Pierre Cardin & The Chinese Government Thread

In the late 70's, China began to look into expanding into the textile and clothing industry and encouraged foreign designers. Shortly after being invited to China in 1978, Pierre was appointed 'Fashion consultant' by the Chinese Government

The expectation of his job was to "advise the Chinese on how to style their textile products to make them more marketable to the West"

The relationship began because the Chinese needed help for economic reasons, but the designer knew he could benefit from the potential of the "Far East." He stated "If I can produce one button for for every Chinese, that's 900 million buttons.”

In 1979, he flew some two hundred and twenty outfits from his archive, and a dozen models to China, and unleashed them onto a Chinese audience truly unprepared for what they were about to see. Chinese officials, uncertain of how the audience would react and banned the press

So shocked from what they saw to what the social norm of style was. Pierre knew he had to present a new era of style. Helping push the "Mao" era into "post-Mao" creating a "post-Mao Suit"

Chinese officials worried about the Western fashion economics. & the negativity the futuristic shows may bring to the culture. After shows in the late 70's, Cardin proposed developing a 'Modeling team' to represent local fashion

Shortly after, the Shanghai Garment Company duly assembled the first group of 'Official Chinese Fashion Models'. You had to be 5"4 with a 80 cm/60cm/80cm ratio in the bust/waist/hips

Models were poorly paired & expected to be model citizens. They had to undergo lessons in movement, makeup techniques, sewing and also physical fitness training. Embracing the name "Fashion Performance Teams" by Chinese officials

The selection of trained models debuted in February 1981, at the Shanghai Friendship Movie Theatre, where the new models showed garments produced by the local Shanghai factories

In 1980 the country's first fashion magazine, Shizhuang (translating to ‘Fashion’) was published. In 1981, Cardin returned to China to create his largest show ever at the Workers Stadium in Beijing with direct support from the Vice Mayor

On 23 May 1985, Cardin returned to China to stage his largest show ever once again at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. 10,000 showed to watch Chinese models display his latest collection, along with a twenty-member orchestra

Following the spectacular 1985 event Cardin sought to bring nine Chinese models to Paris. He would dress them in traditional dresses and bring Chinese culture, and style, to the West - with permission from the Chinese government

"Perhaps only Pierre Cardin could have managed to push Chinese fashion onto the global stage in this way since he had access to the platform to do so, and a unique diplomatic alliance with the government to use it."

Pierre Cardin helped create the Chinese Fashion industry, in doing so, maximizing it to what it is today. & Although not receiving profits til the late '90s, his greatest achievement was to help lay the foundation for their cultural engagement with fashion