Missoni

supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

NEW YORK, December 18, 2009

By Nicole Phelps

Revisiting the formula that made successes of her last two runway shows, Angela Missoni layered on the knits for pre-fall. In February, the look was Nanook of the North; at the Spring show in September, it was rave girls on an Ibiza beach. Here, the effect was still bohemian but decidedly more urbane. Yes, there might be five, six, or seven components to an outfit, but this time around at least one of them is likely to be a smart oversize trench or a softly structured knit boyfriend blazer. Multitasking pieces like ribbed leggings with extra-wide waistbands—wear it up and it's a strapless jumpsuit, down and it's a miniskirt—added to the real-world appeal. But perhaps the collection's most persuasive selling point will be its gorgeous palette of warm honey tones with hints of versatile, wear-with-anything black.

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supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

MILAN, September 27, 2009

By Nicole Phelps

The hip-hop nomads on Missoni's Fall runway have landed at an Ibiza rave for Spring. They've traded in their piles of mohair and cashmere for loose-mesh, three-dimensional, and openwork knits. Picture a bandeau or two stretching across the bust of a tube dress worn underneath a long, breezy duster coat, or a cardigan cropped right below the armholes as the finishing touch for a bodysuit and miniskirt with a twisting, knotted waistband. There were a few dozen variations on this theme. For evening, Missoni simply added a layer of sparkle: A fishnet tank dress strung with paillettes was pulled on over a slip; a one-shoulder dress covered with iridescent plastic shells went over a racerback tank. Day or night, the looks were accessorized with whistles on silver chains, bracelets gripping each bicep, and low-heel sandals with woven souvenir ankle bracelets for straps.

Backstage, Angela Missoni explained that she thinks fashion moves too fast, and that it was her intention to follow closely on what she did for Fall. As far as that goes, she succeeded, but somehow the effect wasn't the same. The color palette wasn't quite as seductive as those wintery sweaters, and the layers, despite the way they were designed to cling, didn't do enough to flatter the models' figures. Whether it was island ravers who inspired her, or nouvelle Isadora Duncans as her show notes had it, this conclusion lingered: When it comes to dancing and summertime, a sense of lightness is key.

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supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

NEW YORK, June 17, 2009

By Laird Borrelli-Persson

At Missoni, Fall's clever, engaging focus on layering was carried over to Resort, albeit to heavier effect. Perhaps this was the result of designing for "military-tech mermaids," as the show notes put it. Still, should mere mortals pick this collection apart, they will find a small arsenal of keepers: space-dyed cargo skirts, a khaki coat with drawstring details at the waist and sleeves, and lots of mesh-y textures. New for Resort was an open honeycomb knit that lent the collection some necessary lightness

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supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

MILAN, February 26, 2009

By Nicole Phelps

Like other designers this season, Angela Missoni has been thinking hard about her brand's roots. In the case of famiglia Missoni, of course, that means knitwear. A video of a working loom played on a giant screen behind the runway, but the designer hardly needed digital assistance to underscore her message. It was plain for all to see in the way she piled on the knits. Take the opening look: We counted a waistcoat, a boxy man's jacket, a mohair cardigan scarf, a slipdress, a miniskirt, a hooded scarf, and legwarmers. The multilayered hippie-meets-hip-hop look will be tricky to pull off anywhere south of the polar ice cap (photo shoots excepted), but taken in smaller doses, these are the kind of cozy, feel-good clothes that actually have a chance of selling in the new economy. The luminous color palette—pearly pink, peach, and gold lamé punched up with cerulean blue—certainly helped in that department.

Who wouldn't want to hunker down in one of Missoni's clever cardigan scarves? The models wore them loose, with the ends nearly trailing along the floor; wound around your neck, they'd make a coat redundant. And because even—or perhaps especially—in dire times a girl needs to go out now and then, Missoni added delicate, spiderweb-y dresses (shades of Rodarte) to the mix. Pair them with a slip and you'd have a sweet, unexpected party look. As if to prove the point, Angela's daughter Margherita wore one sitting in the front row.

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supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

MILAN, February 23, 2007

By Sarah Mower

In a season when the forties and the seventies are a rising influence, Missoni incorporated them both. It's hardly a novelty to tie the decades together, though, because "the forties" were the rediscovery of the early seventies—which just so happens to be the time when the Missonis were first knitting together their family business. The trouble is, so many are stomping their platforms on this well-trodden era this season that it's shown there's a fine line—no, a chasm—between doing it badly and making it seem like not such a lame idea after all.

Angela Missoni came out on the right side of the line, even if she did use the familiar devices of Rita Hayworth's hair, Marlene Dietrich's tip-tilted hat, and the inevitable Bowie sound track. But what's the distinction between Missoni's cape-sleeved printed dresses, big-shouldered furs, balloon sleeves, tailored flares, Deco jerseys and everyone else's? It's largely a deft wielding of the hard-to-handle dusty seventies palette. Exact choices of maroon, brown, beige, mustard, dusty pink, and petrol blue marked Missoni best-in-class in Milan. Even irregularly pieced triangular Deco patchworks (fully murdered in several collections elsewhere) turned into a double-knit patchwork dress and a shorter shell version that actually looked likable—both were helped immeasurably by sexy gathers shaping the bustline. When Missoni keeps the confidence of her feminine instincts like that, things go well. What she might learn is not to be panicked by conflicting trend news. The demerit in this show was the unstoppable short circle skirt that kept popping up, which seemed not just out of character with the collection, but like a panic reaction to the Azzedine Alaïa trend that's currently doing the rounds.

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supermodelKK · March 13, 2010

MILAN, September 22, 2008

By Sarah Mower

For the best of Missoni, scroll to the end. There, for evening, were examples of the exceptional things this house can tease out of a knitting machine: a tissue-fine, fan-pleated Lurex halter gown in an almost colorless beige; a glinting semi-sheer skirt under a belted knit blazer. Those were the high points of a show in which Angela Missoni continued to steer the family business along the grown-up course she's been charting for the past couple of seasons.

The general drift of the main body of the collection was a merging of vaguely Japanese-influenced shapes (kimono sleeves, obi belts) with surface patterns derived from Italian futurist art, worked in a palette of beige, muted coral, cocoa, and absinthe. Beneath that, Missoni seemed to be setting herself the task of figuring out how jumpsuits and big, drop-crotch pants can make sense for regular public consumption. Her answer was all-in-ones ending in short, divided skorts on the one hand, and a pair of voluminous dark green taffeta evening skirt-cum-pants on the other. On the cute—and very recognizably Missoni—side, there was a zigzag raschel knit swimsuit, along with plenty of easy caftan-style cover-ups. These, like the evening dresses, clicked more easily into the picture of long summer leisure days that gives this house its identity.

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