Fashion designer Pierre Cardin died in 2020
Pierre Cardin, the fashion designer who broke new markets, pioneered branding and brought revolutionary design to not just fashion, but many other arenas, died aged 98 on this day in 2020.
Cardin, the youngest son of Italian- parents who began a career as a tailor in wartime under the Vichy government, before working for Paquin and Dior in Paris.
On opening his own fashion house in 1950, he immediately challenged Paris haute couture by creating ready-to-wear clothes and menswear fashion as well as giving his name to many products from perfumes to furniture, sunglasses and airplanes.
He is remembered for his futuristic fashion designs and for introducing models of different ethnic backgrounds to the Paris runway. He was often the first designer to break into new international markets including Russia and China. At one stage there were over 100,000 Pierre Cardin stores around the world.
He was involved in the running of his empire until his final days, and continued to be a mentor to up and coming designers.
Cardin was bisexual and had spoken openly about the many affairs he enjoyed with men including his long-time assistant André Oliver who died from AIDS in 1993. He notably had a four year long relationship with actress Jean Moreau in the 1960s.
His life was documented in the documentary House of Cardin.
Jazz musician Billy Tipton was born on this day in 1914
Billy Tipton, who died in 1989, was an American jazz musician, band leader and talent broker.
His career began in the mid-1930s where he led a band for radio broadcasts, he played in dance bands through the 1940s and recorded two albums of music in the 1950s. He then went on to work as a talent broker.
It was only after his death in 1989 that paramedics discovered he was assigned female at birth, something that friends and family were unaware of. Tipton had been living as a man since the 1940s.
While he’d never married he’d had longterm relationships with five women, all of who referred to themselves as Mrs Tipton during the relationship’s course. None were aware of Tipton’s birthsex and he’d reportedly told then he’d been in an accident that disfigured his body.
Tipton’s life has inspired songs, plays, cabaret shows, novels, and films including the documentary No Ordinary Man.
