Claude Montana (29 June 1947 – 23 February 2024) was a French fashion designer. His company, The House of Montana, founded in 1979, went bankrupt in 1997. He was also nicknamed "King of the Shoulder Pad," designing aggressive silhouettes which came to define the ‘power-dressing’ era of the 1980s.[1]
Early life and design career
Born in Paris on 29 June 1947 to a Spanish father and a German mother, Montana began his career by designing papier-mâché jewelry covered with rhinestones.[2] Later, he discovered leather and the complex techniques associated with it, eventually becoming a leading force in leather.[3][4] His first fashion show took place in 1976. He attracted attention the following year for his leather coats[5][6] and in 1978 was among the most extreme in presenting the broad shoulders that were introduced for the fall of that year,[7] joining Thierry Mugler[8] in showing massively-shouldered[9][10][11] retro science-fiction looks at the end of the 1970s,[12][13] both designers also using the most influential footwear designer of the time, Maud Frizon, for the shoes in their collections.[14] Like Mugler and like Azzedine Alaïa and a few others of this period, Montana's designs displayed a longing for styles of the 1940s and '50s.[15][16] He was an avid colorist and favored blue, red, metallic, and neutral tones, in luxurious materials such as cashmere, leather, and silk. He started his own company, The House of Montana, in 1979, and quickly became a darling of 1980s high fashion along with Thierry Mugler, who also favored aggressive shapes and strong colours.[17] Through 1986, he would continue to be associated with exaggerated shoulder pads,[18] even declaring in 1985, "Shoulders forever,"[19] but in 1987 he began to soften his style,[20] with some moves in that direction as early as 1984,[21] and in 1988 he presented much-reduced shoulders and even shoulderless tops[22] in an architectural but softened spring collection that focused on standaway waists, collars, and jacket fronts,[23] the lines reminding fashion historian Bill Cunningham of the sculpture of Jean Arp.[24] By fall of 1988, he had moved in most of his garments to a completely natural shoulder while still maintaining a commanding line,[25] now given to a geometric trapeze shaping[26] that extended even to wide-hemmed pants,[27][28] a silhouette he would focus on through the first half of 1989. At the end of the eighties, he, along with Romeo Gigli[29][30] and a number of others,[31] contributed to a trend toward dramatic collar treatments[32][33][34][35] on the now-natural shoulders of his garments.[36][37] In the earliest 1990s, Montana returned somewhat to futuristic looks, this time joining a trend toward sixties Space Age revival,[38] with sharply tailored suits featuring vivid colors, prominent zippers, stretch fabrics, and angular but narrow shoulders.[39]
Creations
In 1981, Montana designed his first collection for men, called Montana Hommes, in which he focused on the color and material of each garment rather than trivial details. From 1990 to 1992 he designed haute couture collections for the House of Lanvin, for which he received two consecutive Golden Thimble awards. Despite critical acclaim, Montana's bold designs were financially disastrous for the house, created at a total estimated loss of $50 million, and he was ultimately replaced by Dominique Morlotti. In 1999, he designed an affordable line of clothing for women, Montana BLU. It was inspired by his favorite themes but modified to fit the style of sportswear and citywear.
Personal life
On 21 July 1993, Montana married model Wallis Franken. It was a marriage of convenience and friendship, as Montana was openly homosexual. He wanted to appear more marketable to buyers, and she was his best choice for this purpose.[citation needed] They were the same age and had been friends for 18 years; she also had served as his muse for many of his fashion innovations. Wallis already had two daughters and a granddaughter by a previous marriage. In June 1996, Wallis died after falling three stories from their Paris apartment. The death was ruled a suicide.
Claude Montana died in Paris on 23 February 2024, at the age of 76.[40]
Author
In October 2010 it was announced that Montana and Marielle Cro were working on a coffee-table book documenting Montana's career. The book, "Claude Montana: Fashion Radical", includes photos and interviews with insiders who witnessed Montana's career firsthand. It came out in April 2011 in the U.S and U.K.[41][42]
Awards
Best Women's Collection, Summer 1985, Paris.
Best European Designer, Fall/Winter 1987/88, Munchener Modewoche, Germany.
^Romano, Lois (6 October 1985). "Shoulders of Fortune". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 February 2022. ...Once in London, he resorted to an old grade-school standby in order to make a living: papier-mâché. 'I remembered an old recipe where you take toilet paper and put it in some water and add some glue and cook it and you have paste.' With a little imagination, an eye for color, and luck, he designed a line of Mexican-style papier-mâché jewelry that did remarkably well in London. When he returned to Paris, though, he says, that city, 'wasn't ready for the look. It was too advanced'.
^Russell, Mary (2 April 1978). "Fall Fashion Preview". The New York Times: SM19. Retrieved 12 December 2021. Montana has been perfecting his leather styles for six seasons and leads the pack in quality and style.
^Romano, Lois (6 October 1985). "Shoulders of Fortune". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 February 2022. ...[A]t 25, he became an assistant in MacDouglas, a well-known Parisian leather firm. Within a short time he developed into a formidable force in leather fashions and one of the innovators of the tough-looking butter-soft leather clothing of the '70s.
^Hyde, Nina S. (29 October 1977). "And Now 'Punk Chic'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2022. At Claude Montana, the show began with 12 models marching on stage to loud band music in black leather jackets and leather caps and pants. Silvery chains looped through epaulets caused some viewers to assign a Nazi inspiration to the look.
^Morris, Bernadine (11 April 1978). "Shaking Fashion". The New York Times: 30. Retrieved 12 December 2021. Claude Montana's show was mobbed because six months ago [fall of 1977] he pioneered the pro‐Nazi look in black leather...coats...
^Russell, Mary (12 November 1978). "How They're Wearing It in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2021. Claude Montana's belted and wide‐sleeved coat in the status 'fabric'- leather- has the broadest shoulders in Paris.
^Russell, Mary (1 July 1977). "Paris Signals". Vogue. USA: 151. Thierry [Mugler] and Claude Montana speak to each other every day...There is no competition among these designers; they all admire each other...
^Morris, Bernadine (9 April 1979). "Paris Fashions Unveiled in Super Bowl Style". The New York Times: D8. Retrieved 8 December 2021. Montana and Mugler both pioneered the giant shoulder‐pad movement last year [1978]...
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1988). "Fashionating Rhythm". Details. VI (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 120. ISSN0740-4921. ...Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler...dominated the Paris of the Seventies with aggressively padded shoulders.
^Morris, Bernadine (15 October 1979). "In Paris, High Fashion's Latest Trip is to Outer Space". The New York Times: B14. Retrieved 17 May 2023. Claude Montana...shoulders extended half a foot on each side by padding and huge shelflike sleeves...
^Duka, John (13 November 1978). "Paris is Yesterday". New York. 11 (46): 111–112. Retrieved 11 December 2021. On the Flash Gordon side of French ready-to-wear Retro are such designers as Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, and France Andrevie....At Montana, it took the form of...Italian fascist gone science-fiction fantasy....At Mugler,...a big-shouldered Flash Gordon jacket...
^"Fashion View". The New York Times: SM6. 30 December 1979. Retrieved 10 December 2021. ...Claude Montana's Mongolian Martian Look and Thierry Mugler's Star Trekesque gigantic shoulders....
^Romano, Lois (6 October 1985). "Shoulders of Fortune". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 February 2022. He says that, in a way, he is designing for the woman who doesn't exist anymore. 'That woman doesn't care about comfort, just about her look,' he says. 'It is the woman of Hollywood in the '40s. Today, everyone in the movies wants to look like the girl next door . . . I would love to have designed for the Hollywood of yesterday'.
^Morris, Bernadine (27 February 1983). "The Directions of the Innovators". The New York Times. p. 132. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Today's avant-garde designers -including the Frenchmen Claude Montana, Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaia - strike out in many directions. But, while some seem radical, they are actually reworking themes from the past, borrowing from periods before the 1960's.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1986). "Bright Spring Fashion Takes a Brave New Direction". Details. IV (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 114. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana and Thierry Mugler both structured their jackets with their signature exaggerated shoulder padding.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1987). "The Collections Spring Forward". Details. V (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 102. ISSN0740-4921. ...[M]any Paris designers who came to prominence in the...Seventies established a style that assaulted the eye with aggressively padded shoulders and hard-edged, grand-scale proportions,...identified with the era [through] 1986. Claude Montana, Anne-Marie Beretta and Thierry Mugler were the leaders of this movement.
^McColl, Patricia (17 March 1985). "Paris Takes a Wide View". The New York Times: 69. Retrieved 8 December 2021. As for Claude Montana, who is to big shoulders what Alexander Graham Bell is to the telephone, fashion is simple: 'Shoulders forever,' he says.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1987). "The Collections Spring Forward". Details. V (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 102. ISSN0740-4921. Montana, in his spring collection, now attempted a less aggressive direction, mixing a black leather evening dress top embroidered with metal with a soft organza full skirt.
^McColl, Patricia (14 October 1984). "Fashion Preview: Paris Goes Its Own Way". The New York Times: 101. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Montana seems to have severely tempered his use of shoulder pads, which has been somewhat of a signature for him.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1988). "Fashionating Rhythm". Details. VI (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 134–135. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana's...shoulderless jacket with a plunging back cowl[,]....leather jacket...with a [trapunto]-edged, standaway portrait collar.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1988). "Fashionating Rhythm". Details. VI (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 120. ISSN0740-4921. Montana's...jackets are cut with...protruding fronts that recall...the Edwardian (1901-1910) swan silhouette....[S]kirts sweep away from the stomach in the manner of a sculptured...pouch.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1988). "Fashionating Rhythm". Details. VI (8). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 120. ISSN0740-4921. Montana's spring collection confirmed his stature in the Eighties with stunning architectural designs that suggest Arp sculptures.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1988). "The Colllllections". Details. VII (4). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 189. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana...has lost none of his fierce originality in leaping from his aggressively padded shoulder silhouettes of the past ten years to an unpadded, natural shoulder.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1989). "Designers of the World, Unite!". Details. VII (9). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 199. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana...developed his trapeze line of last season into a smooth A-line pyramid executed with mathematical precision and esthetic integrity of shaping.
^Hyde, Nina (22 March 1988). "Wearing the Pants in Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 March 2022. It is hard to imagine an appealing collection of only pantsuits. But Montana has produced not only that, but one of the most successful collections of the season....Montana's pants are mostly wide- legged, though others, tucked into shoes, appear to be stretch pants.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1989). "Designers of the World, Unite!". Details. VII (9). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 199. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana...must also be credited with championing a fresh view of yard-wide trouser hems.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1988). "The Colllllections". Details. VII (4). New York, NY: Detail Publishing Corp.: 187, 194, 196. ISSN0740-4921. Gigli...introduced Renaissance brocades in great wrap coats with enormous fake fur shawl collars...Memorable signatures of the collection were soaring portrait necklines...[C]olossal winter coat...[with] high, head-framing collar...Gigli...frames the wearer in extravagantly handsome collars.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1989). "To the Future Through the Past". Details. VIII (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 215, 232. ISSN0740-4921. ...[Gigli's] head-framing shirt collars...The signature of [Gigli's] coat is the enormous shawl collar.
^Finley, Ruth, ed. (1 March 1988). "Fall '88: Milan, London, Paris". Fashion International. XVI (4/5). New York, NY, USA: 4. Paris: Details:...high-rise shoulder spanning collars that frame the face...
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1988). "The Colllllections". Details. VII (4). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 191, 212, 215. ISSN0740-4921. ...Claude Montana's coats with extravagant portrait collars...stretch the technical limitations of ready-to-wear to couture level and show a talent in full power....[C]oat with deep capelike collar...[C]oats sculpted with great flaring collars...Claude Montana's wired and sculpted evening jacket collar.
^Hyde, Nina (22 March 1988). "Wearing the Pants in Paris". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 March 2022. He led off his show with a jacket with a collar so tall it stood up like a cuff and almost swallowed the chin. He uses the treatment in coats as well.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1989). "Designers of the World, Unite!". Details. VII (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 220, 222. ISSN0740-4921. While the shoulders are natural and unpadded, several designs have soft, large, pleated shawl collars....[C]ollars fall in soft folds...
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1989). "To the Future Through the Past". Details. VIII (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 260–261. ISSN0740-4921. ...Claude Montana's...coat with an enormous cascading collar[;]....wafer-thin rippling collars.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 March 1989). "Designers of the World, Unite!". Details. VII (9). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 220. ISSN0740-4921. Claude Montana's...shoulders are natural and unpadded.
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1989). "To the Future Through the Past". Details. VIII (3). New York, NY: Details Publishing Corp.: 261. ISSN0740-4921. Montana's...shoulder pads have been removed, replaced by small shoulders...
^Span, Paula (3 March 1991). "Fashion Victims". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 June 2022. Fashion types have been twittering for months about the '60s revival...[W]e face Pucci-style prints, flipped hair with headbands and two-inch swaths of eyeliner on each lid,...[h]iked hemlines and...go-go boots...
^Cunningham, Bill (1 September 1991). "The Rhythm of Fashion: The Fall 1991 Collections". Visionaire. 1 (3): 7. This season [Paris designers] zeroed in on the 1965-67 work of former couture designer Jean-Marie Armand and his inventive, boxy, sharp-edged shapes, echoes of which resurfaced in the collection of Claude Montana. Other Montana influences were Pierre Cardin and Michel Goma, designer for Patou in the mid-Sixties. Montana was the most successful in picking up the spirit of the era and reinterpreting it in his own style...
