Palazzo Cardin opens in Venice as a museum dedicated to designer Pierre Cardin

Pierre Cardin’s Venetian home is preparing to open its doors as a museum filled with the designer’s futuristic creations. Hundreds of pieces will go on display at Palazzo Bragadin, where Cardin lived and drew inspiration for nearly four decades.

A costume ball on Thursday evening will help launch the museum ahead of its scheduled opening on Sept. 13. The event will take place at the palazzo, which Cardin bought in 1981 and used as both a retreat and a place to recharge his imagination.

Cardin’s nephew, Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, chief executive of the label, said the Venetian residence played an important role in the designer’s creative life. The museum will celebrate the vision that made Cardin one of the defining figures of 1960s fashion.

The Italian-born French couturier, who died in December 2020 at 98, became known for unisex, space-age designs. Knit minidresses with bold geometric patterns, unexpected cut-outs and synthetic fabrics helped establish his reputation as a modernist closely attuned to the decade’s changing mood, from Paris to London’s Carnaby Street.

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Palazzo Bragadin was a retreat and a place to refuel his imagination.