Missoni
The Missoni brand began in 1953 when husband and wife team Tai (Ottavio) and Rosita Missoni opened a small studio new Milan to produce their distinctive and colourful knitwear. Tai was born on 11 February 1921 in Dalmatia and Rosita on 20 November 1931 in Lombardy. They started off selling their designs to other labels, but soon decided to have their own fashion house.
Superior knitwear was at the heart of the Missoni label. Most notably the use of colour and design that were suggested to be works of art, not merely knitwear. Their unique designs helped assure knitwear remained a popular product and differentiated the Missoni range from old-fashioned hand-knits and the similarity of mass produced machine knits. The distinctive, graphically bold designs using stripes and zigzags are still evident today. By the 1970s and 80s, Missoni knitted clothes were considered as status symbols and this continues with modern devotees being Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Ashley Judd and Nicole Kidman to name a few.
Before Tai and Rosita met however, it was tracksuit production that Tai was involved in, including the ones to be worn by the Italian Olympic Team of which he was a part, in the 1948 London games. Tai was running in the 400 meters hurdles final, and it was then when the teen-aged Rosita first saw him and decided that this was going to be the man whom she would marry, although it was another 5 years before this would happen. It was after their marriage that they swapped tracksuits for knitwear.
Perhaps their biggest break came in 1967 during the showing of the Missoni collection at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, when Rosita told the models to remove their bras as they ruined the line of the black silk jersey dresses they were wearing. Unbeknown to her, the bright catwalk lights made the dress fabric become transparent, and sight of semi-nude models was considered at the time to be shocking and unheard of. This ‘scandal’ was broadcast around the world, and attention became focused on Missoni.
Today, Missoni has branched out into products other than knitwear and their are boutiques all over the world, including New York and Paris. The business is still family-run, although the 3 Missoni children now have pivotal roles in the company rather than their parents, and granddaughter Margherita, who models for Missoni has launched the fragrance ‘Missoni Profumi’.
