“ If you wear things you adore, you just look better.” Margherita Missoni
In the mid 1960’s knitwear suddenly became interesting. Solid hues were replaced with brillant colors that zigged and zagged in wild patterns, teasing the eye like the Op Art of the same decade. What happened? MISSONI! The eponymous line created by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, a name now synonymous with Italian fashion and design. Ottavio died in 2013 (age 92) and Rosita, his wife and co-founder, passed on January 1st of this year. Together they founded a successful family business and changed the reputation of the Italian fashion industry. It is a fascinating story.
Ottavio was the son of a Dalmatian (Croatia) Countess and a sea captain. He was an Olympic athlete, competing in the 1948 Olympics in London. Rosita was born into a family of textile manufacturers founded by her maternal grandparents where both her parents and she worked. Rosita studied languages and was on a trip to London to improve her English when she witnessed Ottavio compete. They were introduced by a mutual friend and married in 1953. Rosita left her family’s textile firm and she and Ottavio founded their own knitwear company. A Olympic athlete and his 21 year-old bride starting a clothing company might sound extremely risky unless one knows that Ottavio and an Olympic teammate had founded an activewear business making tracksuits for athletes. He is credited with inventing the zipper legs and their functional approach led to the suits being worn by the 1948 Olympic team.
In the early years, as they started their family, knitting machines were housed in the basement (an early iteration of a WFH couple). By 1958 they were producing under their own label and selling to the top department store in Italy – La Rinascente.
The investment in a new warp based loom (known as the Raschel) allowed them to produce lightweight, vertically striped dresses. This was new in the industry and they began to attract the attention of fashion journalists.
Rosita was the company’s creative director and in 1967 produced a catwalk show that caused a sensation. As the models prepared to walk, Rosita noticed that the sheer fabric showed their underwear so she had them remove the undergarments. The runway lights revealed the models in all their original glory and caused an international scandal! Then, as now, scandal simply created intense publicity and the press followed them back to their home base in Milan, helping to create that city as an Italian fashion capital.
The Missoni line was soon represented by Neiman-Marcus, Saks and Bloomingdale’s opened the first in-store Missoni boutique.
Interestingly, the former Olympic athlete, Ottavio, was also a watercolor painter and his patterns and colors inspired the fabrics, while Rosita developed the cut and shapes of the garments. They formed an unusual creative team and all three of their children also joined the business, adding their own unique talents.
In 1997, the company was officially turned over to their children. The oldest son, Vittorio, became the firm’s CEO and marketing director; second son, Luca, technical director and menswear designer and daughter, Angela, became creative director. Together they expanded Missoni into a lifestyle brand. Rosita remained active and involved with the company’s expansion, concentrating her efforts in developing the brands furniture, hotels and collaborations with other companies until her death January 1, 2025.
Rosita and Ottavio broke new ground with their distinctive and intensely colored flame stitched patterns, known as “fiammata.” Their constant experimentation and innovation created an unmistakable identity and visual language spoken worldwide.
Start a little “fiammata” in your own Purely Personal style with color and pattern!
