How Pierre Cardin became friends with Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya
The French fashion designer saw Plisetskaya on stage and fell in love with her performance of Carmen, with her temperament and passion.
They first met in 1971 at a theater festival in French Avignon. As Cardin himself admitted, he would have been too shy to approach the ballerina – they were introduced to each other by the then USSR Minister of Culture Ekaterina Furtseva. From then on, Plisetskaya became the muse and friend of the French designer for the next 45 years.
Cardin created endless dresses for her for public appearances and costumes for performances, including for ‘Anna Karenina’ (today these fantastic outfits are displayed in the Bakhrushin Museum in Moscow). In the late 1990s, their joint ‘Fashion and Dance’ show took place in the Moscow Kremlin.
“For me, in the world of fashion, everything begins and ends with Pierre Cardin. For me, he is the standard of taste, imagination and beauty. And he never goes out of style,” said Plisetskaya about her genius friend.
The legendary ballerina never paid for the designer's items and dubbed them “royal gifts”, as she called them. But, he himself always refused money.
These and other facts from the life of the great ballerina can be learned in the ‘The Century of Maya Plisetskaya’ exhibition at the Moscow Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center until February 14, 2027.
