Missoni
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Missoni
(Italian knitwear and fashion house)
- Founded: in Gallarate, Varese, Italy, 1953, by Ottavio Missoni (born in Dalmatia, 11 February 1921) and Rosita Jelmini Missoni (born in Lombardy, 20 November 1931).
- Company History: First collection produced for Rinascente Stores, 1954; Missoni label introduced, from 1958; first Paris showing, 1967; Missoni SpA workshop and factory established, Sumirago, 1968; first New York showing, 1969; first boutiques opened, Milan and New York, 1976; fragrance line introduced, 1981; Missoni Uomo and Missoni Sport lines introduced, 1985; Angela Missoni collection introduced, 1992; Angela took control of firm, 1997; launched footwear line, 1998; M Missoni debuted, spring-summer 1999; new flagships opened in New York and Paris.
- Exhibitions: Solo exhibition, Il Naviglio Gallery, Venice, 1975; retrospective, La Rotonda Gallery, Milan, and the Whitney Museum, New York, 1978; solo exhibition, Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, and the University of California, Berkeley, 1981; retrospective, Ridotto/Pergola Theatre, Pitti Immagine Filati, Florence, 1994.
- Awards: Neiman Marcus award, 1973; Bath Museum of Costume Dress of the Year award, 1974; American Printed Fabric Council Tommy award, 1976; Gold Medal of Civic Merit award, Milan, 1979; Fragrance Foundation award, 1982; Tai Missoni given Arancia award, 1986; Rosita Missoni named Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, 1986; Fashion Group International Design award, 1991; Munich Mode-Woche award, 1992; Dallas Historical Fashion Collectors Stanley award, 1999.
- Company Address: Via Luigi Rossi 52, 21040 Sumirago (Varese), Italy.
- Company Website:www.missoni.com.
Missoni exemplifies success in a specific fashion area, knitwear for men and women. In the knitwear business since 1953, the business begun by Ottavio (Tai) and Rosita Missoni took off with recognition by Anna Piaggi in 1965 and was one of the landmark enterprises of the Italian renaissance in postwar fashion products through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1968 and 1969, Missoni garnered worldwide attention for knit dresses, coats, and sweaters that revived the sensational appeal of knits in the 1920s. From a start in producing the finest knits, the Missoni repertory came to include pullovers, long coats, chemises, trousers, and skirts. Even more, in the 1970s, the Missonis' deliberate allegiance to Milan heralded that city's eminence as a fashion center and helped create Milan fashion week.
Primarily creators of exceptional knitwear, Missoni has been noted as an art as much as a business. Technology provides a range of fluid knits and special effects, but the identifying and indescribable aspect of the Missoni knits is color, the affinity to art. Most importantly, Missoni brought a vivid sense of imagination to knits, rescuing them from the heirlooms and old-fashioned aspects of handknits and from the conventional sameness of many machine-knitted products. Like many Italian products of the postwar period, the value of the product was not in its handwork, but in the unquestionable supremacy of design attained through machine. Today computers and sophisticated machines make the Missoni knits, yet they remain exceptional in their colors and texture and have become a staple in both menswear and womenswear.
Tai Missoni's introduction to the knitwear business was as an athlete. Knitwear was for active sports, but by 1958 a striped Missoni knit shirtdress was produced and the crossover from sports to casual living was underway. The sports heritage remains in some graphic boldness, including stripes and zig-zags and even patchwork. What enhances Missoni for daywear and even for evening (especially with Lurex) are the subtleties within. Rosita told Elsa Klensch, writing for the New York Post (24 May 1978), "Our philosophy since we went into business has been that a piece of clothing should be like a work of art. It should not be bought for a special occasion or because it's in fashion, but because a woman likes it…and feels she could wear it forever."
Little the Missonis have produced ever depended upon fashion. Instead, their knits seem perennial: a Missoni design might be worn with a favored color one season and still be compatible with other colors in other seasons. Bernadine Morris of the New York Times (26 March, 1979) believed the Missonis "elevated knitted clothes to a form of art," and as such they were recognized as visible status symbols in the 1970s and 1980s. By the middle 1990s the Missoni name graced a sexier style of apparel, brought about by Angela Missoni, who had begun designing her own signature collection in 1992. Celebrities flocked to buy the sensual knitwear, the new enthusiasts including Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Ashley Judd, and Julia Roberts.
In 1997 Angela took the reins of the company and over the next few years increased brand awareness through a wide range of licensing, from rugs to footwear. New flagships in New York and Paris were opened, while a new bridge line, M Missoni, was introduced for spring-summer 1999. By the early 2000s, Missoni was more than a vital force in knitwear; the firm had gone far beyond its founders' original vision to encompass Missoni designs for an entire lifestyle.
Publications
On Missoni:
- Books
- Mulassano, Adriana, The Who's Who of Italian Fashion, Florence,1979.
- Alfonsi, Maria Vittoria, Leaders in Fashion: I grandi personaggi della moda, Bologna, 1983.
- Giacomozzi, Silvia, The Italian Look Reflected, Milan, 1984.
- Aragno, Bonizza Giordani, Moda Italia: Creativity and Technology in the Italian Fashion System, Milan, 1988.
- Tutino Vercelloni, Isa, editor, Missonologia: The World of Missoni, Milan, 1994.
- Stegemeyer, Anne, Who's Who in Fashion, Third Edition, New York,1996.
- Articles
- Buck, Joan Juliet, "The Missoni Way," in WWD, 12 March 1975.
- Klensch, Elsa, "Knit Together for 25 Years," in the New York Post, 24May 1978.
- Morris, Bernardine, "Missoni's Clothes a Hit As Milan Showings Open," in the New York Times, 26 March 1979.
- Buckley, Richard, "Tai and Rosita: Designing Missoni for the Future," in DNR, 4 January 1984.
- Piaggi, Anna, "Ottavio e Rosita Missoni: legati a doppio filo," inL'Uomo Vogue (Milan), October 1987.
- "Missoni in mostra: freschi di stampa," in Donna (Milan), February 1988.
- "In diretta da Milano: l'energia concentrata di Missoni," in Donna, October 1988.
- "The Missoni Story," in Donna supplement, October 1988.
- Menkes, Suzy, "Missoni: First Family of Knits," in the International Herald Tribune, 12 July 1994.
- Muir, Lucie, "Italian Designers Bring Body Conscious Looks Center Stage," in WWD, 18 September 1996.
- "Missoni," in WWD, 24 February 1998.
- Zargani, Luisa, "Missoni Planning New Bridge Line for Women," inWWD, 23 July 1998.
- Williamson, Rusty, "Missonis Win Stanley Award," in WWD, 20May 1999.
- Sloan, Carole, "Missoni on a Mission," in Home Textiles Today, 13November 2000.
- Jensen, Tanya, "Missoni's Fiery Femininity," online at FashionWindows, www.fashionwindows.com, 2 October 2001.
— Richard Martin; updated by Owen James
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Missoni
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (Consider using more specific cleanup instructions.) Please help improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (November 2008) |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | Gallarate, Lombardy (1953) |
| Founder(s) | Ottavio and Rosita Missoni |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Angela Missoni, Luca Missoni, Vittorio Missoni |
| Products | Knitwear |
| Revenue | €60.1 million (2010) |
| Owner(s) | Missoni family |
| Website | www.missoni.com |
Missoni is an Italian fashion house based in Varese. It is notable for its knitwear designs, made from a variety of fabrics in colourful patterns. The company was founded by Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953.
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Contents
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Brands
Aside from the main Missoni line, the company has diversified into a variety of luxury goods. Missoni Sport was initially licensed out but production and marketing was brought in-house in January 2002 and has since been discontinued.[1] M Missoni is a less expensive line introduced in 1998, manufactured and distributed by Marzotto (now Valentino Fashion Group S.p.A). It has achieved remarkable success in being able to reach a larger number of consumers and is now being sold at premier department and specialty stores across the world.[1]
The Missoni Home collection has its roots in furnishing fabrics produced in 1981 in collaboration with Rosita's family firm.[1] They launched their first perfume in 1982,[1] although that product has nothing to do with the license now held by Estée Lauder.
In November 2005, Missoni and the Rezidor Hotel Group signed an agreement to create Hotel Missoni, a lifestyle hotel chain, with plans to have 30 hotels open or in development by 2012. As of March 2011, five properties have been confirmed.
- Hotel Missoni Edinburgh - Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom - opened June 8, 2009
- Hotel Missoni Kuwait - Kuwait City, Kuwait - opened March 1, 2011
- Hotel Missoni Jebel Sifah - Muscat, Oman - opening Q1 2012
- Hotel Missoni Ilha de Cajaíba - Bahia, Brazil - opening Q1 2012
- Hotel Missoni Belek - Belek, Turkey - opening Q1 2013
- Hotel Missoni Mauritius - Baie du Cap, Mauritius - opening 2014
The first property, Hotel Missoni Edinburgh, opened on June 8, 2009 in a prime location on the city's Royal Mile. The second property, Hotel Missoni Kuwait, will open in a luxury mixed-use development on the seafront in early 2010. A property was previously announced for Dubai's Palm Jumeirah island, but has since been cancelled. The third announced property for the chain will be the 300-room Hotel Missoni Jebel Sifah, a beachfront resort located outside of Muscat, Oman; it is planned to open in the first quarter of 2012. A fourth property, Hotel Missoni Cape Town, was announced on June 9, 2009; the 157-room property was due to open in 2010 shortly after the FIFA World Cup, but has been placed on hold and temporarily scrapped. The chain's fifth property, the 150-room Hotel Missoni Ilha de Cajaíba, will debut in northeast Brazil in early 2012. A new 138-room golf and spa resort in Belek, Turkey, was announced in 2010; it is due to open in 2013.
History
Ottavio "Tai" Missoni was born in 1921 in Dubrovnik (Ragusa in Italian).[1] His father, Vittorio Missoni, was an Italian sea captain (and son of a Furlan magistrate transferred in the then Austrian- ruled Dalmatia) and his mother, Teresa de' Vidovich Countess di Capocesto e Ragosniza, was a Dalmatian noblewoman.[1] Before World War II he was an international athlete, but spent most of the war as a POW in Egypt.[1] After the war he set up a workshop with his friend Giorgio Oberweger, making wool track-suits.[1] His "Venjulia" tracksuits were adopted by the Italian team at the 1948 Olympics in London, and Tai himself qualified for the final of the 400m hurdle race.[1] At Wembley he met Rosita Jelmini, daughter of a family of shawl makers in Golasecca in the province of Varese.[1]
They married in April 1953, and set up a small knitwear workshop in Gallarate, not far from Rosita's home village.[1] In 1958 they presented in Milan their first collection, called Milano-Simpathy, which was the first to bear the Missoni label.[1] The business prospered, with the support of legendary editor Anna Piaggi, then at Arianna.[1] On a trip to New York, Rosita met the French stylist Emmanuelle Khanh in 1965, which led to a collaboration and a radical new collection the following year.[1] Their fame was assured in April 1967, when they were invited to show at the Pitti Palace in Florence.[1] Rosita told the models to remove their bras, supposedly because they were the wrong colour and showed through the thin lamé blouses.[1] The material became transparent under the lights and caused a sensation.[1] The Missonis were not invited back the following year, but the business went from strength to strength, building a new factory in Sumirago in 1969.[1] With their designs being championed in the US by Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, they opened their first boutique there, inside Bloomingdales.[1]
In the early 1970s Missoni reached the peak of its influence in the fashion world. Tai Missoni then became more interested in other projects, everything from designing costumes for La Scala, to designing carpets and tapestries. Rosita has admitted that in the 1990s she lost interest in fashion, before handing over to her daughter Angela in 1998. Rosita now is responsible for overseeing the design of all home projects.[2]
Ottavio Missoni was Sindaco (Mayor) of Libero Comune di Zara in Esilio (Free Commune of Zadar in Exile).[3]
On September 13, 2011, Missoni made headlines briefly when Target Stores offered low-cost variants of Missoni products in their stores and on their website. Most items sold out within 24 hours, with lines up to 100 people long waiting for restocking, and Target's website crashed repeatedly. Many items appeared on eBay within hours, at two to three times markup[4].
Style
Missoni knitwear is known for its multitude of patterns such as stripes, geometrics, and abstract florals, in a kaleidoscope of colours.[5] They are also known for the liberal use of many different fabrics such as wool, cotton, linen, rayon and silk.
Family
The three children of the founders play a large part in the business. Vittorio (born 1954) is the Marketing Director, Luca (born 1956) was responsible for the design of the menswear collection through to the Spring/Summer 2008 collection. Angela (born 1958) was only the womenswear designer but took over menswear beginning with the Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection. Luca in turn became the head Creative Director/Director of the company from then on. [6]
Luca's daughter, Jennifer Missoni, is an actress who has appeared in Off Broadway theatre productions, and in episodes of Damages and the Law & Order series.[7] Angela's daughter, Margherita, designs accessories at Missoni and is also a model, signed to [Marilyn Agency]. She is the unofficial muse of the Missoni collection and the face of their two perfumes and was the face for Missoni for Target collection. Creative Director Angela Missoni brought her entire family and some friends to London for one of their latest campaigns, shot in London's Museum of Everything.[8]
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Missoni History". Missoni S.p.A.. http://www.missoni.com/ing.html. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
- ^ Menkes, Suzy (2003). "Missoni's family mosaic". International Herald Tribune (London). 2003-12-02. http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/12/02/missoni_ed3_.php. Retrieved 2008-04-07.[dead link]
- ^ "Article from ',Corriere della Sera',, an Italian newspaper". Archiviostorico.corriere.it. 12 February 2004. http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2004/febbraio/12/Missoni_esule_Zara_applaudo_Europa_co_9_040212036.shtml. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- ^ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-13/features/chi-targets-website-crashes-after-missoni-launch-20110913_1_target-hits-target-collection-target-corp September 13, 2011.
- ^ "Missoni: Evening Dress 1984.589.5a,b". Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/itfa/hod_1984.589.5a,b.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-07. Evening dress from Winter 1978 collection
- ^ "Missoni catwalk show at the V&A". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/fashion_motion/missoni/index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-05. Has lots of photos of Missoni knitwear
- ^ Jennifer Missoni at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "Missoni in the Museum of Everything". Dazed Duary 2011. http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/9452/1/missoni-in-the-museum-of-everything. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
External links
- www.missoni.com Official Website
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