Swords and Space Were Hot Topics at Pierre Cardin Gala
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MAKING A POINT: The most unusual accessories spotted at a Pierre Cardin black-tie gala on Friday night in Paris weren’t Space Age sunglasses, but rather ceremonial swords.
Organized exactly 30 years to the day since the late designer was inducted into the prestigious Académie des Beaux-Arts, the event at Maxim’s attracted many Immortals, the title given to citizens inducted into any of the Institut de France’s five academies. Established in 1795, the Institut is a learned society that also manages foundations, museums and chateaus.
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Cardin, who died in 2020 at age 98, was the first couturier to be inducted, and the academy continues to award a design prize in his name. Indeed, it was so meaningful to the Itallian-born fashion maverick that he was buried in his ceremonial uniform, decorated with embroideries of olive branches, and his sword.
Cardin also staged his 70th anniversary at the gold-domed Institut de France, which houses the Académie Francaise that governs the language.
“It was so important to him,” said his nephew Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, president and artistic director of Pierre Cardin, who wrote the foreword for a new velvet-covered tome detailing the milestone.
But knowing Cardin always liked to look to the future, Basilicati-Cardin invited a host of figures from the aerospace industry to the celebration, and also French architect Jacques Rougerie, who hopes his flagship project SeaOrbiter — a semi-submersible research vessel that resembles a futuristic robot seahorse — will come to fruition soon.
Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, who was inducted into the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2021 dressed in a uniform by Dior’s Kim Jones, revealed that he would open a new artistic residency program for the academy next April.
It will be housed in a small chateau outside of Paris, where 10 young artists — including painters, sculptors, musicians and engravers — will work toward a group show.
“It will be very exciting. It’s this idea of transmission. It was the goal of Monsieur Cardin,” he said.
Othoniel said he’s also working on a project for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden adjacent to the Brooklyn Museum. He said he would “play with the ponds” and unveil the new works in the fall of 2023.
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