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Pierre Cardin, designer who turned name into brand, dies at 98
FashionDec 30. 2020Pierre Cardin in his Paris office in 2016. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Marlene Awaad
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Laurence Arnold
Pierre Cardin, the Parisian designer who forever changed fashion when he broke with French couture houses and offered ready-to-wear clothing in department stores, ultimately transforming his name into a diversified global brand, has died. He was 98.
The Agence France-Presse reported the news, citing his family. France’s Academy of Fine Arts confirmed the news in a tweet.
He lived in Paris and acquired properties including a castle in the south of France once owned by the Marquis de Sade and the Palais Bulles, or “Bubble Palace,” his futuristic mansion in Cannes.
Cardin made his mark artistically in the 1960s as a leading designer of the “Space Age” look, with unisex clothing, bold geometric patterns and the use of vinyl and plastic.
Fashion was just the start of Cardin’s business empire. He went on to sell eyeglasses, umbrellas, perfume, luggage, linens, furniture, mattresses, skis and coffee pots.
“If someone asked me to do toilet paper, I’d do it,” Cardin told the New York Times in 2002. “Why not?”
In 1959, at the Paris department store Printemps, Cardin became the first designer to introduce a ready-to-wear — or “pret-a-porter” — women’s line for a broad audience. With that act of independence, Cardin steered himself away from the haute couture houses that dominated the Paris fashion scene.
“It was Cardin who first equated fashion design with the masses, and he made the notion of luxury for everyone into an international currency,” fashion writer Elisabeth Langle wrote in a 2005 book, “Pierre Cardin: Fifty Years of Fashion and Design.”
“They said pret-a-porter will kill your name,” Cardin said in an interview, “and it saved me.”
He was also a pioneer in men’s fashion. He opened Adam, a boutique featuring printed shirts and ties, in 1957, and three years later presented the first haute couture show for men. His high-buttoned, collarless jackets captured the fancy of four lads from Liverpool, England, and as the Beatles conquered the music world, the Cardin look soared with them.
Cardin leveraged his fame through branding, licensing and franchising. For many years, he said his trademark had 800 licenses in 140 countries. By mid-2017, the number of active Cardin licenses had dropped to about 350.
At times he was cited as an example of licensing run amok. Time magazine, in a 1975 story, called him a “shrewd fantasist who has tacked his name on to just about anything that can be nailed, glued, baked, molded, bolted, braced, bottled, opened, shut, pushed or pulled.”
In 1981 Cardin purchased the landmark restaurant Maxim’s de Paris. True to form, he globalized the Maxim’s brand by franchising branches in Brussels, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, London and New York, opening Maxim’s hotels and launching a line of Maxim’s luxury products.
The results were mixed. The Brussels and Rio restaurants closed within a few years, and the New York restaurant shuttered in 2000.
Cardin took his clothing to every corner of the globe. He targeted the Japanese market after visiting there in 1957, signed production agreements with the Soviet Union in 1978 and, in 1979, became one of the first western companies to do business in China.
Cardin long ago announced that he intended to sell his empire, which he estimated to be worth at least 1 billion euros.
It wasn’t at all clear that anybody but Cardin could run his runaway brand. Richard Morais, in his 1988 biography “Pierre Cardin: The Man Who Became a Label,” said Cardin was better at spinning — and sometimes embellishing — his image than at running a company.
“The Cardin empire was a giant fungus with its own independent life,” Morais wrote. “Spores of independent licensees grew in the dark and crept into every corner of the earth, fertilized by a steady supply of superb public relations. Sometimes, one would have to think, the empire grew in spite of Cardin.”
Pietro-Costante Cardin, the youngest of 11 children, was born on July 2, 1922, in the Italian village of San Biagio di Callalta, near Venice. His parents were farmers and winemakers whose land and business had been ravaged by World War I. The family moved to southeastern France when Cardin was 3 years old.
In 1944, he arrived in Paris and two years later began working for designer Christian Dior, who was assembling his own fashion house.
He opened his own firm in 1949 and presented his first haute couture women’s collection four years later. He said Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, and American actress Rita Hayworth were among his earliest clients.
Cardin’s ballooning bubble dress brought him lasting acclaim after it was introduced in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, he positioned himself as a futuristic designer attuned to the fantasy of the Space Age. He embellished his outfits with geometric shapes, vinyl, oversized zippers, goggles, visors, even helmets.
“The dresses I prefer are those I invent for a life that does not exist yet: the world of tomorrow,” he said.
A 1966 Time magazine article said Cardin’s clothing for men was growing by $8 million annually, five times the gross of his women’s line, and his customers included actors Gregory Peck, Yul Brynner and George Hamilton. That year Cardin opened a menswear shop in New York City at Bonwit Teller.
He made his first set of haute couture furniture, called “Utilitarian Sculptures,” in 1977.
He expanded his empire in the 1980s, opening boutiques in Paris, Budapest, Beijing and London.
UNESCO, the United Nations office that promotes education and culture, named Cardin a goodwill ambassador in 1991. He also was elected to France’s prestigious Academie des Beaux Arts.
Cardin, who once had a love affair with film star Jeanne Moreau, never married or had children. Moreau died in July 2017.
Singapore rolls out Covid-19 vaccination exercise; senior staff nurse at NCID receives first jab
Dec 30. 2020NCID senior staff nurse Sarah Lim, 46, receiving her vaccination in the Day Treatment Centre at NCID, on Dec 30, 2020. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
By Clara Chong The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE – Singapore kick-started its national Covid-19 vaccination programme on Wednesday (Dec 30) morning, with a senior staff nurse at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) the first to roll up her sleeve for the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
Ms Sarah Lim, 46, is part of the team that screens suspect Covid-19 cases.
“I feel grateful and thankful for being the first to be vaccinated, I would encourage them (others) to go for it,” she told reporters after receiving the shot.
“It’s not very painful.”
She added in Mandarin: “I wanted to take the injection to protect myself, my loved ones, patients and the public.
“It gives me greater peace of mind.”
The vaccine was removed from the fridge at 8.30am – according to a note on the wall – and delivered about an hour later after it reached room temperature.
It took several minutes for the nurse who administered the jabs to prepare the injection each time.
Once done, the healthcare workers were told to rest for 30 minutes in an observation room.
The national vaccine effort is a critical part of the push for the Republic to return to normalcy and reopen the economy, with most people expected to have the chance to receive it by next year.
Like her colleagues, she believes that the vaccine, on top of other stringent measures such as hygiene and mask-wearing, is an added layer of protection.
Second in line was Dr Kalisvar Marimuthu, a 43-year-old senior consultant who manages suspect and confirmed Covid-19 cases.
“I’m feeling lucky… feeling a bit emotional because the vaccine is potentially a game-changer,” he said.
“It has been a long journey for us to reach here, it has been tough for all of us.
“Vaccines have brought pandemics to their knees in the past,” he added, and he hopes that history will be repeated this time.
“I’m hoping there is light at the end of a very long tunnel.”
On receiving the shot, he noted: “I’m already feeling better and more protected. This vaccine is probably the last layer of protection for us.”
Mr Mohamed Firdaus Bin Mohamed Salleh, 38, a senior staff nurse at NCID was also among the first of about 30 NCID staff in line for the injection on Wednesday.
“This gives me the assurance that I can go home safely to my kids,” said the father of four.
Others in the frontline are also being rostered for similar vaccinations, with public healthcare institutions and private hospitals arranging for their staff to be vaccinated at their respective premises.
This is in line with recommendations by an expert committee that front-line and healthcare workers and those most vulnerable to severe complications if they contract Covid-19 should be vaccinated first.
Singapore residents aged 70 and older will receive their jabs from February next year, followed by other Singaporeans and long-term residents who are medically eligible.
The expert committee also assessed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is suitable for use in people aged 16 and older for the prevention of Covid-19, although taking the vaccine is still not recommended for pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals until more information is available.
The first shipment of the vaccine arrived in Singapore earlier this month (Dec 21) on a Singapore Airlines flight from Brussels.
[Vietnam] Trade surplus hits $19 billion, highest since 2016
Dec 30. 2020The country’s total trade revenue has hit $543.9 billion, up 5.1 per cent year-on-year. — VNA/VNS Photo
By Viet Nam News/ANN
HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is estimated to enjoy a trade surplus of US$19.1 billion this year, the highest since 2016, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country’s total trade revenue has hit $543.9 billion, up 5.1 per cent year-on-year. Of the total, export value is $281.5 billion and imports $262.4 billion, year-on-year rises of 6.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively.
Nguyễn Việt Phong from the General Statistics Office (GSO)’s Trade and Service Statistics Department said the trade surplus is a bright spot contributing remarkably to economic growth and aiding the exchange rate and foreign exchange reserves in the context of Việt Nam needing more resources for post-pandemic economic recovery in 2021.
While the world economy is seriously affected by the pandemic, the trade surplus of $19.1 billion shows Việt Nam has taken advantage of opportunities brought by signed free trade agreements (FTAs), especially the EU-Việt Nam FTA and the quality of the country’s exports has improved, meeting the requirements of choosy markets.
According to the GSO, in 2020, 31 commodities enjoyed export turnover of more than $1 billion, with six posting export values of more than $10 billion, accounting for 64.3 per cent of the total export turnover.
The heavy industry and mineral sector enjoyed the biggest export value of $152.5 billion, up 11.3 per cent year-on-year.
On the other side, 35 commodities posted import values of more than $1 billion this year, with four reaching $10 billion, accounting for 49.4 per cent of total import revenue.
Việt Nam becomes second biggest exporter to US
Việt Nam moved up four spots to become the second-biggest exporter to the US in 2020, with its export turnover to the country surging 24.5 per cent to an estimated $76.4 billion.
Besides traditional exports like textiles, footwear and aquatic products, Việt Nam has also shipped electronics, spare parts and wooden products to the market.
According to Phong, Việt Nam enjoys a trade a surplus of $62.6 billion with the US, compared to $20.3 billion with the EU, while it has trade deficits of $34.5 billion with China, $27.6 billion with the Republic of Korea, and $6.9 billion with ASEAN.
However, Việt Nam’s exports to the US account for only 2.7 per cent of the American country’s total imports from all countries and territories worldwide.
Phong suggested Việt Nam make more efforts to help US businesses operating in Việt Nam deal with difficulties, and import more from the US, particularly commodities such as energy, agricultural products, pharmaceutical products and machinery.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in the US, the two countries have witnessed a strong breakthrough in bilateral trade turnover, especially Việt Nam’s exports to the US.
Statistics from the US side show that two-way trade increased to $75.7 billion in 2019 from just $450 million in 1995 when Việt Nam and the US established diplomatic relations.
Apart from trade co-operation, the two countries have also enhanced toes in investment, research, sci-tech development, transportation, education, telecommunication and energy. — VNS
Pierre Cardin in his Paris office in 2016. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Marlene Awaad
NCID senior staff nurse Sarah Lim, 46, receiving her vaccination in the Day Treatment Centre at NCID, on Dec 30, 2020. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
The country’s total trade revenue has hit $543.9 billion, up 5.1 per cent year-on-year. — VNA/VNS Photo
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