Claude Montana: Where are You?

The past few season’s have been littered with references to iconic eighties designers and now a new name is cropping up in the style pages – Claude Montana. 

                         

The past few season’s have been littered with references to iconic eighties designers – Azzadine Alaia, Herve Leger and Thierry Mugler have all been name checked, and now a new name is cropping up in the style pages – Claude Montana.

King of the shoulder pad, from his design house in Paris, Montana created the silhouette that we associate with 1980s power dressing – sharp tailoring with exaggerated shoulders and nipped in waists. A cross between Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh, his love of leather and passion for outrageous shapes and strong colours made him something of an enfant terrible of his time.

Kick starting his career with stints producing papier mache jewellery festooned with rhinestones and designing biker leathers, Claude launched his first collection in 1976 – and the fashion pack loved it. 

Over the following few years he developed his unmistakable style, until he cemented his place in the fashion history books by capturing the zeitgeist of the more-is-more eighties. His favourite fabric to work with was leather – he loved the way that something so soft could be moulded to create hard lines and structure – and he wasn’t afraid to play with it.

 Who could resist a white leather suit with enormous shawl collar covered in gold embroidery? Understated he was not.

Claude’s fashion star rose at the end of the decade when he was employed by Lanvin to design the Haute Couture collection. He held the post for two years but, although the press loved his work, the Lanvin customer could not be convinced and the house reportedly lost $50 million.

By this time fashion was changing and the exaggerated proportions of the eighties were on the wane. Such was his talent that Montana’s collections remained must-haves among fashion fans in the know (one look at the role call of models on his catwalks is enough to confirm this – Yasmin le Bon, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigova and even Carla Bruni walked for him), but despite this it became harder and harder to make money and in 1997 he took the decision to sell his business.

Since then the designer has launched a younger label, Montana Blu, along with his own perfumes. He now lives in Spain and, although he may not be the household name that he once was, one look at the autumn collections shows that his influence is still reaching the up-and-coming names of the fashion world.

Claude Montana, alongside his peers Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier defined the hard-edged Parisian power-dressing of the 1980s with his bold, swaggering shoulders, dark inspirations, and clothes built for a woman who didn’t “care about comfort, just about her look” (to borrow his own words).

 His signature silhouette tapered down to a tiny waist and narrow skirt; he often referenced the rough trade of deviant machismo—chains, gauntlets, and studs. Inspired by punk, motorcycle gear, military uniforms, and S and M, Montana’s style was provocative, widely imitated, and irresistible to larger-than-life eighties stars like Diana Ross and Grace Jones.

For Montana, who had no formal training, designing was visceral. “Fashion to me is instinct,” he said. “You have to do what you feel without analyzing.” Born in Paris, he left for London at 20 to improve his English. There, in the early seventies, he created a collection of papier-mâché jewelry, coaxed from a mass of glue and rhinestones, that was photographed for the cover of British Vogue.

Born in Paris in 1949 to a Catalonian father and German mother, Montana began his career by designing papier-mâché jewelry covered with rhinestones. Later, he discovered leather and the complex techniques associated with it, eventually becoming a leading force in leather. 

His first fashion show took place in 1976. 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 the 80s  high fashion along with Thierry Mulger who also favored aggressive shapes and strong colours. 

 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.                       

Montana's fashion shows excelled in styling as well as in presentation. Because of their vibrations, modelling for Montana became prestigious and invitations to his shows the hottest tickets in town. With fashion's return to harder lines in 2007 Montana has become an inspiration for many designers. 

 McQueen praised and honored Montana many times in his collections. Both designers shared a love for construction and high quality. 

On July 21, 1993, Montana married model Wallis Franken. It was a marriage of convenience  and friendship, as Montana was openly homosexual. They were the same age, had been friends for 18 years, and she 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. 

In October 2010 it was announced that Claude Montana and Marielle Cro have been working on a coffee-table book documenting Montana's career. 

The book will include photos and interviews with insiders who witnessed Montana's career firsthand. It's expected to come out early 2011 in U.S and U.K.  
Currently, Montana lives in Spain.