CARDIN Pierre (Designer)

In what could be a still from Star Trek, men, women and even a boy strike poses to accentuate their tomorrow's wardrobe. In the mid-1960s Pierre Cardin spun off into deep space with Courrèges and Paco Rabanne. He offered utopian clothes to a new generation. Graphic symbols were cut from his jersey tunics; men's jackets were given military epaulettes. The silver shine of asymmetric zips, steel belts and buckles brought haute couture into the space age. Cardin's training had been a traditional one, at the houses of Paquin, Schiaparelli and Dior, but his mind was on the future. In 1959 he was the first couturier to design ready-to-wear and was expelled from the Chambre Syndicale. He became fashion's scientist, developing his own material, Cardine, a bonded fibre that would rigidly hold his geometric shapes, and experimenting with metals to produce dresses. In later years, Cardin put his name to everything from pens to frying pans.

Also look up for The Beatles, De Castelbajac, Courrèges, Rabanne, Schön