A second edition for the book Parachute: Subversive Design and Street Fashion

Alexis Walker joined the McCord Museum as Curatorial Assistant in Dress, Fashion and Textiles in 2015. She has a BFA in Textiles from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MA in Fashion and Textiles Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She is particularly interested in the intersections of contemporary fashion with art, music, film and pop culture.

She was curatorial assistant for Fashioning Expo 67 (2018), co-curator of Jean-Claude Poitras: Fashion and Inspiration (2019), a joint exhibition with the Musée de la Civilisation, and curator of Parachute: Subversive Fashion of the ‘80s (2021), for which the Museum won the Costume Society of America’s 2023 Richard Martin Exhibition Award.

In addition to her curatorial work, Walker is an embroidery and textile artist as well as a former fashion and costume designer and stylist. She has taught fashion history at George Brown College in Toronto and LaSalle College in Montreal.

Nicola Pelly (b. 1948, Leamington Spa, England) studied fashion & design at the Kingston College of Art in London amidst the youth-driven counterculture music, fashion and art revolutions of the1960s. Immigrating to Montreal in 1971, Pelly worked as a designer for sportswear manufacturer Bagatelle Ltd. before joining Le Château in 1976 as a design coordinator.

After the Parachute stores were closed Nicola stepped back to focus on their young children. She worked with her partner Harry on his projects including collaborating with UNHCR to design a village for refugees.

A landmark in the heart of Montreal for over 100 years, the McCord Stewart Museum bears witness to the history of Quebec’s metropolis as well as its influence in Canada and around the world, celebrating the vitality, creativity and diversity of the communities that make it up.

The Museum amplifies their voices by interpreting and disseminating the remarkable heritage under its custody: six expansive collections of 2.5 million images, objects, documents and works of art that make it one of North America’s leading museums.

In keeping with its commitment to decolonization and sustainable development, it creates stimulating exhibitions and educational, cultural and community-engagement activities that look at the social history and contemporary issues affecting its audiences through a critical and inclusive lens, inspiring them to take action for a fairer society.

The Dress, Fashion and Textiles collection comprises more than 27,000 garments and accessories from the past three centuries, made or worn primarily in Montreal. The collection covers all aspects of women’s, men’s and children’s fashionable dress of the 19th and 20th centuries, including indoor and outdoor garments, underclothing, sports attire, everyday clothing, and dress for special occasions such as weddings and christenings.

The Photography collection encompasses over 2.1 million images that primarily document the social history of Montreal, but also that of Quebec and Canada. Its holdings range from daguerreotypes created in the 1840s to contemporary digital images.

The Archives collection is composed of 850 sets of documents, most of which are archival fonds related to individuals, families or organizations, or special collections organized around a theme or type of document. Totalling over 340 linear metres, these archives cover the entire history of Canada, but focus more particularly on that of Montreal and Montrealers during the 19th and 20th centuries.