Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Space Age Savoir Faire

Pierre Cardin. One almost shudders when we hear the name, but there was a time when it wasn’t so. I still have hopes for Monsieur Cardin, and believe him to be one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. Way before he sold his name and licensed everything from socks to linoleum this man and his designs had style and panache. Sure he paved the way for nearly all the major couturiers to launch prêt a porter collections, and made certain elements of style available to the masses, however he goes far beyond that.

In the late 1960’s Monsieur Cardin was heralding in the Space Age, when everything spacey was becoming fashionable, from movies, to furniture. His fashion designs from this period are heralding the beginning of a Brave New World, which had the public dressed to kill in vibrant and functional designs, which the whole family could wear.




Clothes appeared almost unisex with the same design with only a few tweaks being worn by both men and women.

Not only were clothes functional, but there was a certain amount of sexiness too. These were modern day amazons and gladiators ready and willing to fight the establishment, with savoir faire. Normal suits were hastily reduced to being so out of date when compared to a Cardin design.


Monsieur Cardin had definite ideas as to what the public and those in professions serving should be wearing including nurses as shown below.


Just imagine if Monsieur Cardin had had his way? One thing for sure, was that he was always at the forefront of innovation.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Widget by LinkWithin