Pierre Cardin, famed fashion designer, dies at 98

The French fashion designer Pierre Cardin died at a hospital in Neuilly, west of Paris today (Dec. 29) aged 98, his family told AFP.

Pierre Cardin was born in 1922 in Italy and then his family emigrated to France when he was a child.

Since the 1940s, Cardin specialized in women's suits and built the global business empire. Cardin was the first designer to sell clothes collections in department stores in the late 1950s, and the first to enter the licensing business for perfumes.

Cardin last appeared in public in September at a celebration of the 70th anniversary of his label with an evening of entertainment at the Théâtre du Châtelet that included a screening of "House of Cardin". In this documentary, "work" is the most frequent word. "I have been using tailoring, lines, and fashion to change the world," Cardin said.