If you say Missoni, you immediately think of colored, shiny, zigzag, kaleidoscopic fashion. What also comes in mind is a story about a family-run company, founded as a result of love between Rosita and Ottavio? It was in 1984 that Rosita, who was studying in London, met Ottavio Missoni at Piccadilly Station. Ottavio was an Olympics athlete, competing as a runner in a 400m race with obstacles. Their marriage was celebrated 5 years later.
The brand Missoni, on the other hand, exists since 1954, and it was built around Rosita’s sewing skills and Ottavio’s managerial abilities. At the beginning they had a lot of difficulties and some small satisfactions, like when they created clothes for the journalist Anna Piaggi.
Only in 1967 Misson earns worldwide success. During a fashion show in Pitti, Rosita decided that models should not wear bras, since it would destroy the line of the black little dress. The lights on the runway exposed the transparency of those dresses and it created a huge scandal. News about it spread around in many newspapers and six months later, Yves Saint Laurent created the collection Nude Look.
It was thanks to Diana Vreeland, the director of Vogue USA, that Missoni entered the American market. Her enthusiasm for colors made her promote Missoni, and thanks to this, the Italian line was rewarded by a Neiman Marcus Award – a fashion Oscar – in 1973.
