Partner Pierre Cardin
Queer Places:
Eve, 118 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Hotel de Clermont-Tonnerre, 12 Rue François 1er, 75008 Paris, France
15 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006 Paris, France
André
Oliver (1932 - April 22, 1993) joined Pierre Cardin's fashion house in 1951 and became
Pierre Cardin's right-hand man, friend and fellow creator. The company had been in existence for just one year but Cardin had already made his mark and was being heralded as the new young star of Paris high fashion. Under his energetic, far-sighted yet often iconoclastic direction, and aided by Oliver, the enterprise expanded and diversified to become the multi-million pound empire that it is today.
Oliver's particular forte was evening wear and he composed magnificent gowns in luxurious fabrics often replete with cascades of ruffles. He was responsible for many of the evening dresses worn by Claude Pompidou, the wife of the late President of France; Bernadette Chirac, and other fans. He also was a popular host, entertaining prominent social figures like Lady Grace Dudley, Marie-Helene de Rothschild and Gianni Agnelli at dinner at his home on the Rue du Cherche-Midi.
As Artistic Director, this debonair and charming man had an onerous and crucial role in leading Cardin's fiercely loyal, close-knit and sometimes volatile design team. They shared a vision and Cardin had complete trust in Oliver's joint handling of the haute couture activities which are central to his vast product licensing network. The rarefied and elitist couture studios and workrooms in the Faubourg Saint-Honore and Hotel de Clermont-Tonnerre serve as laboratories for ideas which percolate through the entire gamut of merchandise bearing the Cardin label.
In the 1980's, Oliver ran a men's shop that bore his name on East 57th Street in Manhattan. In addition to tailored clothes, the show was known for its Shetland and cashmere sweaters in up to 35 colors.
It was backed by Cardin, who thought his long-time associate should have a business of his own, and Danny Zarem, who had introduced Cardin's men's clothes to Bonwit Teller when he was a vice president at that store. Among the big successes of the 1960's was a navy blue blazer with gold buttons that became as ubiquitous as Gucci loafers among status-conscious men.
Apart from his short solo period in the United States, Oliver remained a senior figure in the Cardin organisation for 42 years. Both men were fanatically hard workers, and collaborated in the complex and often fraught process of generating thousands of designs, with the twice- yearly haute couture shows acting as creative pivots and their showpieces. At the end of these glamorous occasions, Cardin always took his bow on stage accompanied by Andre Oliver, thus acknowledging his important contributions to every collection.
It was a measure of his importance that Cardin insisted that Andre Oliver's portrait must feature full-page in front of the V & A's exhibition catalogue and added a personal caption thanking him for his part in the creation of all the fashions illustrated.
Andre Oliver died at the Laennec Hospital in Paris on April 22, 1993. He was 61 and lived in Paris. His friends said he died of AIDS.
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