Pierre Cardin’s former home in Venice has officially become Palazzo Cardin Museum: a new museum dedicated to the Italian-born French couturier’s work across fashion and design. Inaugurated on September 3 during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The Cardin Museum opens to the public this September 12th with 350 works displayed inside Ca’ Bragadin, the palazzo where Cardin lived and worked during his stays in Venice.
Across almost 1,000 square meters, the creations move through the rooms Cardin once occupied. 130 runway looks date from 1950 to 2020, alongside furniture, lamps, jewelry, handbags, hats, glasses, and design objects.
Seven Decades of Pierre Cardin Fashion
The fashion selection displays different periods rather than following Cardin’s career chronologically. A pleated red wool coat from 1952 appears alongside the geometric silhouettes, vinyl, metal, and Space Age designs that followed in the 1960s.
Cardin’s “Sculptures Utilitaires,” the furniture he began designing in the 1970s, alongside lamps and jewelry, are also on view. Curves and geometric forms run through easily between fashion and furniture, reflecting Cardin’s early ambition to become an architect.
Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, Cardin’s nephew and president of Maison Pierre Cardin, selected the pieces from an archive of around 2,000 runway looks. The display will change over time, bringing different pieces from the Maison’s collections into Ca’ Bragadin.
Cardin’s Connection to Venice
Born Pietro Costante Cardin near Treviso in 1922, Cardin moved to France with his family as a child and established his Maison in Paris in 1950. Venice remained part of his life. He acquired Ca’ Bragadin in the 1980s and used the palazzo to draw and work during his stays in the city.
His connection to Venice began much earlier. In 1951, Cardin created around 30 costumes for Charles de Beistegui’s Ball of the Century at Palazzo Labia, one of his first major commissions after establishing his own Maison.
Seventy-five years later, his creations, furniture, and personal archive return to the rooms he called home.
