ICONS OF FRANCE ❘ PIERRE CARDIN ICONS OF FRANCE
MAKING FASHION MODERN
A fine new coffee
table book explores the fascinating and
inspirational life and career of iconic designer Pierre Cardin. In this extract we explore two key parts of his life: his immigrant childhood and his first solo fashion collections
Pierre Cardin, born Pietro Cardini in Italy, moved to Saint- Étienne with his family as a two-year-old child… At that time, France, which had suffered many casualties during the Great War, was looking for hands to help rebuild the country. From Avignon, Giovanna, Pietro’s sister, 20 years his elder, wrote to her family. In her letters, she spoke of France and its grand ideals. Pietro’s aunts and uncles had left for South America and his parents agreed to leave with their youngest children, entrusting one of their eldest, Erminio, to an aunt, who would take care of his education in Italy. They sold a few acres of land, furniture, and everyday objects, and decided, with their war indemnity, to leave their hamlet of Sant’Andrea di Barbarana for Venice, then France – more specifically, Grenoble. The journey was long and uncomfortable. Thinking ahead, the couple sought to protect their toddler from the cold and bought him a coat in a store near the station. It was white, warm, and cosy. Pietro was two and a half years old, and for the rest of his life he would remember the softness of the fabric, the pleasure of feeling it wrapped around him, of being warm, even of running his hand over it. He would often evoke, with emotion, the memory of this sensation. A hand and a fabric: an encounter.
66 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Oct/Nov 2022 98 Feb/Mar 2023
To get to Grenoble, the train had to pass through the Mont-Cenis tunnel. With the noise of the locomotive on the rails, the whistles and screeches and acrid black smoke rising, it is no wonder that the little boy was petrified. Nine miles of anguish and tears. Then Modane, France, and new skies unfurling. Little Pietro calmed down and was about to embark on a new life. The mists of
Friuli-Venezia Giulia ceded to the welcoming French Alps. Exit Pietro Cardini, enter Pierre Cardin. The fairy tale had begun.
For a child born in Italy, living in France at that time was like living in a utopia or storybook. However, things were far from easy. In Italy, the Cardini family had enjoyed a small degree of affluence, but their life now was more
IMAGES © ARCHIVES PIERRE CARDIN, ARCHIVES ROLAND DE VASSAL, FLAMMARION
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