In her latest book “Madame Cardin. A la cour du dernier empereur de la mode”, Sylvana Lorenz tells the story of her life with Pierre Cardin for more than thirty years. The fashion designer died on 29 December 2020, at the age of 98. The curtain has fallen, the performance is over. He was the man she loved and who did not marry her. Her confidences during my visit to her Parisian home.
Smiling, Sylvana Lorenz, in a red and black suit signed Pierre Cardin, opens the door of her flat on Avenue Niel, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.
It’s not a surprise, she had warned me: her world is a replica of the first floor rooms of the famous Maxim’s restaurant. Pierre Cardin ordered the work there with his own artists. It is as if the late designer wanted to leave his mark forever on the life of the woman who devoted her boundless love to him.
On the wall, the turquoise or celadon green paintings, with Maxim’s painted in golden letters, create a nostalgic atmosphere. Another era, La Belle Epoque. One feels “almost” in a museum: furniture, tableware with Sem’s drawings, household linen are all signed with the name of the man with 800 licences. Portraits of Cardin signed by Gérard Le Cloarec and Dimitri Parant immortalise the deceased. Behind the piano, a black and white photo of Françoise Sagan with Jacques Chazot and Annabel Buffet catches my eye.
The artist Patrice Breteau has stylised the corridors of the flat with murals identical to those in the Palais Bulles. Sylvana lends herself to the game of posing in front of a painting by Pal Sarkozy, Nicolas Sarkozy’s father, who exhibited at the Espace Cardin in 2010. Fully committed to her mission as Pierre Cardin’s biographer, the hostess answers my questions.
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