Claude Montana

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.

Early life

Claude Montamat was born at Place du Palais-Royal in Paris on 29 June 1947, the youngest of three children of a German mother and a Catalan-Spanish father, a former army officer who owned a textile manufacturing company. Claude attended the prestigious Lycée Condorcet and completed his baccalauréat, but his refusal to choose a "respectable" career led to a falling-out with his highly bourgeois family. He briefly worked at the Paris Opera but, by age 20, he was living in poverty in London, where he began making papier-mâché Mexican-style jewelry covered with rhinestones; he was now using the name 'Montana'. The jewellery was discovered by British Vogue, which gave it a two-page spread. This led to retail opportunities but Montana's lack of a British work permit forced him to return to France.

Career

Montana shared an apartment with his friend, designer Thierry Mugler and returned to work at the Paris Opera, where one of the costume designers encouraged him to start drawing. His sketches were discovered and, in 1972, he was hired as an assistant and cutter at the luxury leather goods house Mac Douglas; when his boss left the company, Montana was given responsibility for a third of its line.