Ottavio Missoni
Athletics | |
Event | 400 metres hurdles |
---|---|
Club | Gallaratese |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal bests |
Ottavio "Tai" Missoni (11 February 1921 – 9 May 2013) was a
Early life
Ottavio Missoni was born in
Sporting achievements
Missoni joined the Italian National Track Team in 1937 at age 16. He won the individual national championship four times.[8][1] He also competed with the Italian team in the 1948 Summer Olympics.[1] At the age of 88 he was still practising sports such as shot put and javelin throw.[5]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Performance | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | [9] |
Final | 4x400 metres | DNF |
War service
Missoni served as an
Marriage
While in London for the Olympics, Missoni met the 16-year-old Rosita Jelmini, an English student from Golasecca, Italy.[10] She was in the audience at Wembley at the time he was running in the finals.[11] They married five years later on 18 April 1953. Their first son, Vittorio, was born on 25 April 1954. Luca, their second son, was born on 4 July 1956. Their only daughter, Angela was born in 1960.
Fashion
After the war, Ottavio and his team-mate
In 1953, following his marriage to Rosita (whose family ran a shawl-making business), the Missonis set up Maglificio Jolly, a machine-knitwear workshop in Gallarate.[5] 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.[10] 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 shirtdresses, were displayed in the window.[4] Ottavio's experience as an activewear designer and manufacturer was applied to his and Rosita's designs,[14] which contributed significantly to the development of Italian sportswear as a challenge to the American industry.[15]
In 1965, Anna Piaggi covered Missoni in an article for Arianna, a magazine published by Mondadori.[4][16] 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.[17] This helped bring Missoni to the attention of the wider world, as did a joint collection with Emmanuelle Khanh in 1965.[11]
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.[4][11] Although the see-through look was presented by Yves Saint Laurent the following year, the Missonis were not invited back to Florence.[4] 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.[10] 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.[11]
In 1970, Missoni opened their first in-store boutique at Bloomingdale's in New York,[5] and their first directly-owned boutique in Milan in 1976.[11]
Ottavio was the colourist and pattern designer whose
To mark the 25th anniversary of Missoni's founding, a retrospective was held in 1978 at the
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.[18]
In 1991 an exhibition in Yūrakuchō, Tokyo, was held of Ottavio's tapestries, the first time they had been displayed in Japan.[18]
Awards
- Neiman Marcus Fashion Award (1973)[20]
- Tommy Award from the American Printed Fabric Council Inc. (1976)[20]
- Gold Medal for Civic Merit from the Municipality of Milan (1979)[20]
- Fragrance Foundation Award for Best Packaging (1982)[20]
- Civiltà Veneta and Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1986)[20]
- Munich Mode-Woche Award, from the mayor of Munich (1992)[20]
- Knight of the Order of Labour Merit of the Italian Republic (1993)[20]
- Honorary Royal Designers for Industry (HonRDI) by the Royal Society of Arts, London (1997)[18]
- Honorary Doctorate from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London (May 1999)[18]
- Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art College, San Francisco (1999)[18]
- Premio Leonardo Qualità Italia (2002)[20]
- Honorary degree from Shanghai University (2002)
- Lombardia per il Lavoro, from the Lombard Regional Government (2004)[20]
- Honorary citizen of Trieste (2007)[20]
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.[4][18] 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.[10][11]
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".[18]
On 4 January 2013, Missoni's eldest son, CEO
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".[4]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Ottavio Missoni Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ Ottavio Missoni. trackfield.brinkster.net
- ^ A note about the life and death of Ottavio Missoni (Accessed June 5, 2013). Thejournal.ie (9 May 2013). Retrieved on 2015-09-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g Franco d'Emilio; Colleen Barry (9 May 2013). "Patriarch of fashion brand Missoni dies in Italy". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Watson, Linda (10 May 2013). "Ottavio Missoni: Fashion designer who transformed the world of luxury knitwear". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- )
- ISBN 1558621849.
- ^ ""CAMPIONATI "ASSOLUTI" ITALIANI SUL PODIO TRICOLORE – 1906 2012" (PDF). sportolimpico.it. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- ^ He ran in 53.4 in semifinal.
- ^ a b c d Wilson, Eric (9 May 2013). "Ottavio Missoni, Who Made Zigzags a Symbol of High Fashion, Dies at 92". New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ottavio 'Tai' Missoni". The Telegraph. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ Italy-Italy. 21: 62. 9 September 2011.
Among other things they produced a woolen tracksuit called the venjulia, and they are considered the inventors of tracksuits with zippered legs.
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- ISBN 1904772412.
- ISBN 0-300-07132-9.
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- ISBN 978-1405194211.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Giustacchini, Enrico (2012). Ottavio Missoni – Il Genio del Colore – Genius of color (PDF). Rijeka, Croatia: Galerija Kortil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2012.
- ^ "Dress of the Year 1970 – 1979". Fashion Museum, Bath. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ottavio Missoni, couturier". Who's Who in Italy. Sutter's. Retrieved 11 May 2013.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Body of fashion magnate Missoni confirmed found in plane wreckage. UPI.com (22 October 2013). Retrieved on 2015-09-23.
External links
- Ottavio Missoni at Olympics.com
- Ottavio Missoni at Olympedia
- Ottavio Missoni at IMDb