ANGELA MISSONI

More than any other country, the history of fashion in Italy is written in family dynasties, in the generations that perpetuate the legacies of founding fathers – and mothers. As the daughter of Tai and Rosita, Angela Missoni’s heritage was particularly rich and idiosyncratic. But she has been so much more than a keeper of the flame for the past two decades. She’s added her own twists and turns to the story. The next Missoni generations will be shaped by the Angela years.

TIM BLANKS: Describe Missoni when you arrived.

ANGELA MISSONI: I could see there were new or interesting things, but they were submerged by all the history. So the job I did at the beginning was editing, cleaning, letting the newness out. I was really going by instinct. I wanted to make the clothes I wanted to wear, things my girlfriends wanted to wear. Missoni had lost my generation at that time. I was longing for what I remembered from the 70s, like the colours, because by the end of the 80s, Missoni had become dark and dull. The biggest sellers were brown, beige and neutral tones with black.

TB: Missoni had become a cliché.

AM: So much a cliché that when I started doing things in two or three colours, or mixing up solids, people inside the company were telling me, ‘It’s not enough Missoni’. But I remember Missoni’s first cover, for French Elle in 1968. It was a solid white two-piece. And I knew that Missoni was never just about knits stitches, I knew my parents were using a lot of prints. In the 60s and 70s they were printing on knits and jersey and adding fabrics by the 80s.

TB: Did you meet a lot of resistance?

AM: I fully understood what my mother meant when she told me “you had to have the strength to fight for your own ideas with the commercial side of the business.” The company was already very old when I came in. I had to fight all the time with people inside who didn’t understand what I was doing. From my mother’s experience, I was already used to hearing how everything was always the fault of the style. Every time I came back with a campaign which would today be considered iconic, it was always, ‘This is not Missoni’. When I put Gisele in a patchwork bathing suit on the Sardinian rocks with Mert & Marcus, we sold ten pieces, we didn’t even have Missoni Mare yet, but I wanted people to come into the shops, and I knew we needed strong images to give them the desire to go and look for Missoni. My brother Vittorio, who was overseeing the commercial side, immediately appreciated the positive reaction of customers. TB: What was the biggest difference you made? AM: I sharpened the collection and the image. It became more precise. You could recognise each season, where

before they looked the same. I made the light materials lighter, and the heavy materials heavier. I eliminated the medium weights – and the medium styles. With lighter material, I could work more again on evening and cocktail. Though they’d previously been important for Missoni, it had become more sporty by the time I took over. I thought there was more to us than the Missoni jumper and the Missoni cardigan.

TB: The world was changing then as well. There was th eT omF or dEffect in fashion. Did you feel challenged to find a role for Missoni in that world?

AM: Of course. I wanted Missoni to be in that fashion moment. It was a good moment to come back. I knew I was right. Funnily enough, I went to get Mario Testino and Carine Roitfeld at exactly the same time as Tom.

TB: For the past twenty years, the story you’ve been telling has been Missoni’s, but it’s actually yours too. Did you ever feel you’d like a little more recognition?

AM: No, I never felt frustrated. I knew I had recognition from my parents, and everyone in fashion knew my role. My father was such a personality – not around the world because he didn’t speak English – that for many people in Italy, Ottavio Missoni and Missoni are still the same thing. I myself always say ‘we’. But last week I had a party at my house. All the family was there, so it looked like a family house, and my friends were coming in and saying, “You do the most amazing parties”, and they were saying ‘voi’ not ‘tu’. And [laughing] I was thinking to myself I do the most amazing parties, this is my house.

TB: What are you proudest of?

AM: That I gave my mum a second creative life, and a second life in terms of time. She was tired of working in fashion. In doing the Missoni home collection, she found another energy. The other thing I’m proud of is that I managed to elevate the quality of the label, from Prêtà-porter to luxury market. I knew the Company had to become stronger. It wasn’t easy with my father. He had a personal philosophy of life and he did not want any burdens, and the larger the company, the more problems you’re going to have. I remember when Marvin Traub from Bloomingdales came to my parents in 1973 with all these ideas for licences, and despite my mother’s enthusiasm for any new project, my father said, ‘Rosita, I don’t understand why you want to work more. Yes, you’ll get more money, but we’ll never have time to spend it’. And I grew up next to my father, so you start looking at the world like that. But, on the other hand, my mum always had the curiosity to explore new territories. She’s a natural builder, not a businesswoman. I’m a natural builder too but I think I’m a little more business-oriented.

TB: How much of an asset do you think it’s been that Missoni is a family business?

AM: I don’t know any other way of being. Yes, the fact that my partners were my brothers has sometimes made my work not so fluid, but maybe I would have given up if they weren’t my relatives. And the fact there is another generation interested in the company gives me strength to find solutions and go on.

TB: With Vittorio’s death, you had to take on more of the company. Have you surprised yourself with what you’re capable of?

AM: Always. I still never imagined this would happen. At the beginning, I said I’d do it for ten years, then I’d see. But everything has evolved over the past 65 years, and especially in the last twenty. My job is always changing. We’re a small business, so I do touch every corner of it. Today, I’m probably spending 40 per cent of my time on communication.

TB: It’s an interesting but inevitable irony that your parents use to be the rebels of Italian fashion, and now Missoni is the establishment.

AM: Just because they were the founders of Fashion Week in Milan. It’s a miracle we’re still alive as a company! But I still see a rebel nature in Missoni. It’s part of the DNA. And I need it to move forward, otherwise all you’re doing is reheating the same dish. Every four or five years, I have moments when I wonder if I’m getting too lazy and I’d better take risks. So I do, and luckily till now it has worked. But every time I feel we need to change, the rumours start. Is there a new stylist, a new designer? And I laugh because it’s always me and my team I’ve grown through the years. [laughing] It’s good if people think they’re all fresh and young. TB: Rosita will be 86 in November. You realise when Missoni turns 100, you’ll be more or less the age she is now. AM: [laughing] I hope I can still organize a good party!