Ottavio Missoni North Dakota

Missoni is a Milan-based fashion house in Italy founded by Rosita and Ottavio “Tai” Missoni.

Ottavio, the son of an Italian sea captain and a Serbian countess, had been captured by the British during the war in 1942 at El Alamain and held as a prisoner of war until 1946. He referred to himself jokingly as 'a special guest of the King of England'.

Before Ottavio met his wife, he produced tracksuits which were to be worn by the Italian national team. They first met when Ottavio Missoni, went to London in 1948 to compete in the 400 meter hurdles at the Olympic Games. Rosita was there because she sent to study English in Italian, set her sights on the handsome, young Olympic swimmer. She told Marcus Fairs at Icon Magazine that: "He was gorgeous and I dreamed of meeting him!" They met outside London's Piccadilly station to go on their first date, arranged by a friend, and they married five years later and moved to Milan.

So, Missoni started out as a small family-owned store, run by Rosita and Ottavio Missoni. Rosita had worked in her family's small embroidery company, she was a skilled seamstress and knew about design. So, they started a workshop designing tracksuits but soon moved on to knitwear. This was begun in the basement of their first home in Galesseca with only a few old knitting machines. They began by selling their designs to other labels, but they decided to start their own fashion house. But, it wasn't until 1958 that the name "Missoni" was sewn into the label. They premiered their collections when they met Emmanuelle Kahn in 1964. Surprisingly, Missoni had a tough time getting their colorful designs with their trademark zigzags and stripes noticed, but soon their hard work paid off. Their innovative fashions caught the eye of Anna Piaggi, the famous Italian fashion journalist, in 1965, and she praised them in her articles. Their designs have become famous thanks to their colorful patterns and stripes on wide-ranging fabrics, as well as being easily identifiable as the “classic zigzag-pattern in the boldest, richest hues.”

The second time they made the headlines was in 1967. When their designs were being showcased at Palazzo Pitti, Rosita told the models to remove their brassieres to prevent the lines of her black silk jersey dresses from becoming ruined, not realizing the tops of the dresses would become transparent under the powerful lights leaving the fashion world shocked. The models were screamed at and sent away, but Saint Laurent introduced the nude look six months later.

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