Pierre Cardin’s gender-neutral collections of the latter 1960s were the fashion world’s earliest examples of true equality dressing.
Installation view, Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion, Brooklyn Museum. Historically, Western dress has emphasized male-female genders, a tradition that was notably disrupted in the 1920s when Coco Chanel introduced elegant, wide-legged trousers for women as suitable alternatives to day skirts and dresses. As such, the designer’s earliest Space Age ensembles anticipated his gender-neutral collections of the latter 1960s. The show and Cardin suggested that in the future, men and women will dress alike and live in harmony. These ideas were later amplified by the 1966 television show Star Trek, which cast a black actor, Nichelle Nichols, as Lieutenant Uhura, and dressed cast members in unisex clothing inspired by Cardin’s trademark aesthetic. Cardin’s 1960 “Cylinder” collection for men and fashion-forward “Cosmocorps” line in 1964 explored new silhouettes and an ultramodern design language that resonated with visions of an inclusive future, prevalent in the Space Age popular culture of the era. The successive emergence of Cardin’s Space Age aesthetic was a direct reflection of the designer’s quest for greater inclusivity and his overarching desire to appeal to a broader public.