From the late ’70s until the early ’90s, a Montreal-based fashion duo shook up the status quo. Nicola Pelly and Harry Parnass, a designer and an architect, respectively, created Parachute, one of the most forward-thinking brands of its time. Inspired by the grunge-chic, minimalist aesthetic adopted by the era’s subcultures, they pioneered a timeless, androgynous, avant-garde style. After a meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the design world, Parachute had the likes of Madonna, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Cher and Peter Gabriel touting it, and it had a retail presence in over 400 stores in 15 countries worldwide. Now, in a not-to-be-missed exhibition that runs from November 19 until April 24 at Montreal’s McCord Museum, Parachute’s extraordinary designs, international success and contributions to fashion are being celebrated.
The end of the ’70s in Montreal was synonymous with recession and urban decline. People were out of jobs, rent was cheap and pockets of artistic expression emerged. “Out of economic hardship comes creativity,” says Alexis Walker, associate curator for the Dress, Fashion and Textiles collection at the McCord Museum. The new-wave era that hit Montreal and beyond was like a launching pad that enabled artists like Pelly and Parnass to devote themselves to their dreams in a vibrant scene of discovery and creative self-expression. The anti-conformity ethos and young rebellious energy of this subculture made it commercially viable. “What started as an underground scene here [in Montreal] turned into something international and sophisticated while still keeping an underground allure thanks to the type of photography [Parachute] used, the clothing it created and the people who worked for the company,” says Walker.
