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China Could Lead 21st Century Fashion, Cardin Says
2002/05/19

Pierre Cardin, who helped to change the face of fashion in the 20th century, believes Chinese designers might become the fashion leaders in the new millennium.

Coming up to his 80th birthday, the indefatigable head of a global design empire shows no signs of slowing down.

"I would like to die with my fashion," he said at a wild Saturday night party at his Riviera mansion to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the James Bond movies.

"Yves Saint Laurent stopped. He is free. He is not my cup of tea. He liked to stop, he stopped. I like work, I work," he told Reuters in a stream-of-consciousness interview, slipping from English to French and back again as he reflected on his legacy and the departure of another fashion icon from the haute couture scene.

He and James Bond have plenty in common -- style is everything, marketing is vital, the brand rules supreme.

Avant-garde inventor of the space age look, Cardin is a world leader in brand licensing. Up to 200,000 people work under the Pierre Cardin trademark with 900 licenses in 140 countries. That trademark is one of the most instantly recognizable in the world. Where he first trod, the Calvin Kleins and Tommy Hilfigers of fashion followed.

"I am an adventurer like James Bond but in a different sense," he said. "I am a Marco Polo in a different way. I like traveling round the world all my life from Sydney to Los Angeles, to China, to Brazil, to Japan and Africa."

Cardin, the first couturier to bring high fashion to the high street back in the Fifties, revels in an industry that knows no boundaries. "Today fashion is very international," said the designer whose collar-less Beatle jackets are an enduring symbol of the Swinging Sixties.

So who then does he think will lead the fashion world in the 21st century?

Cardin, who constantly travels the globe both as a designer and a peace ambassador for UNESCO, said: "I am sure Chinese fashion will become very strong.

"China has an awful lot of talent. It is a very big country and I know so much talent in China. Maybe it will become one of the leading countries in the world for couture," he said.

Cardin, who has set up operations around the globe from China to Japan and Russia, has an astonishing range in his portfolio -- from designing furniture, wallets and crockery to owning Maxim's, one of the most famous restaurant names in the world.

And for the globetrotting entrepreneur, this is what it is all about -- a shrinking globe where individual vision still counts. "Fashion is not about nationalities, it's just talent," he concluded.

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