Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 | 11 a.m.
Dressed in a blue blazer and taupe trousers more fitting of a department store tailor, French fashion designer Pierre Cardin said Wednesday he will be the first to bring a permanent haute couture show to Las Vegas.
Cardin, 79, a global fashion icon with a company of 200,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenues, said he plans to open a cutting-edge fashion show that would compete with such current and future Strip resort acts as Siegfried & Roy, Celine Dion and Blue Man Group.
"Fashion today is very glamorous and Las Vegas is a city in the world where you can have that," Cardin said. "The people are here for the gambling. They are here for the fancy clothes. They are here for the dream. I believe in Las Vegas. It will become more like the biggest cities around the world and more fashion people will come."
He made his comments in an interview shortly before the opening of a 50-year retrospective show Wednesday at the Hard Rock Hotel showcasing classic designs from the late 1940s to the early 1990s, including space-age chic to minimalist fluff. It was a first move toward making the haute couture fashion show -- where one-of-a-kind designs are shown -- accessible to the general public, he said. Even if the event, part of the MAGIC apparel trade show, was by invitation only.
Cardin has not contacted any casinos yet but says he's serious. He has already committed himself to visits to Las Vegas once every two months.
"I must change the dress and the movement every few months to keep the life (of the show)," he said.
Debbie Munch, spokeswoman for Park Place Entertainment, which owns Paris, Las Vegas, said her company "would be pleased to talk to Mr. Cardin about his show concept."
Without commenting on the specifics, she said "couture was warmly welcomed to Las Vegas when the Forum shops opened in 1992 at Caesars," noting that Gucci was planning to show its spring collection there later this month.
If Cardin's plan works, New York, long the U.S. capital of fashion, would be a sideshow on the flight home to his Palais Bulles (bubble palace) near Cannes or to the Marquis de Sade castle, which he purchased in March. "I can stop in New York if I want to, no problem," he said.
Cardin thinks his work would fit in Las Vegas, sharing neon with such acts as Wayne Newton, the Treasure Island pirate show and topless dancers.
In 1959 Cardin presented the first ready-to-wear collection in Paris, making sophisticated tailoring available to women who didn't necessarily have $10,000 to spend on a dress. His men's "cylinder" collection came out the following year. For those acts of industry blasphemy, he fell out of favor with the Paris cultural elite, Cardin's company said.
Later he was extolled for creating fashionable clothes for men and for his ability to create trends rather than follow them.
More recently, as Cardin has dipped into the restaurant, theater and appliance businesses -- and sold more than 900 licences for use of his name, he been criticized in the design industry for reducing high fashion culture to an omnivorous mass-produced label available in outlet stores and shopping malls.
So Cardin says he is coming to Las Vegas to rejuvenate his line and increase his popularity. And he wants the marquee.
Fred Segal, of the Fred Segal Store in Santa Monica, Calif., a central boutique label for Hollywood stars since the 1960s, said establishing a permanent show in Las Vegas could help.
"Las Vegas is the airport of the world, or it will be, so he's making a very bright move," Segal said. " Howard Hughes said Las Vegas would be the center of the world 25 years ago. It's one of the healthiest places as far as climate. The only detriment may be the gambling, it's tough. But that's what made it, so God bless it."
Not everyone is convinced Cardin can survive in the blatant, bare-all culture of Las Vegas.
Dana Cambuston, a Los Angeles fashion designer who owns the Fifi label, said, "I don't know how sexy his stuff is and this is a pretty sexy town. Everyone likes to show a lot of skin. He's more edgy, more avant-garde. But maybe he'll show me some something."
He probably won't show everything.
"To be sexy, you must be very covered," Cardin said. "All the ladies today are naked. With that, how can you expect more?"
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