Full Name | Pietro Costante Cardin |
Date of Birth | 2 July 1922 |
Place of Birth | San Biagio di Callalta, Italy |
Date of Death | 29 December 2020 |
Age at Death | 98 |
Place of Death | Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
Citizenship | Italy (born), France (after 1924) |
Occupation | Grand Couturier |
Years Active | 1945−2011 |
Awards | Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Commander of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the National Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters |
Known For | Avant-garde style, Space Age designs, geometric shapes, and unisex fashions |
Fashion House | Founded his own fashion house in 1950 |
Signature Designs | Bubble dress (1954), Space Age designs, a combination of mini and maxi skirts |
Goodwill Ambassador | UNESCO (1991), United Nations FAO (2009) |
Early Life | Born near Treviso, Italy; family lost fortune in WWI; moved to Saint-Étienne, France in 1924 |
Education | Studied architecture; interest in dressmaking from childhood |
Career Start | Worked with Paquin, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Christian Dior; head of Dior’s tailleure atelier in 1947 |
Significant Work | Designed 30 costumes for Carlos de Beistegui’s masquerade ball in Venice (1951) |
First Boutique | Opened boutique Eve in 1954 |
Notable Achievements | First couturier to turn to Japan as a high fashion market (1957); combined mini and maxi skirts in the 1970s |
Net Worth | Approximately $800 million |