Born to French parents on July 2, 1922 in a town near Venice, Pierre Cardin was a teen when he started in dressmaking and quickly embraced the idea of "bella figura." In men’s fashion in particular, Cardin designs have a sculpture-like silhouette. The owner of 800 factories worldwide, a castle, a museum and half a village, Cardin was one of the richest men in France.

In the 1960s, Pierre Cardin dressed his models in shiny patent leather, plastic, and tight, shimmering metallic bodysuits - all of which are totally hip at the moment, too. Cardin presented the above collection at the 2012 Barcelona Fashion Week. Cardin fashion is available worldwide in dozens of franchise and privately-owned retail stores.

Cardin always tended toward Italian futurism. Painters and sculptors, architects and designers had a significant influence on his abstract fashion designs. Cardin’s ideas were often breathtaking - but not really suitable for everyday use. Few men would actually go shopping in a "Made by Cardin" outfit like the above.

Cardin revolutionized fashion: each new collection was different, was more innovative. His creativity appeared to be boundless. He was the first fashion czar to sell affordable haute couture off the rack. The famous Galeries Lafayette department store carried his collections, including the above menswear for the fall/winter season 1983/84.

Fastidious, Pierre Cardin made sure his fashion was cut from the best material. Fabric was made to his specifications. He was usually ahead of his terms in his choice of colors and texture. Cardin set new textile trends, and other couturiers often followed his lead. Above, the designer inspects exquisite tweed wool fabric.

The designer is involved in every minute detail before the models saunter onto the catwalk to present his latest fashion. Above, he tweaked a hairdo here and a hat there for a show presenting avant-garde fashion in Rome in 1960.

Famous fashion designers like to be surrounded by rich, beautiful women. Or better still, celebrities, queens, film stars and female aristocrats. As a businessman, Pierre Cardin was fully aware of the promotional effect that stars like "Bond-Girl" Ursula Andress had when wearing his designs in the glitzy world of Hollywood.

The fashion house that Pierre Cardin founded in 1950 has become both a temple of haute couture and a vast business empire. Cardin has sold more than 600 licenses to produce clothes under his brand name. This discreet leather patch adorns the backside of Pierre Cardin men’s jeans all over the world.

Always good for a spectacular surprise, Cardin let male and female models show his 2008 spring/summer collection striding down a catwalk across a desert landscape in northwestern China. A year later, he sold licenses to China to sell coveted Cardin fashion and accessories.

2016 saw the last Cardin fashion show to date. This time, however, it was presented in classic catwalk style in Paris, the fashion capital and the center of Cardin’s business empire since 1944. As always, the colors and styles were modern and distinctive. The nonagenarian still spends hours every day sketching draft designs.

His fashion and the Cardin empire have made the Italian-born designer not only rich, but also a legend among old-school fashion designers like Christian Dior, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. Pierre Cardin was a match for them all.