Leading fashion figures attended the ceremony for the Space Age designer, who died last month at the age of 98

Leading fashion figures attended the ceremony for the Space Age designer, who died last month at the age of 98

French First Lady Brigitte Macron Leads Mourners at Pierre Cardin Funeral Mass

| post by Amiebenomo Nizar | 

PARIS — Mourners led by French First Lady Brigitte Macron gathered at the Madeleine Church in Paris on Friday for a funeral mass for Pierre Cardin, who died last month at the age of 98.

His great-nephew and heir, Rodrigo Basilicati Cardin, was joined by members of Cardin’s inner circle including Jean-Pascal Hesse, his director of communications; Maryse Gaspard, director of haute couture, and Pierre Pelegry, director of Maxim’s restaurant.

Basilicati Cardin, who was named chief executive officer of the Cardin brand last October, said Macron had requested a meeting with his great-uncle, whose headquarters are across from the Elysée presidential palace in Paris, shortly before his death, but Cardin was too ill by that time to see her.

“I thanked her for being here today to represent France. I felt she was sincere,” he told WWD after the ceremony. “I think Pierre Cardin deserved it, because he represented French couture worldwide. He always said that France made him who he was, so I thought it was very kind and decent of her.”

Macron accessorized her Louis Vuitton cape coat, trousers and boots with electric blue leather gloves that matched the color of her face mask.

Meanwhile, members of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, known as Immortals, donned their ceremonial jackets, embroidered with olive branches, to bid a final farewell to Cardin, who in 1992 became the first fashion designer elected for life to the prestigious institution.