A tale of success, creativity and
love was told by Rosita Missoni, who is over 80 but still full
of life, when she talked about the Missoni fashion house at
Wednesday's inauguration of a new exhibition on the well-known
Italian brand.
'Missoni Art Color' will be at London's Fashion and Texile
Museum until September 4.
A major event for London, halfway between fashion and
culture, the exhibition debuted last year at the Gallarate
MA*GA.
A delegation from the Missoni family attended the
inauguration led by Rosita, who was the lifelong and career-long
companion Ottavio 'Tai' Missoni before becoming his widow.
A meeting with the media was a chance to discuss memories: that
of the love between Tai and Rosita that began in London in 1948,
when the 27-year-old refugee from Dalmatia was taking part in
the first Olympics of the postwar period in the 400-meter event
and the 16-year-old Rosita was on a school trip.
The love was to be consecrated in marriage and a few years
later in a Varese entrepreneurial adventure that would later
become international.
The exhibition was curated by Luciano Caramel, Luca
Missoni and Emma Zanella and organized by MAGA alongside FTM and
the Archivio Missoni, with support from The Woolmark Company.
Some 40 works by twentieth-century European artists are
presented - from Gino Severini to Lucio Fontana and Sonia
Delaunay - who influenced and inspired the long journey into
color and with attention to detail that was conducted by the
couple.
Next to the paintings are a selection of outfits created
by Rosita beginning in 1953 and Angela Missoni from 1997, as
well as previously unseen sketches, paintings and tapestries
left by Tai.
Fashion and Textile Museum director Celia Joicey said that
the exhibition is important as it ''shows the creative process
through which clothing becomes fashion''.
Luca Missoni, director of the family archive, added that
''wool has been such an essential element of our work that it
has practically become synonymous with Missoni.''
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