MILAN — The information of Rosita Missoni’s demise at age 93 led to fond reminiscences of the designer, whose unbridled imaginative and prescient and aptitude for colour and patterns left an indelible mark on the worldwide trend trade.
“I’ve discovered with nice disappointment of the demise of Rosita Missoni, the opposite half of a pair that I’ve at all times checked out with respect and admiration for having created an inimitable model,” mentioned Giorgio Armani. “Rosita, together with her good style, her robust character and imaginative and prescient, is an instance that continues to be an inspiration. That is how I bear in mind her.”
Carlo Capasa, chairman of the Digital camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, mentioned that Missoni, collectively together with her late husband Ottavio, identified all through the trade as Tai, is credited with writing a singular web page within the historical past of trend.
“Rosita Missoni was each a powerful and delicate girl, who collectively together with her husband Ottavio created one of the lovely and distinctive tales of Italian trend, [defined by] an unmistakable model and an genuine strategy, very artistic and on the identical time wealthy in nice humanity that she was capable of convey to the world alongside her lovely household,” Capasa mentioned.
After the couple married in 1953 in Golasecca and settled in Gallarate, they arrange a small knitwear workshop they referred to as Maglificio Jolly. Tai Missoni had begun dabbling in trend six years earlier when, alongside along with his buddy and teammate Giorgio Oberweger, he produced wool tracksuits to be worn by the Italian Olympic group in London. His coach had a small knitting firm in Trieste, a metropolis in northeastern Italy, and collectively they made the primary wool tracksuits which, he marveled later in his typical understated means, met with robust demand. Later, the Missonis rose to the fore on the worldwide stage as “colour geniuses” and have been the primary to make coordinating separates in numerous patterns, a zigzag prime with a polka dot skirt, for instance.
New York-based trend journalist Marylou Luther recalled first assembly Missoni in 1953, shortly after she and Tai had based Missoni. At the moment, so as “to see their assortment, you needed to journey to their headquarters/dwelling close to Gallarate. As soon as there, you turned a member of their trend household,” Luther mentioned.
The couple’s clarification of why it was not possible to create knits with vertical stripes — until you had Missoni know-how and tools — was certainly one of Luther’s most memorable trend moments. A lot so, she wrote certainly one of her trend recommendation Clotheslines columns concerning the significance of selecting vertical stripes if you wish to seem thinner, whereas horizontal ones have been “fattening.” Luther added, “Vertical stripes have been thinning. However the place have been they? Reply: Solely at Missoni.”
Julie Gilhart, founder and president of consulting agency Gilhart & Co., mentioned: “Rosita Missoni was really legendary. My first actual job in trend was at Neiman Marcus, the place I labored underneath the enduring purchaser Benita Downing, who found the Missonis for the shop. She as soon as advised me the story of Rosita and Tai arriving at her resort in Paris on a wet night time with a suitcase of their soon-to-be iconic knits.”
The couple’s perseverance was exceptional, she mentioned. “They exemplified the most effective in methods to run a trend enterprise, with exhausting work, willpower, loyalty, and a deep sense of household and pleasure. Rosita was a pressure for all issues good, somebody I’ll at all times mirror on as a mannequin for methods to dwell and work nicely within the trend enterprise.”
New York-based designer Diane von Furstenberg echoed this and mentioned that though she didn’t know Rosita Missoni nicely, she had a lot respect for Rosita and her husband. “They represented the most effective of Made in Italy!”
The Missoni household constructed their dwelling in Sumirago, a verdant city in northern Italy. There Rosita would welcome her youngsters, grandchildren and even nice grandchildren and domesticate her aptitude outdoors of the studio. She was a devoted porcini mushroom hunter who additionally tended to her kitchen backyard and henhouse and cherished cooking.
Starting in 1996, Tai and Rosita progressively handed management of their trend empire to their youngsters Luca, Vittorio and Angela, handing the design obligations to their daughter. For a lot of, the Missoni label is the symbol of a profitable household enterprise, which was run with ardour and dedication for many years. That rang true for the group and prolonged household they constructed round their label.
Business leaders like Joan Burstein, founding father of Browns in London, remembered Rosita fondly as a pricey buddy. “She was a great matriarchal, heat, hospitable and beneficiant girl. I’ll always remember her lunches at Sumirago with Tai, Angela, Luca and Vittorio.”
Laura Larbalestier, former shopping for director at Browns, remembers Missoni and Burstein hitting the dance ground collectively at Burstein’s 90th birthday at Claridge’s in 2016. “They have been actually shut mates and positively related of their strategy. They actually cherished trend. The enjoyment they bought from it was what saved them working for therefore lengthy,” mentioned Larbalestier.
Geoffroy van Raemdonck, former Neiman Marcus Group chief government workplace and luxurious retail professional, mentioned: “I had the privilege of figuring out Rosita Missoni for a few years. Her heat and creativity left an indelible mark on everybody she met. It was a privilege to have fun her exceptional contributions in individual on the Neiman Marcus Awards in Paris in 2023 — an unforgettable second that underscored her influence on our trade. She shall be deeply missed, however her brilliance will dwell on.”
Michele Norsa, who spearheaded the acquisition of Missoni as industrial companion of FSI, turning into vice chairman of the corporate till 2020, described her as “a beautiful individual, candy, influential, well-respected, affectionate and hospitable, in love with flowers and colours, she vastly impressed the world of Missoni House. We’ll miss her very a lot.”
Among the trade’s personalities remembered Missoni on social media, too, together with designer Lavinia Biagiotti, who shared photographs of each her and her late mom Laura with the style home’s cofounder. “Sending a heat hug stuffed with brotherly affection to Angela, Luca, and all of the household in reminiscence of our pricey Rosita,” learn the caption. “An exquisite mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother, a rare girl, visionary entrepreneur, an icon of fashion, magnificence, and creativity, and an irreplaceable buddy for all times.
“Our households have at all times shared a bond that transcended work, stuffed with real heat and mutual admiration,” Biagiotti wrote. “Rosita’s legacy is woven into the material of trend historical past: her unmistakable colours, vibrant patterns, and visionary spirit are pillars of Made in Italy. Thanks, Rosita, on your lovely friendship that has introduced me a lot consolation even after the lack of my mom, Laura, and for all of the great issues you could have given us by means of your life.”
Filippo Grazioli, who served as Missoni’s artistic director from 2022 to earlier this yr, additionally shared a picture of the model’s cofounders that was captioned: “A real genius. Rosita Missoni has at all times been a big supply of inspiration for me. I need to bear in mind her for her distinctive model, the modernity of her creations, the daring use of colour, and the freshness that outlined the essence of Missoni.”