MARSEILLE, France, May 7, 2009 (AFP) - Star French couturier Pierre Cardin was released Thursday from a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Marseille after a 48-hour stay caused by high blood pressure, his press service said.

Pierre Cardin - Photo : Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP

"His state of health was judged to be perfectly satisfactory by his doctors and he will be able in a few days to resume his professional activities," it said in a statement.

Cardin, who is 86, was flown by helicopter to Marseille on Tuesday from the southern village of Lacoste, where he each year organises a music and theatre festival in a castle he is restoring that was once owned by the Marquis de Sade.

He was last week also briefly hospitalised for a fracture of his shoulder-blade after falling on stairs.