CONTINUED

   The Italian design house, Missoni, is known worldwide for their trend-setting, ready-to-wear knit classics, but the house actually started out as a tiny workshop producing athletic track suits for the Italian Olympic team belonging to a Rosita Jelmini Missoni and Ottavio Missoni. The couple’s first big break came in 1964 when they met fellow designer Emmanuelle Kahn and decided to collaborate in designing a knitwear collection together which they showed in Milano two years later. They soon became world-famous, or, rather, infamous, when Rosita, making a last-minute decision, told the models to take off their bras because they ruined the lines of the black silk jersey dresses they were to model on the catwalk. Ms Missoni didn't realize then that under the hot, blazing lights the tops of the dresses would become transparent, and the fashion world was suitably shocked, and they made headlines around the world.
   Ottavio and Rosita Missoni prefer to be known as artisans, and not designers, because their business was firmly grounded in their ability to dream up colourful designs, initially mostly influenced by folk art. They started with stripes, and later incorporated other design influences, thus creating a style of design that is easily recognizable the world over.
   Today, the Missoni design house employs around 200 people at their Sumirago headquarters in the province of Varese, where they use up to twenty different fabrics, including wool, cotton, linen, rayon and silk and some 40 different colours for each of their respective collections. Their clothes range from sweaters to skirts, dresses and jackets, and Ottavio Missoni has also diversified from clothes to tapestries and carpets. And throughout all this rapid expansion over the years, they managed to hold fast to their traditional ideas and maintained quality an important priority. All the Missoni children now work for their parents within the company, and the house continues to strive.
   The Missoni 50th anniversary retrospective runway show featured significant creations from the house’s archives, incorporating both men’s and women’s designs.
   ‘When Angela [Missoni, daughter and current head designer of the line] asked me, I was not entranced because I am still at an age when I look forward, not back,’ said Rosita Missoni, 72, told fashion journalist par excellence, Suzy Menkes of the International Herald-Tribune. ‘But I am the historical memory of the house and I became enthusiastic.’
  The design house, under the strong leadership of Ms Missoni, continues to be a force to be reckoned with on the world fashion stage, and I foresee even greater success down the road. •

Phillip D. Johnson is features’ editor of Lucire.

ABOVE: Missoni’s half-century retrospective.

The Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC) is located at 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2350, Toronto, Ontario M5R 3L2, Canada, and can be reached by telephone at 1 416 922-FDCC (1 416 922-3322), by fax at 1 416 922-4292 or online at www.torontofashionweek.ca.