Pierre Cardin, mod designer and godfather of licensing -- he was the first to stick his logo on everything from frying pans to silk cigarettes -- has a new role: party planner. First he bought the Marquis de Sade's chateau in Provence and started throwing fêtes there. And now, at the age of 80, he thinks Maxim's -- the dusty-chic French restaurant he's owned since the eighties -- should feel young again. He's been having weekly parties at Maxim's in Paris "for young people," and last Thursday he held one at Maxim's on Madison Avenue. (He has also begun, naturally, to license Maxim's food products.) We caught up with Cardin by phone in Beverly Hills, where he was visiting with Nancy Reagan.
Tell us about your Maxim's party.
We try to change a little bit Maxim's. When I was young, to go to Maxim's was something special. It was very exciting to go where there were all these rich people.
Why is it just for young people?
In my youth, you would not see the girls without their parents. But now they can go in the night when they are 14 or 16. And they dance.
Do you dance?
I'm just looking. I can dance, of course, but I don't want to.
No older people at all then?
Some. But it's better if it's young people. They dance.
What about Nancy Reagan?
Well, yes, of course! She'd like it. She'd understand.
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