Pierre Cardin in 2007 at the Château du Marquis de Sade, of which he had been the owner since 2001, in Lacoste in the Lubéron.

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Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP

Was Pierre Cardin a little masochistic when, after having bought, in 2001, the castle of the Marquis de Sade, he increased his real estate acquisitions in Lacoste?

The couturier planned to transform this village in the Luberon into "Saint-Tropez of culture", without the locals really being very keen on this idea. 

The story had started well.

When the big name in fashion, who died this Tuesday at the age of 98, offered himself the ruins of the 11th century castle, “it didn't really bother people [because] no one had the money to buy it and restore it, ”Anne Gallois, who lives in the town, told AFP in 2017.

“It was from the moment he bought houses inside the village with all his might that things got worse,” added the one who wrote

Du Côté de chez Sade, the story of a sold village

.

Over the years, the couturier has therefore increased his acquisitions in the town, already prized in their time by André Breton, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Henri Cartier-Bresson or René Char.

He wanted to be able to accommodate his guests, open artistic residences, in a word "build" he explained in 2008 to

Le Monde

.

The resistance is organized

Within the village, the opposition was organized, summoned the media, tagged the walls with hostile messages.

In vain: the designer has won over many owners by offering purchase prices "three times higher than the market", affirmed Anne Gallois.

Around ten shops, several galleries, and around forty houses (most often empty outside the summer period) have gradually emerged.

This despaired the inhabitants, but it attracted tourists curious to admire the mountains of the Luberon and the works of Pierre Cardin ... presented in shops illuminated day and night, whose doors are constantly closed.

The couturier's buying and renovating fever has also made it possible to create jobs, at least for a while, and to irrigate the local economy.

"Pierre Cardin has always called on local companies to carry out the work, employing a lot of people," conceded Anne Gallois.

The resistance eventually waned.

Cyril Montana, writer and journalist, with family ties to Lacoste, drew from this story an acid documentary released in 2020,

Cyril against Goliath

.

Style

The couturier Pierre Cardin is dead

  • Provence

  • Marseilles

  • Immovable

  • Culture