Pierre Cardin has unveiled a new sustainable development award called Prix Bulles Cardin, whose first winners will be announced during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
The award is named after the Palais Bulles, the futuristic bubble-shaped villa built by the designer and located in Theoule-sur-Mer, a few kilometers west of Cannes, perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. The awards ceremony will take place on May 18, during the 75th edition of the festival.
Since the death of Pierre Cardin in December 2020, the house has been managed by his nephew Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin. An engineer by training, Rodrigo intends to present a collection made from entirely recycled fabrics to celebrate the centenary of the founder’s birth.
The company’s multi-licensing business model was once revolutionary, but is now atypical. Today, however, it still has some 180 licenses spread across 140 countries, giving it a unique advantage in introducing more environmentally positive production and distribution systems through its licensees.
«Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil business, so we have a duty to react and reorient the fashion business. It’s something my uncle strongly believed in,» Rodrigo said at a press conference inside Maxim’s, the famous Art Nouveau restaurant in Paris, acquired by the founder in 1981.
Last January, the house presented its first collection since Cardin’s death, focused on space exploration in an exhibition entitled Cosmocorps 3022, which was presented at the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget airport.
Subsequently, the house developed Objectif Terre, or Objective Earth, a series of collaborations with entities such as the European Space Agency, Arianespace and the Guiana Space Center (CSG), which are involved in Copernicus, a joint satellite project to continuously scan and map the state of the planet.
The new Prix Bulles Cardin is intended to recognize five major projects or personalities who have acted to promote major ecological development. These may be film studios, actors or directors; international organizations acting in defense of the environment; activist media; or universities. Another Prix d’Honneur will award 50,000 euros to a young generation company, project or start-up with a dynamic green project.
In addition, during the first annual awards ceremony, a giant series of satellite images taken from Copernicus global mapping will cover the Palais Bulles.
