Farewell to the French designer Claude Montana, who established himself among the protagonists of fashion in the 1980s, soon forgotten by the public due to his financial problems.
The designer, according to AFP reports, died on February 23 at the age of 76, in Paris, in the Bretonneau Hospital in complete solitude, forgotten by everyone.
Claude Montana was born in Paris in 1949, to a Catalan father and a German mother.
The real family name is Montamat, but not even his close friends could pronounce it correctly, so he decided to change it.
After attending the Paris Opera and obtaining his high school diploma, at just seventeen, the young Claude left his parents to set out to discover Swinging London.
In London he got noticed by making papier-mâché jewellery, covered with rhinestones.
It will be Olivier Echaudemaison, who at that time created the covers of British Vogue, who introduced him to the London and then international fashion scene.
His official entry into fashion took place in the Seventies, but he created his own brand only at the end of the decade, in 1979.
Success came in the Eighties.
In a post punk era, Montana designed a powerful woman, a geometric silhouette, with broad shoulders that gave the whole a futuristic air.
Amplified volumes, suits and inverted triangle jackets.
A palette of bright colors to confirm the supremacy of women over men.
With these credentials he soon became a regular at evenings in the fashionable club "Le Palace", and above all established himself as one of the leading couturiers of Parisian fashion.
His theatrical shows were considered events, defined as "great shows", on a par with those of his colleague Christian Lacroix.
His style influenced the fashion of the period, and he was also much loved by divas.
Cher is at his side at the presentation of the Fashion Oscar.
Brooke Shileds, Jeanne Moreau, Charlotte Rampling became the ambassadors of his maison.
After rejecting Dior's offer to become its artistic director and to deal with both high fashion and ready-to-wear, he landed at Lanvin who wanted to relaunch his collections.
From 1990 to 1992 he became creative director of Lanvin, obtaining great critical acclaim, but not the corresponding financial success, for which he was fired from the fashion house.
After his wife's suicide, Montana had to face a long period of economic crisis, so much so that he had to sell his fashion house in 2002. He began to have health problems and in 2008, he was beaten at home by a former dancer hooked up in a nightclub .
An episode from which he suffered serious consequences.
He also had to face a trial, where his attacker accused him of having given him hepatitis B. "Yes, I miss fashion terribly - he confided in 2016 -. I'm a veteran now. I've been forgotten".
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