Broughton Quarterly - Spring 2009 - (Page 34) PHOTO BY RON MURRAY Lucky Brand’s retro style ad campaign (bottom left) makes models of the company’s founders; Gene (far left) with his son, Gianni Montesano, Craig Ferguson, and Barry Perlman at the Lucky Brand Foundation’s annual fundraising fete; Montesano at Café Luck (right), his new French bistro in Santa Barbara, 2009. DENIM DREAMS he Lucky Gene story starts in Brooklyn, where he was born in 1949, but jumps quickly to Miami, where he moved with his family—one older brother, two younger sisters—when he was 10. “We didn’t have as much as most others,” remembered Montesano. “We had beige pants, and if I wanted blue pants I dyed them in the bathtub.” His father, a mechanic, died when he was 15, and when Montesano graduated high school he decided to skip college. Instead, he and Barry opened a clothing store called Four Way Street in 1972 amidst the “fantastic” scene that was South Miami. That’s when the Laundromat missions started, when they began adorning pants with rhinestones and nail heads, and when business began booming. “It was something different,” said Montesano, explaining that until that point, the height of denim style was a pair of low-rider bell-bottoms. In 1978, Montesano came to Los Angeles, fleeing a Miami scene that had become addled by drugs and wracked by violence. In L.A., he worked as a “factory rat” for a number of designers, making chump change while the bosses got rich. “These guys were doing pretty good,” he said, “and I was getting a bicycle as a bonus for Christmas.” He did, however, work for a stint under the Marciano brothers of Guess? fame. “They showed me that hard work could really pay off,” he recalled. “They always treated me right.” With that knowledge, Montesano decided to set out on his own, and in 1982 Bongo Jeans was born. The young women’s brand exploded. Overnight, Montesano went from making $350 a week to cashing his first $80,000 check—and then his first $1 million check. “To me, that was the ionosphere,” said Montesano of the sudden riches. “I didn’t really know what that meant, and I probably still don’t have a feel for reality that much. … Every once in awhile I would call Barry and say, ‘Am I okay? Am I the same guy?’” T 34 broughton Quarterly SPRInG 2009
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