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Ottavio Missoni (11 February 1921 – 9 May 2013) was an Italian people businessman, founder of the Italian fashion label Missoni and an Olympic hurdling who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. A note about the life and death of Ottavio Missoni (Accessed June 5, 2013). Thejournal.ie (9 May 2013). Retrieved on 23 September 2015. Along with his wife Rosita Missoni, he was part of the group of designers who launched Italian ready-to-wear in the 1950s, thereby ensuring the global success of Italian fashion.
| 1939 | Italian Athletics Championships | 1st | 400 metres | |||
| 1941 | Italian Athletics Championships | 1st | 400 metres hurdles | |||
| 1947 | Italian Athletics Championships | 1st | 400 metres hurdles | |||
| 1948 | Italian Athletics Championships | 1st | 400 metres hurdles | |||
| 1948 | Olympic Games | London | 6th | 400 metres hurdles | 54.0 | He ran in 53.4 in semifinal. |
| 4x400 metres |
In 1953, following his marriage to Rosita (whose family ran a shawl-making business), the Missonis set up Maglificio Jolly, a knitting machine workshop in Gallarate. The Missoni's experimentations with machine-knitting led to the discovery that clothing-weight fabrics made using machines originally designed for shawls and bedspreads could be surprisingly lightweight. They supplied designs to the department stores Biki and later, La Rinascente in Milan, where in 1958, the first Missoni-labelled garments, a line of colourful vertically striped , were displayed in the window. Ottavio's experience as an activewear designer and manufacturer was applied to his and Rosita's designs, which contributed significantly to the development of Italian sportswear as a challenge to the American industry.
In 1965, Anna Piaggi covered Missoni in an article for Arianna, a magazine published by Mondadori. She continued to actively promote Missoni through her long career as a fashion journalist, including writing their press releases whilst at Vogue Italia in the 1980s. This helped bring Missoni to the attention of the wider world, as did a joint collection with Emmanuelle Khanh in 1965.
They held their first catwalk show in 1966, and the following year, presented a show at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. This show proved controversial due to the unplanned transparency of the models' clothing under the lights, revealing a lack of underwear and leading to comparisons to the Crazy Horse cabaret. Although the see-through look was presented by Yves Saint Laurent the following year, the Missonis were not invited back to Florence. However, the scandal gave them immense publicity, and helped lead to the development of Milan as a fashion capital when the press followed the Missonis back to Milan. The Missonis went on to feature in many leading fashion publications, including Women's Wear Daily, Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar, and were championed by influential editors such as Diana Vreeland and Piaggi.
In 1970, Missoni opened their first in-store boutique at Bloomingdale's in New York, and their first directly owned boutique in Milan in 1976.
Ottavio was the colourist and pattern designer whose watercolour paintings and formed the basis of Missoni textiles, whilst his wife developed the cuts and shapes of their garments. Ottavio's designs, which combined multi-coloured zigzag, stripe, check and wave patterns in unexpected colour combinations, were highly influential, and were recognised as having artistic merit. In 1975, an exhibition of Ottavio's textiles and related paintings, curated by Renato Cardazzo, was held in Venice, and Ferruccio Landi wrote an article titled "Missoni, a Work of Art, Pullover Size". In 1974, Jennifer Hocking of Harper's Bazaar and Queen selected male and female ensembles by Missoni as the Dress of the Year for the Fashion Museum, Bath. In 1976 Ottavio was named one of the ten most elegant men in the world, sharing the list with Robert Redford and Charles, Prince of Wales.
To mark the 25th anniversary of Missoni's founding, a retrospective was held in 1978 at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan, and later hosted by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the first time the Whitney had hosted a fashion exhibition.
In 1983, Ottavio and Rosita designed their first stage costumes for a production of Lucia di Lammermoor, starring Luciano Pavarotti, at the La Scala opera house in Milan.
In 1991 an exhibition in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo, was held of Ottavio's tapestries, the first time they had been displayed in Japan.
In 2003, when Missoni marked their 50th year of business, Suzy Menkes wrote a tribute in the International Herald Tribune stating how the "best-beloved" Missonis represented "one big happy local family of hands-on wizards".
On 4 January 2013, Missoni's eldest son, CEO Vittorio Missoni, his wife Maurizia, two other passengers and two crew disappeared in an airplane near the Los Roques islands near Venezuela. Wreckage of the submerged plane was discovered by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in June but no identification was able to be made. On 22 October 2013, the deaths of Vittorio and the other passengers on the plane were confirmed by the Italian news service and the city of Caracas' chief prosecutor Ortega, after meeting with the victims' families. The bodies were found inside the aircraft, except for the pilot, with DNA samples used for identification. The authorities are attempting to raise the wreckage to determine the cause of the crash.
Body of fashion magnate Missoni confirmed found in plane wreckage. UPI.com (22 October 2013). Retrieved on 23 September 2015.
On 1 May 2013, twelve days after marking his and Rosita's 60th wedding anniversary, Ottavio was taken to hospital, but at his request, he went home to be with his family in Sumirago, where during the night of 8 and 9 May, the 92-year-old Ottavio died "serenely".
Awards
Later life and death
In 1997 Ottavio and Rosita passed the Missoni business to their children. Vittorio acted as marketing director, Angela became creative director, and Luca holds a technical role, having created designs for the Aeros dance troupe and an installation for the Expo 2005. Since the handover, Missoni has expanded into a lifestyle brand which includes furniture, car interiors, a chain of hotels, and collaborations with companies such as Target.
See also
External links
Categories: 1921 Births, 2013 Deaths, Italian Male Hurdlers, Athletes At The 1948 Summer Olympics, Olympic Athletes For Italy, Italian Masters Athletes, World Record Holders In Masters Athletics, Italian Fashion Designers, People From Gallarate, Dalmatian Italians, Italian Businesspeople In Fashion, Yugoslav Emigrants To Italy, Italian Athletics Championships Winners, Italian Military Personnel Of World War Ii, Italian Prisoners Of War In World War Ii, World War Ii Prisoners Of War Held By The United Kingdom, 20th-century Italian Sportsmen, Missoni Family
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