Haute Couture Designer Pierre Cardin - Essay Example

The late 1970s were a time when interest in science fiction and the future was a common theme at the social level, with movies being launched such as Star Wars. The 1979 design illustrated the social demand for future lifestyle and innovation in fashion as well as showing the female clothing buyer as an important and respected part of international business. These suits were not created with explosive colors or other eye-catching patterns from previous years, rather the 1979 collection allowed simple, yet future-looking fabrics to blend into design innovation in a way that was meaningful for mass market buyers and female businesspeople.
A recent 2009 collection from Pierre Cardin reverts to some of these design principles, using simple black and white and geometric patterns to create a stunning collection for women. The Appendix section shows an outfit that consists of dizzying explosions of black design work throughout the collection which spirals like a liquid maze across the clothing. Key areas of sensuality on the female, including the hips and shoulders, are emphasized with sudden angular folds in the fabric which flair the outfit in key body locations.
There are some significant differences between these different collections spanning 20 years, including the length of the hemline. In the 1970s, it was more acceptable to have longer skirts for business and even casual wear at a time when the culture was emerging from more reserved moral and lifestyle values. This social aspect of lifestyle was added to the 1979 businesswoman collection and the outfit’s length was generally always below the knee. This fit within acceptable dress norms for the woman in business at the time. Today, however, Cardin has become more risqué when redeveloping older styles for the new luxury consumer and has shortened the length of various dresses and suits to appeal to the more modern lifestyle.
The largest similarity between the 1979 and 2009 collections is the focus on using geometry in fashion design to create innovation in a way that is meaningful for consumer values and luxury lifestyles. The new collection adds more detail to the fabric itself, showing a less-reserved fashion sense than that of the 1979 business collection. However, emphasizing a woman’s key sensual areas through the use of eye-catching teamwork or fabric folding remains a common theme in Cardin’s designs.