| As the one-man show of fashion, he has, over | | | | colored tights, roulette trousers. . . "Working for |
| the last forty-three years, accumulated every | | | | him, I learnt that you could make a hat out of a |
| role: as a visionary designer and tireless | | | | chair," says one of his former assistants, a certain |
| businessman3 , he is so famous that, in China, he | | | | Jean-Paul Gaultier. As the first designer to |
| is sometimes mistaken for the French President. | | | | diversify, he bought the former Theatre des |
| Throughout his career, he has always preceded | | | | Ambassadeurs, near the Champs-Elys6es, and, in |
| his peers in conquering the world; in 1957, he took | | | | 1970, transformed it into a show venue, the |
| the inaugural flight on the Paris to Tokyo route; | | | | Espace Cardin. In 1 978 , he signed production |
| he was also the first couturier to launch a line of | | | | agreements with the Soviet Union. In 1983, he |
| ready-to-wear. 4 | | | | opened the West's first restaurant in China, |
| There is little he has not invented in his tireless | | | | Maxim's. |
| quest for the future; the "cosmocorps"(1963) , | | | | |