"That coat has been round the world. That's when I actually started to make some money!" Pierre Cardin says, stopping in front of a flared, red design among the first exhibits at his new museum in Paris. 

One of the last survivors of the great post-war French fashion houses, Cardin, at 92, still heads a sprawling business empire.

"Back then I hadn't yet become Pierre Cardin. I hadn't found my voice," he says, in uncharacteristically reflective mood.

The avant-garde designer, known for his geometric shapes, dresses decorated with circular and rectangular motifs and  astronaut's headgear, has always tended to look forward rather than backward. But he is making an exception today.