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Missoni stripes and a lovely exhibition

— by Alyson Walsh

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Spring/summer 2016 Missoni catwalk photo: Harper’s Bazaar

Zig-a-zag-ah, there’s a lovely Missoni retrospective on at the Fashion & Textiles Museum in London. Missoni Art Colour is quite small but neatly combines 20th century artwork from the Italian family’s collection  – paintings by Sonia Delaunay, Lucio Fontana and Gino Severini  – with a wonderful display of the signature zigzag crochet knits. I’m a sucker for a slinky knitted stripe and there are over 60 years worth here. Zig-a-zag-ah. This season’s skinny rib polo shirt (catwalk photo, second model from left, available HERE) has reignited my passion for seventies-inspired sportswear.

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Photo: Fashion & Textile Museum

The family business was founded in 1953 by the late Ottavio Missoni (some of whose artwork is on display at the Fashion & Textile Museum) and his wife Rosita. ‘We were so daring then. We had no money. But we had passion,’ Rosita Missoni has said,’ I realize, looking back, we had a certain power’. Now 84, the Italian matriarch is director of the interiors side of the brand – while daughter Angela is creative director of the fashion label – and she still has a certain power…

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Rosita Missoni

There’s a story about Diana Vreeland meeting Rosita Missoni in Rome, in 1968, falling in love with one of the stripy dresses and inviting the couple to New York. The Annabella dress subsequently appeared in American Vogue and Missoni was on the map. This is just one of the items on display at the exhibition. Read the full story HERE.

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The Missoni Annabella dress in American Vogue, 1969

When I first started blogging, I had a regular feature called ‘Your Purse is on Fire!’ A kind of splurge of the week, I’ve been thinking of resurrecting it recently and the following Missoni gallery definitely falls into the ‘Your Purse is on Fire!’ category. I don’t own any Missoni but maybe it’s time to start slinking around in stripes; even if it’s just a pair of socks or a turban…

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Zig-a-zag-ah, there’s a lovely Missoni retrospective on at the Fashion & Textiles Museum in London. Missoni Art Colour is quite small but neatly combines 20th century artwork from the Italia…