He asserted, as he has so often, that he would sell his vast empire of men's and women's fashion, fragrance, furniture and 19 Maxim's restaurants around the world if the right offer came along. But with 200,000 employees and 900 licenses in 150 countries and the Cardin brand among the top 10 in terms of worldwide recognition, potential buyers had better think big bucks. Cardin was in China this month, where he was a Western fashion pioneer 25 years ago and is now a household name. Next month he will stage an event in Los Angeles as a benefit for his friend Pierre Salinger. He is shipping his striking, spherical modular furniture to London, where the Design Museum is staging an exhibition in the autumn.
Some people are passionate about sport or about cards.
That work includes acting as a roving cultural ambassador for France, for which the designer was elected to the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1992 - another embrace from the establishment for a wayward and maverick spirit. Looking back, Cardin realizes that he has lived through fashion and social history. He went on to work for the exuberant Elsa Schiaparelli, becoming the coat and suit tailor at Christian Dior for the famous 1947 New Look. Like a mad scientist, cooking up experiments, Cardin created new ways of cutting cloth and stitching it together. Cardin was also extraordinarily inventive with cut, taking the circle as a persistent motif and using the twirl of a compass to create swing backs, cocoon coats, petal sleeves and collars as satellite circles of fabric.