Part of a dynasty upheld by strong, creative women, Missoni’s creative director Angela Missoni tells us about her mum, Rosita’s influence, and reveals the importance of the matriarch.
“My mother was the one who gave us a sense of family. She did that for my father too; he liked to think of himself as a bit of a gypsy. He was brought up in a Mediterranean, free-spirited way; all he needed to be happy was a good book, some friends and the sea. By contrast, my mother was the builder. She came from three generations of fabric entrepreneurs. She was very creative but when she met my father (at the 1948 London Olympic games, under the statue of Eros, the Greek God of love) he was the one who knew how to use knitting machines. But he only wanted to start a business as a way to support a family. He never would’ve ended up in fashion if it wasn’t for my mother – she had the eye.
I inherited something from both – but I’m very much a builder, like my mum. It wasn’t always a given that I would go into the family business, I wanted to do psychology. But my mum secretly wanted us to follow in her footsteps. My father, however, used to say, “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve sold this company already!”
After a few seasons of me doing knitwear for Missoni my mum suggested I took over from her on the mainline. She said: “You have to do it; you have to do fashion when you’re young, you’re passionate, and you have the strength to fight the commercial side with your own ideas.” I asked what she would do instead and she replied: “I have so many things I want to do! And I’m tired!” So I took over and she began working on the homeware collection. I’m so proud that I gave her a second opportunity and creative life.
My daughters, Margherita and Theresa, are similar to her; full of charisma. Margherita has style, just like her grandma – and they were both good girls growing up as they were the first children of the family. I was far more rebellious, but introverted. I really opened up when I had my children. Once you have them you experience a love you can’t contain; it flows and your heart opens up to the world. It made a huge difference to my character, plus when I was pregnant I always had so much creative energy. I even ran an organic chicken farm when I was expecting Francesco. I always needed to have different projects but I remember when my first two were young, my mum asked when I was coming back to work. I said to her, “Remember you told me how much you regretted not spending more time with us when we were little? What’s the point of you working so much if I can’t stay home with my kids?” She left me alone after that – I think it was one of the best things she ever taught me about motherhood.”
Dress Dhs7,120 Missoni at Boutique 1
Dress Dhs7,120 Missoni at Boutique 1
Top Dhs3,630 Missoni at Boutique 1
Dress Dhs8,570 Missoni at Boutique 1
Missoni is available at the re-launched boutique at the Mall of the Emirates, as part of the Boutique 1 group.
