The French fashion designer Pierre Cardin died at a hospital in Neuilly, west of Paris, on Tuesday at the age of 98.

“It is a day of great sadness for all our family. Pierre Cardin is no more”, - the statement said.

France’s Fine Arts Academy confirmed Cardin’s death in a tweet, adding that members of the academy were “very sad”.

Born into poverty in 1922 near Venice in northern Italy, his family emigrated to France when he was a young child. He grew up in the French industrial town of Saint Etienne. At the age of 17 he became an apprentice to a tailor in Vichy and was already specializing in women’s suits. He then moved to Paris, where he designed the mesmerizing sets and costumes for the film “Beauty and the Beast” with poet, artist and director Jean Cocteau in 1947. After a stint with Christian Dior, Cardin founded his own fashion house in 1950.