Viewing page 33 of 37

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

SPOTLIGHT ON PIERRE CARDIN
[[line]]
by Bernadine Morris
[[line]]

Pierre Cardin is a Renaissance man, something of an accomplishment in the Twentieth Century world. Having achieved a certain success in the couture world in the mid-1950's, he went zooming off in different areas. Fashion, he decided was not enough to occupy him all the time. Besides, his excursions into other worlds would all feed back to the field he entered as a tailor's apprentice at the age of 14.
As owner and proprietor of the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris, an arts complex once known as Les Ambassadeurs, he is the producer of art shows, theatrical events, dance performances. "I want to be first, I want to originate, in theatre, in music as well as fashion," he explains. 
[[photograph]]
An intense, taut man of 54, he is eager to experiment and encourage new art forms. Among his current enthusiasms is the exhibit of paintings which opened in his Espace this fall by the 18th century  [[article continues onto next page]]

[[advertisement]]Image of woman. designer original [registered trademark] 
Super sport - designers Originals [registered trademark] full fashioned shirt of Qiana [registered trademark]. The luxurious look and feel of silk but with the price and easy care of Qiana [registered trademark] in elegant spring colors. 34-40.

designers originals [registered trademark] 
1407 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10018[[/advertisement]]

[[end page]]
[[start page]]

[[article continued from previous page]]
Japanese artist, Hokusai. "See how modern the line is, and look at the use of color - how contemporary," he says, adding "they've never been seen before, in Japan or any place else."
The show is indeed a first. The paintings are sophisticated examples of erotic art. At the same time as the art show, Cardin produced a play, Le Genre Humain, be Jean-Edern Hallier. "A very important play," he said. "Critical of society - very strong." He was anticipating complaints - and the opening up of minds.
Obviously, making waves is something Cardin enjoys, "To stir things up - that is what are is all about," he says. Somehow he has made his iconoclasm pay. One very visive sign s his new International Building at 27 Avenue Marigny in Paris, an eight-storey edifice that will house and sever as headquarters for the multitudinous Cardin enterprises now spread over 46 countries. 
Some 250 products, from bed linens to furniture, chocolates to motor cars, carry the Cardin label. Total sales at retail run around $120 million. Men's wear accounts for about half of this. Cardin is proud of his world-wide appeal. "I'm known in Africa, Russia, Japan," he says. "My businesses in the United States earn $60 million a year."
His secret is propensity for work, he explains. "I'm a worked, I work every day. I don't live a grand life. I don't have illusions. The banks don't own me. I own my business. My pleasure is doing something new, something that hasn't been done before. My life is music, travel, restaurants. Art is important for me."
Nevertheless, he is not one to go about crying that fashion is finished. "The spirit of fashion changes, but it is not demode," he says. "Yesterday's look turns into costumes, tomorrow's is fashion."
Recently he turned out his first teen-age collection and found it fun. It was mostly minidress because "the young girls don't have to cover their arms or legs." For the no so young their are pants and boots. "To dress like 15 when one is 40 - that is not fashion, that is grotesque."
Fashion was what gave him the background and the security to pursue his other [[end of article on this page]

[[advertisement]] [Image] Monet
Drama on the cuff. An exciting collection of gold and silver bracelets in the manner of Monet. From $10 to $18.50. at fine stores. MONET Master Jeweler