistant. This played an immeasurable role in Pierre Cardin's future clothing career.

Dior can be called the most important fashion design master of the last century. The "New Look" he proposed in 1947 laid the foundation for his success. After World War II, women wore monotonous clothing: military-style flat-shoulder skirts, clumsy and dull, bearing traces of vicissitudes of life and war. Dior changed it to a curved natural shoulder shape, emphasizing the plump breasts, slender waist, and round hips, highlighting and emphasizing the femininity of women, allowing women to regain their charm—Parisians were ecstatic , the whole world is watching Dior.

In 1947, Pierre Cardin served as the head of the coat and suit department at Dior and participated in the birth of the "New Look" that shocked Paris. He respected Dior very much and benefited a lot from Dior, from whom he learned the "noble", "generous" and "elegant" clothing concepts and production techniques. However, he was not willing to be dependent on others for a long time. His inner desire for creativity drove Pierre Cardin to In 1949, he left Dior to build his own kingdom.

1950 was the year when Pierre Cardin was making great efforts for his future fashion career. He used all his savings to buy the "Pasco" sewing factory on Lishpons Street, rented a shop, started his own company independently, and soon became a world-famous fashion design giant.

The French high fashion industry is a special industry with extremely strict restrictions and extremely limited customers. Today, there are only 23 companies that can be called "high fashion companies." Therefore, Pierre Cardin realized very early: "Only by facing many consumers can there be a way out. Because only by expanding the scope of consumption can it have a universal and widespread impact and withstand greater tests."

In 1953, still in that shabby house, Pierre Cardin held his first personal fashion exhibition. The complete sets of fashion styles he designed are various in appearance, bright in color, full of romantic sentiment, and quite in line with the taste of Parisians. Coupled with Pierre Cardin's uniquely arranged fashion model performances with musical accompaniment, his fashion works are even more attractive. As soon as this batch of fashionable clothes came on the market, they were sold out immediately. Pierre Cardin's name is also prominently displayed in newspapers.

A year later, his first fashion store was officially opened on the old suburban street of Saint-Journal.

The winning book: popularization of ready-made clothing

After the war, France's economy recovered rapidly. A large number of women broke out of the family and integrated into social life, and consumption throughout Europe increased significantly. Pierre Cardin keenly seized this opportunity, resolutely put forward the slogan of "popularization of ready-made clothing", and focused his design on general consumers, so that more people can wear fashionable clothes.

Pierre Cardin once produced a set of white-collar red coats and sold them to Macy's Department Store in the United States. They were produced in large quantities and sold at prices affordable to the American middle class, which was a great success. From the successful example of Messi, Pierre Cardin thought that selling the clothes he designed in large quantities might be a way to get rich.

Not long after, Pierre Cardin launched a series of ready-made clothes with elegant style and appropriate materials. They were very popular among consumers because of their high quality and low price. The Pierre Cardin boutique is bustling with people every day. Those colleagues who are conservative are just the opposite. Business is deserted and there are very few customers.

"Popularizing Ready-to-Wear" was a surprisingly successful move in the business war, but Pierre Cardin's initiative angered his conservative colleagues. They all attacked and even joined forces to expel Pierre Cardin from Paris. Women's Fashion Syndicate.

Pierre Cardin did not give in, as he said: "I am used to being scolded by people. Every innovation I make has been criticized to pieces. But the people who scold me then do what I do. "

With full confidence and talent, Pierre Cardin once again broke the rules, and he soon set off a whirlwind of men's fashion. In those windows that had been monopolized by women's fashion for a long time, men's high-end fashion full of masculine beauty began to appear.

Around 1960, Pierre Cardin opened two famous fashion retail departments: "Adam" specializes in men's clothing, ties, belted coats, and sportswear; "Eve" is a high-end women's clothing store. The customers who come are not only the rich and nobles, but also the wife of the French President and the Lady Windsor of the United Kingdom are fascinated by it. Pierre Cardin once said: “When I was still working as a designer at Dior, I made a promise: when I started my own business, my clothes might be worn by the Duchess of Windsor, and at the same time, even her concierge would be able to buy them. . ”

People’s consciousness is constantly changing. In 1962, at the request of all members, the French Paris Fashion Women's Syndicate invited Pierre Cardin back and asked him to serve as the president of the guild. The Golden Thimble Award is the highest honor award in the French fashion industry. Pierre Cardin has won this honor three times.

The annual profit of the Cardin brand is US$1.2 billion

In addition to designing fashion, Pierre Cardin also designs furniture, lamps, decorations, daily necessities, and even car and aircraft shapes . The aircraft he designed has black, red and white stripes on its fuselage, spreading its wings into the blue sky, like colorful dragonflies flying in the sky; the cars he designed are streamlined, with unique dials and steering wheels, which are refreshing. Today, in more than 120 countries and regions, 200,000 people produce more than 800 different patented products every day in more than 600 factories, including the two brands "Pierre Cardin" and "Maxim" .

Pierre Cardin sells more than a thousand design sketches every year, and most of the detailed designs are handed over to businessmen from various places who have obtained the rights to use the trademark, and they use their ideas to create uniform designs based on local actual conditions. Commission. Pierre Cardin only holds 4% to 10% of the shares of the licensing company, which makes it easier for his clothing designs to go to market.

The global annual profits of products produced under the Cardin brand exceed 1.2 billion US dollars. Pierre Cardin led this business revolution, and he was also the biggest beneficiary of this business revolution.

There are currently four major clothing centers in the world, and Paris naturally ranks first. In Paris, many stores have a piece of Cardin's world, but if you want to find the roots, you must go to No. 82, Avenue Honore, which is the capital of the world-famous Cardin Empire and the birthplace of Pierre Cardin's costume art. land. As far as location is concerned, there is probably no other house with such a prominent house number in the whole of France - more than 20 meters away, diagonally across the road, is the French Presidential Palace.

The Cardin headquarters is an old-style building. There is a small door on the two old-fashioned large wooden doors, allowing only one person to enter and exit. Cardin would enter and exit this wooden door four times a day whenever he was in Paris.

Not far from Cardin’s headquarters, there is an old building. This is the home of Pierre Cardin. An old, small door, closed tightly. For decades, Pierre Cardin walked in and out of this small door to work every day for ten minutes at a time, just in time for outdoor activities. There are two owners of the house, one is Pierre Cardin himself, and the other is his sister who is over ninety years old. During the day, the elder sister is alone at home; at night, the two siblings talk in the dialect of their hometown of Venice. "Childhood" is the eternal theme.

Pierre Cardin is still unmarried. When he comes home every day, he has to help his elder sister with housework. Pierre Cardin's assistant is Japanese Ms. Takada Mei, who has worked closely with him for 40 years. Although this person looks very old, she is always by her side every time Pierre Cardin comes out to entertain and entertain. Pierre Cardin adopted a French couple's quintuplets (three boys and two girls, a "highest record" in France) as adopted sons and daughters, paying all their expenses. Now the five little guys have grown very cute