It is with great delight that I launch my weekly column, In-Person, with a Q&A with Mr. Pierre Cardin. I had the pleasure of meeting this extraordinary man a couple of years ago and the even greatest honor of working on a project for him. I will never forget the first time we met. He had just landed in New York and joined us for lunch to go over the details of his upcoming event, his first show in NYC in a decade. I could not get over how energetic he was after his transatlantic flight, firing questions right and left, wanting to know everything. That very night Assouline publishing was hosting a book signing for him, thereby kicking off a week of festivities coinciding with the 60th anniversary of his house. Well into his eighties, his genuine curiosity for everything that surrounds him and constant global travel have allowed him to remain as vivacious as a teenager without becoming jaded, as is too often the tendency in our industry. From the beginning of is career, Mr. Cardin was a true “visionary”, long before the term became ubiquitous. In the words of my friend Jean-Pascal Hesse “Cardin remains foremost a couturier. For fashion historians, his name symbolizes the recurring themes of structured clothing, daring cuts, and minimal geometric forms rendered in high-quality fabrics. Renowned for his prodigious inventiveness, he remains a creative visionary, even though his designs are based on classical elegance.”
- Miriam Driot
Follow Miriam on Twitter @MiriamDriot
What do you love most about your job?
The creativity…Innovating, creating is to me the biggest satisfaction ….My work into the fashion world and the design has given me the opportunity to find fulfillment.
If you did not live in Paris where would you live and why?
I would love to live in Italy; in Venetia…My native land…Italy speaks to me.
When not working what do you enjoy doing?
I work all the time and I dislike holidays. I don’t know how to stop.
What is your best memory from childhood?
My parents, my youth in St-Etienne…and my Thursdays spent with a friend working on wood and sculpting in the workshop of his father.
What is your favorite holiday destination and why?
I especially enjoy spending the summer in my house in the south of France… I have been several times around the world, so this is at home that I better recharge my batteries.
Book or E-reader? Why and what are you currently reading?
I don’t have time to read anymore. I only read the press, but I need paper’s contact anyway.
Which social media platform do you use and how did they impact your business?
By myself? None. However my employees are using Facebook and twitter.
What is a true luxury for you today?
My independence! I am an absolutely free man!
What is your biggest accomplishment to date? Why?
Having accomplished my dream, which is to work inside the fashion world. This was my dream as a young man that I still continue sixty years later with a lot of pleasure!
Designer website: www.pierrecardin.com
What we’ve said: INprint
