Angela Missoni & Gianluca Longo at the V&A

The venue chosen for the conversation between Angela Missoni and esteemed fashion journalist Gianluca Longo, was perhaps a little too well heated for my taste. Especially since I was tightly wrapped in black leather and a massive, thickly cabled wool scarf (think Lenny Kravitz on a stroll through Manhattan, running errands on a cold winter's day) worn for protection against London's damp January chill. The setting for this second in a series three collaborations between the Victoria and Albert Museum and Peroni to investigate aspects of fashion and the future of Italian design, reminded me of a posh women’s university lecture hall. Once I reached my seat, I sat up very straight and primly folded my hands on my lap, notebook and pen at the ready on my desk. I felt like a nervous 1st-year student about to attend a lecture by a notoriously grumpy professor. But all that changed when the guest of honor entered the hall...

Classic Missoni on display at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum “Missoni Art Color”. Photo: Courtesy of the Fashion and Textile Museum

Her vivacious nature and megawatt smile immediately warmed the chill of fashion journalist stoicism, injecting a welcome shot of vitality into what had the potential to be a quite staid affair. Missoni has the wisdom, charm, and charisma of a thinking woman’s dream auntie or big sister, and the approachable energy of a well-liked and respected boss or mentor. 

The conversation took on the vibe of a post-dinner party parlor gathering, with Longo guiding the audience through a slideshow featuring Angela’s parents Ottavio and Rosita’s early sketches detailing their design process, collages of Missoni family history, and candid backstage and holiday snapshots. 

Ottavio and Rosita on their wedding day, 18 April, 1953. Photo courtesy of Mame Fashion Dictionary

Angela is the product of a romantic convergence of two creative and skilled artisans, Ottavio and Rosita (Jelmini) Missoni. After a five year stint in a WWII POW camp, Ottavio, the son of an Italian sea captain and Dalmatian noblewoman, set up a workshop with a friend to produce wool jumpsuits for the Italian team at the 1948 Olympics in London, where he was a qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles. Family lore has it that Ottavio and Rosita had their ‘meet cute’ under the Cupid’s Arrow at Piccadilly Circus during those Olympic Games.

Soon after Ottavio and Rosita were married in 1953, they set up a small knitting workshop where they designed and built the Cappadoni knitting/weaving machine, thus pioneering a technique of producing a versatile knitted “fabric”. In their tiny workshop, Ottavio and Rosita created a kaleidoscopic multitude of stripes, geometrics, and abstract floral designs using a patchwork of wool, cotton, linen, rayon, and silk yarns. This signature design became legendary, and secured the Missoni name firmly in the annals of textile and design history. 

But after over 40 years in the business, Rosita, who had honed her “passion for fashion” as the daughter of two generations of knitters and embroiderers, began to lose interest in fashion. Feeling like she was “trapped in a zigzag cage” and that Angela was “young and passionate and had the energy to fight toward the commercial side” of the business, Rosita proposed that Angela take over her duties at Missoni.   Apprehensive at first, Angela (who admitted that to rebel against her parents, she designed only in solids and earth colors), took over the helm in 1998. 

To Angela, business was synonymous with family.  The family’s strong work ethic and deep respect for the tradition of Italian craftsmanship is evident in everything they do. At the age of five, she saw Vogue’s “Double Page” feature writer and Grande Dame of eccentric fashion Anna Piagi dressed relatively sedately in a little black dress, tweed, and a turn of pearls visiting her parents backstage at the first Missoni show in 1966-67.  In 1991, photographer Oliviero Toscani (of the legendary Benetton ad campaign) shot a Missoni family portrait which was the first time the family appeared in a Missoni ad. She had her first official Missoni catwalk show in October 1997.  In 2001 a 16-page spread shot by Mario Testino featuring Margarita, Angela’s eldest daughter, appeared in US Elle, thus launching the Margarita Missoni “It Girl” phenomenon. Margarita is now an accessories designer for Missoni and could possibly take the helm from Angela.

Fashion journalist Gianluca Longo in conversation with the matriarch of Italian knitwear, Angela Missoni

To secure Missoni’s future in the global fashion market, Angela knows she must streamline production to maintain the company ethos.  The global economic bust has heralded newfound austerity and shrinking ad budgets. “The Missoni name”, as Angela puts it, “is much bigger than the company”.  Despite the success of past ad campaigns shot by Marion Testino and the team of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott featuring Gizelle and Kate Moss, images of the family have returned to Missoni’s ad campaigns. It features a collage of family, close friends, and long-time loyal clients cut out and assembled by photographer Peter Blake (of the Sgt Pepper's album cover fame). 

Alas, the fashion isn't all doom and gloom. In November 2011, Missoni launched a 400-piece collection including men's, women's, and children's activewear, accessories, housewares, and even a bicycle for American retailer Target. The label's signature zigzag stripes proved so popular with the American public that orders crashed the Target website.

Though the debacle proved challenging, the family remains optimistic about the future of the Missoni family way of doing business. To make the leap into the world of mass production they can't approach things ‘hat in hand’.  They need solid, strong, and sustainable investors.  With an arch of the eyebrow and sly grin, Missoni cheekily scanned the hall to see if there were any takers.

This article originally appeared in 125 Magazine's arts, fashion, and culture blog, January 2012