When people speak about Missoni, they tend to refer to “the Missonis”—since the story of the brand is inseparable from the story of the couple. Ottavio was a Dalmatian Olympic champion with a background in sportswear, and Rosita an English student whose family owned an apparel and household linen business. The two met in 1948 and married in 1953. Combining their experiences led to the birth of a company that created one of the finest examples of Italian products: a style that’s absolutely unmistakable for its mélange of colors, stitches, and blended iridescent hues—a style never seen before that soon became known worldwide. In the beginning there were only stripes, since that’s all the machines could produce at the time. But as technology advanced, the couple developed more patterns that grew increasingly original and intricate, until each design became a virtual work of art.
Today, the entire family continues to be involved in the business. The Missonis’ daughter, Angela, has been the creative director of the company since 1997, when Rosita relinquished that role to her. Her brother, Luca, oversees the Missoni archives and the company’s art exhibitions. Since 1997, Rosita has been the creative director of the Missoni Home line, a successful translation of the fashion brand’s bright colors and bold patterns to residential furnishings and textiles.
The environment needs to be a part of the personal art of entertaining. That has always been a vital principle for the Missoni family, most especially now for Angela Missoni, who with her parents’ same passion for design has brought a very personal style to her own home furnishings. A pleasant atmosphere offering cheerful welcome, with the kind of harmony that makes guests feel at home, is what Angela envisions as the ideal interior. She explains how “the home needs to accommodate all kinds of movement and gatherings: the comings and goings of family members, and times when friends and acquaintances unexpectedly drop in. It’s important to encourage emotion and curiosity, to transform the space into an oasis of colors and moods, a comfortable enclosure that combines both pleasant and surprising elements, allowing for a free flow of ideas.”
The Missoni brand is very much synonymous with the Missoni family. Angela Missoni, the founding couple’s daughter, took over from Rosita as the firm’s creative director in 1997 and now leads the legendary label. As the creative force behind the entire house of Missoni, Angela has taken the company in new directions while remaining true to its heritage. She developed a new way to approach the Missoni image and communications, establishing a new position for the brand in the world of fashion. Angela has initiated new and important collaborations with talents like Carine Roitfeld, Mario Testino, Edward Enninful, Mario Sorrenti, Mert and Marcus, and Juergen Teller, Viviane Sassen, Mark Borthwick and Harley Weir. Most recently she has worked with Oscar-winning Italian director Paolo Sorrentino and actress, model and philanthropist Elisa Sednaoui to launch the latest Missoni fragrance worldwide.
The influential magazine Women’s Wear Daily has praised Missoni’s designs under her creative direction: “Angela Missoni is the scion of a decades-old family dynasty, but she’s still breaking new ground.” Now Angela and OKO Group have come together to bring the singular Missoni style to life in the brand’s first-ever residential development.
“MY GOAL IS TO GIVE A FRESH OUTLOOK TO MY PARENTS’ ORIGINAL VISION. THEY INVENTED A VOCABULARY, AND I WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THAT LANGUAGE.”
ANGELA MISSONI