You know Pierre Cardin? Of course you do. His name is everywhere: on neckties and handkerchiefs, ballgowns and furniture. Sunglasses, fragrance, lamps, a car.

But the man himself – and yes, there is a man – is much more than the name he successfully licensed for more than 900 products over his 70-year career. In a new documentary, House of Cardin, American directors P. David Ebersole (known as David) and Todd Hughes chart the rise of one of fashion’s most incognito but groundbreaking designers, from his humble beginnings as an Italian immigrant (he changed his family name from Cardine) to the present day.