P.C. to dress Russians

Press, 20 December 1985, Page 6

P.C. to dress Russians

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The French fashion designer, Pierre Cardin, signed yesterday an initial agreement for his clothes to be made under licence and sold in the Soviet Union. He said after the signing in Moscow that he would supply designs of clothes for men, women and children twice a year for production in the Soviet Union, and train Soviet couturiers in Paris.

Cardin, head of one of the leading Paris fashion houses, said that he would

also organise the setting up of a 10,000 sq m shop in Moscow where his clothes would be sold. He lavished praise on Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. - “The Russian people now have a wonderful image, that is Madame Gorbachev, whom I consider one of the most elegant women in the world. A ravishing woman .... who is the image of the trade I represent.”

Mrs Gorbachev visited two fashion houses in Paris in October, and Western fashion writers have found

her appearance stylish after the comparatively dowdy wives of former Soviet leaders. Cardin, aged 63, declined to put a value on the deal. “It depends on several factors.” But he was confident that his clothes, to be produced at 32 factories, would reach a significant number of the Soviet population. “My dream would be to dress all 280 million, but... I think that in two years we shall easily reach five million people.” He had planned initially to send a full line of 21 articles, including dresses,

shirts, skirts, raincoats, suits, trousers, and accessories. The prices had yet to be set.

The workshops would use Soviet materials. Quality control would be maintained by sending trained staff from Paris and by training Soviet designers at his Paris ‘ headquarters. A-Deputy Light Industry Minister, Ivan Gritsenko, who signed for the Soviet side, said that the Cardin shop would be in Moscow’s former Olympic village and would open next year when the site had been completed.