The story of Montana
Claude Montana started out making jewellery before working with leather for other labels. In 1979 he launched his own brand in Paris. His jackets with monumental shoulders and sharply built silhouettes became one face of 1980s fashion. In 1986 came Parfum de Peau. The house credits Jean Guichard with the original formula. Édouard Fléchier is linked to its reformulation, needed in part because of the civet. The couture house stopped in the late 1990s, but the perfumes carried on. Claude Montana died in 2024. Parfum de Peau remains the brand's reference scent.
An olfactory signature
Parfum de Peau lives up to its name, skin perfume. It smells of leather and flesh with no detours. Blackcurrant, pepper and cardamom attack briskly. Marigold and ginger follow before a base of leather, patchouli and civet. Older versions put more peach and plum up front. The result is dark and animalic, firmly rooted in its decade. It recalls the designer's leather jackets more than clean skin after a shower.
Which Montana perfume to choose?
Parfum de Peau is for fans of strong leathers and chypres. If you like Bandit or Cabochard, try it. Wear it in winter and at night. One spray is enough, two at most. Avoid closed rooms. The current formula is fruitier and more floral than the 1986 version. If you find an old bottle in good condition, the comparison is worth it.