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Last
Thursday the play
Marlene
Dietrich celebrated
its premiere, which Pierre Cardin commissioned
to director, composer and actor
Gérard Chambre
- and since Germany is one
of his most loyal licensees, a couple of German
journalists were invited.
Before the premiere in
Lacoste, Monsieur asks with fresh sparkling mood
for an interview - despite the scorching summer
heat, the flickers over the mountains. At the
restaurant, where we are sitting, he reveals at
the end of the interview, that he had bought the
restaurant incidentally likewise together with
the Castle, as 42 other properties in the
village. A conversation with a man, who believes
holidays and Sundays are completely unnecessary.
ICON:
What unites Pierre Cardin, Marlene
Dietrich and the Marquis de Sade?
Pierre Cardin: Quite simple: The castle of
the Marquis de Sade is mine. I bought it
15 years ago to revive it as a cultural center
with theater, music and dance. Marlene
Dietrich gave some of her last concerts in
Paris at my Espace Pierre Cardin. That is
long ago, in 1973 – she was for a whole month
our star. And I wanted in honor of this
extraordinary woman, do justice with a play at
this wonderful place. The costumes, the
dramaturgy, the choice of actors - all this is
Pierre Cardin.
ICON:
What impression did la
Dietrich leave on you?
Cardin: She was an
authoritarian type and at the same time very
emotional, that combination was for me highly
sympathetic. I had perceived her very lonely and
her sometimes aggressive-authoritarian nature as
an expression of her sadness, interpreted as a
shield.
ICON:
Were you friends?
Cardin: No, I cannot claim that. However, I
have seen her almost each day during that month
at my theater and had very much admired her.
ICON: And what sympathy do you have for the
infamous Marquis de Sade?
Cardin: The castle was looking for a new
owner, and I knew the old one. He wanted me to
buy the place, which he even disposed in his
will. I had no other choice (smiles). Well you
know, what the good Marquis was up to here in
the castle, is not my problem. He was a good
writer and I like the place, the Provence, the
Luberon.
ICON:
You had already
shortly after you became a successful fashion
designer, committed yourself to the culture,
promoted theater, music and art…
Cardin: That is
not true; I started with everything at the same
time.
ICON:
Which passion is greater, that of fashion or
that of art?
Cardin: I always
wanted to be everything: fashion designer, actor
and dancer. In addition, I have always tried to
combine it. However - the actor or dancer Pierre
Cardin, would not have been able to by the
castle of the Marquis de Sade, but the
fashion designer. Without fashion, I would
not be here.
With
24 years, Pierre Cardin works at Elsa
Schiaparelli, where he designs the costumes
for Jean Cocteau's film La Belle et la
Bête (The Beauty and the Beast).
Not only his futuristic style with lots of
sex appeal made in the Swinging Sixties furore,
Pierre Cardin revolutionized as a businessman
also the fashion market: He invented the
Prêt-à-Porter, men's collection off the
rack. He was the first haute couture
designer, who already in 1959 designed a
collection for the department store Printemps
- 45 years ago before Karl Lagerfeld and
his H & M-coup.
ICON:
From cutlery to
furniture, underwear and socks - there is little
for which you do not stake your good name. Not
afraid of trivialization?
Cardin: Well, you
know, when I showed my first collection at the
Printemps in the department store, they
whispered, in one year, the house Pierre
Cardin will only be history. Nevertheless,
you see, I am still here, the only one, and
above all, I am still my own boss. What I always
wanted is to make design affordable for people
on the street, to democratize fashion.
ICON:
Your understanding
of democracy extends up to a Pierre
Cardin-frying pan?
Cardin: I find
nothing dishonorable in a frying pan. It is just
as beautiful and practical as a glass. And
where, quite frankly, is the big difference
between a frying pan and a perfume? Why should
perfume be luxury and glamour, and a frying pan,
in which you can produce wonderfully fragrant
and savoury dishes, not? It is all just a matter
of psychology. Why should something be valuable,
just because it is more expensive? Luxury
does not impress me in the least. Caviar is
not better as leeks. It is the idea, the
creation, which has value. Also without the
frying pan, I would not be here and could
organize theater festivals.
ICON:
Do you still design
today?
Cardin:
Absolutely, and every day. I still design
nowadays two collections per year, but only
women's fashion. The volumes, the silhouettes,
that is still my territory, the details I leave
these days to my assistants.
Pierre Cardin grabs himself the pen and starts
obliviously to draw on the paper under his plate
with an agile hand a long-legged model in a lush
robe with butterfly peplum.
ICON:
They say, that it
was you who invented as a tailor at Christian
Dior in 1946 the famous New Look - the
lavishly covered skirts, the narrow waist...
Instead of answering, Cardin pulls under another
plate a second paper out and draws well-versed a
model in the typical Dior look with the
characteristic big hat.
ICON:
So who was it: you or Christian Dior?
Cardin: Of course
Monsieur Dior – as you write the article and are
not the newspaper. I worked three years for him,
and was responsible for the coats and the
costumes.
For
his precise fashion drawings, Cardin has become
famous.
ICON: Of what are
you proud?
Cardin: That I am
the only one and first fashion designer who
became a Member of the Académie des
Beaux-Arts. Moreover Honorary Ambassador
in various institutions in Russia, Japan, China
and France. And the UN. Who else can say
that of himself? Nobody.
ICON: You were
also the first Western fashion designer, who in
1978 went to China and held a fashion show in
the Forbidden City…
Cardin: I was and
I am a capitalist, and the Communists have
welcomed me with open arms. If I have learned
anything in my life, it is worthwhile to be the
first.
Espace Pierre Cardin
du
17 au 20 février 2016
texte Linda,
webmaster
Pour le festival d'art lyrique de 2015 au
théâtre de Lacoste, Monsieur Cardin a demandé à
Cyrielle Clair et
Gérard Chambre
de travailler sur un projet à propos de cette
inoubliable étoile. C'est ainsi qu'est né
«
Marlene comme une caresse - Dietrich
comme un coup de cravache
»
texte de la charmante et ravissante actrice française,
auteur et metteur en scène Cyrielle Clair et de
l'acteur, chanteur, compositeur et metteur en
scène Gérard Chambre.
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