Angela Missoni: Patrons of Patterns

For the Missonis, business and family are closely entwined. We spoke to the Creative Director, Angela Missoni, and she opened up about her experiences, her magnificent journey, spearheading a spirit of patterned fashion.

Perhaps, there’s no psychology behind the psychedelic zigzag, atypical to the brand, but one look at the classic design and the reaction is Pronto, ‘it must be a Missoni!’ For some decades now, the sometimes crazy, sometimes striped, sometimes wavy, sometimes coloured, sometimes monochromed zigzag, but always striking, has carved a design history of its own, and so have its creative and business heads. Beginning with Ottavio Missoni himself, who co-founded the brand with his wife, Rosita Missoni, the Italian heritage brand has evolved into a success story of three generations. And along the way in the whirlpool of spools, spins and yarns, the zigzags and stripes, along with its multiple reincarnations, have metamorphosed from being heirlooms, to paving their way to runways, and camouflaging into accessories, champagne bottles, Havaianas slippers and many more, writing a glorious chapter of its own, in the world of fashion signatures and lineages.

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A significant member, Angela Missoni, has been forwarding the legacy from her mother, infusing it with her own, undisputable knack and knowledge, which will propel Missoni to greater heights in the years to come. This inheritance is certainly congruent of the fact that it comes from an Italian fashion dynasty such as theirs, which also lets its heirs build their own identity, like Angela did with her various creative lines, that she launched over the years.

What are the upshots of being a part of Missoni?

It is both a privilege and a great responsibility. It means, having inherited a very vital modern invented language, a style made of fashion, colours and patterns, that must be improved, and updated endlessly and tirelessly.

Tell us about your early years. Were you a rebel of a different kind?

Maybe yes. I always knew I would have worked, and to be a mother has been my dream and priority. And from 23 to 28, I had three babies in a row that kept me busy enough, but I never really stopped having ideas; to make projects, to start businesses on my own of various kinds, and also to orbit around the factory. My interests always ranged between organic breeding and cultivations, fashion and interior design, in addition to home decoration. Luckily, my parents never forced any decision on me; never showed to have any expectation, and never asked. I was let free to express myself.

The designers that you grew up admiring...

Definitely my mother, who taught me all what I know. Then, obviously stalwarts like Sonia Delaunay, Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. Also, in my teen years, I felt empathic towards the styles of Kansai Yamamoto, Elio Fiorucci and Norma Kamali, and with the shoe designs of Maud Frizon. Later on, I admired the ideas of Jean Paul Gaultier, Romeo Gigli, Azzedine Alaïa and many others...

Your journey, from starting your own line to designing for Missoni’s main lines...

At one point, while I was deciding to start my own business and leave the company (at 28), my father suggested that I refer to the factory, to take advantage of its technical possibilities. Hence, I started something on my own. It was a clever way to make me step back in. I have created a line ‘Angela Missoni’, focusing on knitwear in solid colours, getting more and more confident with creative direction and industrial management. My mother appreciated my ideas–‘‘this is what Missoni should be today” is what she said and asked me to take over her work as “the creative direction of Missoni”.

How would you define your relationship with a fashion force like Rosita?

My mother was my mentor and my more convinced supporter. I have learnt by working on her side, all what I know about fashion design and production. She passed me her energy and determination, her will to succeed, to improve and to evolve indefatigably, along with a bundle of professional skills and experiences. We have always had a strong relationship, a beautiful and respectful complicity, a mutual appreciation of our tastes, analogies and differences. To watch Rosita at work, and then to assist her have been my school. I admired her devotion to the business and to the family, as I was impressed by her serenity in quitting, in letting me take control, without ever interfering since.

What are the challenges of helming a fashion house that has knitwear at the core of its brand?

Missoni doesn’t simply mean knitwear. It is fashion, the invention of a style, a language made of colours, stitches, prints and patterns, that could evolve and still evolves by updating and improving the loom’s, technical possibilities. That is why the story of our knitwear starts from horizontal stripes and includes consequentially vertical stripes (an intuition of my mother; that started cutting and turning knitting as if it was fabric), zigzag, either called chevron (originating from the adoption of raschel looms), rounded or squared waving, peanut-shaped motif, and so on. Declined in several sizes, tonal ranges, wool, silk, linen and cotton threads, the zigzag became a signature pattern back in the early 70s, when Missoni got its international recognition with the idea of putting together several different patterns. The success of the zigzag knitwear is due at once to its timeless and innovative quality, as it is an encounter of memory and modernity that became the Missoni manifesto.

What kind of a fashion philosophy does Missoni subscribe to?

Missoni is a projection in the present-future of the craftsmanship tradition, a fascinating encounter of memory and innovation. It is a 60-year-old story that keeps fresh and vital, endlessly versatile and fascinating, open to infinite formal and chromatic declinations. It is a lifestyle.

Tell us about your famed collaborations, especially with chains like Target, etc?

The Missoni partnerships have been several. Target or Havaianas, Smithson, Converse, San Pellegrino and so on, testify the versatility of its language, that can be applied and declined to merchandises of different kinds, and ultimately defines an eclectic vision, a colourful and patterned lifestyle. The first pop high-diffusion experience, the one of Missoni with Target, has been incredibly successful, sold out online before Target was opening and putting the Missoni line on sale in its retail stores. Notoriously American, Target offered to Missoni the occasion to confront the largest market worldwide, and the success of the experience surprised us, as an unexpected feedback on the fame and appeal our brand has kept internationally along the years, on its endless coolness.

Your daughter, Margherita Missoni, is being mentored to take over the reigns from you, just like you did from your mother. Your advise to her?

It really is too soon to make any prediction. Margherita has shown to be very skilled, but she is now, where I was, when I became a mother. While she takes care of her newborn two babies, she is consulting for the production of baby and kids’ lines, away from Missoni for now.

Who would you like to dress in a Missoni?

Well, from Charlotte Rampling to Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola), from Faye Dunaway to Michelle Obama, and from Anna Piaggi to Charlotte Casiraghi...lots of beautiful people have been wearing Missoni along the years. The list really is infinite. It is hard for me to imagine more options. What I like the most, is Missoni worn by friends and regular people, women I meet around the world, that are able to surprise me, for the way they style our clothes, for the way they are successfully interpreting and personalising them. We are planning to open another Missoni flagship store in Mumbai alongwith the existing one in New Delhi. As for the production itself, we only use embroideries coming from India, but the entire production is made up in Italy and in other European countries.

Your thoughts on Indian designers?

I am a big fan of Manish Arora. I find a special taste on colours and a great sense of beauty and modernity in all the bestknown Indian designers. I love them; the eye they have on shapes and decorations, their original, funny and spectacular visions.

From the March 2016 issue of L’Officiel India.