Fashion house Pierre Cardin creates spacesuit for astronaut training

STORY: Bridging the worlds of high fashion and space exploration, French fashion house Pierre Cardin has designed an astronaut training suit, set to be used at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) center in Cologne.

:: September 9, 2024

The prototype was unveiled at Pierre Cardin’s workshop in Paris on Monday (September 9), and tried on by German astronaut Matthias Maurer.

:: Paris, France

“You can tell the difference if it was just made by engineers or if there’s also somebody who knows how to work the textile. So the original space suits that I’ve worn so far always had pressure points, a lot of pressure points. And now it feels very nice inside.”

The CEO of Pierre Cardin, Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin said designing a suit for astronauts meant his artisans had to develop specific techniques for volume and structure, as they do with ready-to-wear fashion.

“I’m really so happy, finally, because you know after one year and a half, two, for this work to arrive here – and it’s not finished but it’s a big step – and for us it’s important to have the answer of the astronaut who say, ‘Okay, that’s a good way, good direction.’”

After more tweaks, the suits will be used in LUNA, a new moon surface simulation building at the ESA.

To create an outfit that could help simulate conditions on the moon, the fashion brand developed fabrics that could resist extreme temperature conditions, and at the same time offer comfort and mobility.

“A spacesuit is like a small space ship. It has air system, it has cooling systems, it has a radio system, it has navigation system. It has a lot of different equipments. This is just for training. This is only to be used in Cologne on the ground. But we can learn a lot just training with this suit.”

As fashion evolves to meet the challenges of climate change, these innovative features are important, the fashion house says.

An engineer as well as a designer, Basilicati-Cardin said the space suit had already given him ideas for some designs for the next ready-to-wear collection.

Pierre Cardin was the first designer to sell clothes collections in department stores in the late 1950s.

It was also the first brand to enter the licensing business for perfumes, accessories and even food, now a major profit driver for many fashion houses.