Parachute: Subversive Design and Street Fashion

The book "Parachute: The Story of a Brand" chronicles the pioneering and subversive fashion brand Parachute and its influence on the evolution of fashion in the 1980s and beyond. It features hundreds of images, including personal photography from the founders, and explores the brand's history through its visionary designs and innovative retail presence.

Format: Hardback
Length: 360 pages
Publication date: 07 May 2024
Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications

From its humble beginnings inspired by the New Wave subculture to its status as an international fashion phenomenon, the Parachute brand from Montreal has been recognized for its visionary, bold apparel, and innovative concept stores. Avant-garde in attitude and design, Parachute seamlessly blended high and low, the establishment, and the underground. The clothing was characterized by androgynous looks, oversized silhouettes, elevated essentials, and graphic references to past and future, from exaggerated trench coats to "space samurai kimonos." Accompanied by a thoughtful retail presence, which combined an industrial aesthetic in the stores with exuberant photography campaigns, the brand created a vision for street fashion that remains highly relevant today.

Author and fashion historian Walker delves into the history of the brand through hundreds of images, many of which have never been published, including personal photography from the founders of the label alongside striking editorial and campaign imagery. A favorite label of stars such as Madonna, Peter Gabriel, and David Bowie, Parachute encapsulated the exuberance of the 1980s while also signaling the future in clothing and retail. Uniquely designed with ephemera layered over photographs, as if in the founders' own scrapbooks, this book offers a definitive insight into a highly influential cult 1980s brand and serves as a valuable reference for fashion historians and designers alike.

The text for this book is available in both English and French.

Weight: 1834g
Dimension: 300 x 220 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780847899722