Designer Claude Montana, a key figure in 80s fashion, dies

Claude Montana, a key French couturier of the 1980s, has died in a hospital in the French capital at the age of 76.

“The Bretonneau hospital in Paris reported his death this morning,” a person close to the creator told AFP.

With Montana goes one of the key fashion figures of the 80s. A creator who made his fashion shows great theatrical spectacles and who got the entire industry to agree so that his shows

were

considered aspirational and viral, when this word didn't even exist.

Designed to make a lot of noise in the media, they became one of the most followed events by fashion lovers of the 80s.

Linda Evangelista walking during the presentation of the autumn-winter 1992/93 collection by Claude Montana.Victor VIRGILE (Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

With his androgynous and futuristic designs he made a place for himself on the list of the most influential creators of the time.

After several decades, he became a great inspiration for other couturiers much younger than him, such as Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs and Olivier Theyskens.

“Claude Montana's work embodied exceptional craftsmanship.

“His daring creations influenced an entire generation of designers,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the French Fashion Federation.

In the documentary

Montana: the relaunch,

some professional colleagues define him as “extremely perfectionist,” obsessed with “challenging convention” and a creator who used “fabrics that no one else had.”

“It was his sleeves and shoulders that turned me into a fashion follower or a fashion

victim

,” says Marc Jacobs.

Their fashion shows were a spectacle in which the models competed for prominence with the creations.

In the image, the fall-winter 1985/86 collection. Penske Media (Penske Media via Getty Images)

Claude Montana founded his brand in 1979 and found success very quickly.

He was a pioneer in making women's clothing with great references to men's fashion.

He made leather his hallmark and appropriated military fashion to reconvert it into punk pieces in strong colors.

He Montana's perfume was one of the best-selling and iconic of the moment.

The Montana perfume.

After reaching the top with his brand, he was asked by Dior to become its artistic director.

Montana rejected the offer.

Later, he said yes to Lanvin, after going through financial problems, and took charge of both the ready-to-wear and haute couture collections.

Working at Lanvin he received two gold Thimbles, the highest distinction in French fashion.

The fashion of the 80s could not be understood without the shoulder pads and the reinterpretation of women's fashion by Montana, who was also a prominent figure of the Parisian and London nightlife.

Become an idol and a character in the social chronicle, he perfectly represented what the 80s were like, a time of excess, where everything was taken to the extreme.

In 1993, he surprised his personal life by marrying one of his muses, Wallis Franken, when he had always declared himself openly homosexual.

Claude Montana at his home in Paris in 1978, posing for a 'WWD' report.WWD (Penske Media via Getty Images)