Missoni / Spring 2013

Review

It can’t be easy to a) work for a family business (no matter how successful the endeavor or well-adjusted the relatives, there’s always something), or b) take on the challenge four times a year and then, if not reinvent, at least reinterpret that family business’s calling card. Angela Missoni, of course, has been charged with both as creative director of the house founded by her parents Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. And when the two of them greeted Angela backstage—ever the the line’s ambassadors, he was in a navy knit cardigan, and she was in a red woven caftan—you realized just how long this clan has traded on colorful knitwear. Next year will mark

Missoni’s 60th anniversary, which alone is remarkable, as is the fact that its clothes can be worn by three generations, from 80-year-old Rosita to newlywed 29-year-old Margherita who, with cute shorn hair, greeted guests before the show.

But enough digression. This season Angela chose to stage the presentation in a large unoccupied space with a glass facade that allowed in a lot of natural light. (It was also about 20 minutes outside of town—surely there are more centrally located venues that are just as well lit?) She wanted to illuminate the various optical tricks she used in the clothes, and although the sky was gray, this was achieved. Taking spring’s graphic theme, Angela rendered it in a way that felt pleasantly unencumbered. This was mostly because her trapeze dresses and the occasional sheath were made from layers of printed organza floating over a knit dress in the same print. When the model walked, there was a 3-D effect. “For me this was also like an aura for the girls,” Missoni explained. (As New Agey as that sounds, auras too are a kind of light.) She sometimes heightened the visual illusion by tacking on printed paillettes.

Funnily enough, for a designer and label so rooted in Italy, Missoni looked to American artist James Turrell, who uses prisms to create elaborate light installations, for the accessories and embellishment. She created giant crystal chokers and applied chunky, translucent stones that adorned thin knit tanks made from a mix of various weaves.

At times the collection, with its short, flirty dresses and abundant transparency, looked more suited to Angela’s 20-something daughters than it did to women of her own generation. But still, it was playful and light. And after weeks of watching leather coats and knee-high boots come down the runway, as covetable as they may be, this was one of the few instances when the clothes actually looked appropriate for spring.

p.s. ...I LOVE Missoni,but.. models for this show r the most ugly i ever seen