Queer French fashion designer CLAUDE MONTANA was, according to the British milliner Stephen Jones.  The House of Montana was founded in 1979, and  in the 18 years of its existence, Montana made an indelible mark on fashion which has been forgotten about for years, but now may possibly be on the edge of a revival. 

By birth Montana was Spanish/German and he started his career by designing papier-mâché jewelry covered with rhinestones.  It was a hint of the outrageousness he would favor when he started designing clothes.  An avid colorist with a real passion for working with leather  he very quickly made his mark with his exaggerated and aggressive silhouettes.

Montana was the king of the wide shoulders and whilst others also worked this shape. his clothes always had the most theatrical ones which so perfectly captured the fashion of the decade.

He even added his infamous wide shoulders to Montana Hommes which he started in 1981.  By then riding the crest of way Montana ws also designing haute couture for Lanvin too.

But by the 1990’s it all came to a sudden end and Montana seemed to disappear of the face of the earth at the same time the popularity of his clothes dropped off as buyers moved on to softer smaller silhouettes.  He had quite the reputation for his addiction to both drugs and alcohol which was responsible for his own self-destruction. It meant bankruptcy, but also the suicide of ihs American wife whom the openly gay Montana had married to maintain a front for his investors and the public at the time.

Now  in 2019 with a new capsule collection of archival Montana reissues by Byronesque and Farfetch – revived and reimagined for today, and this brief documentary from NOWNESS there is this gentle concerted attempt to properly recognise this almost forgotten radical fashion genius