Rosita Missoni has died

At the start of 2025, Italian fashion is in mourning. Rosita Missoni, née Jelmini, who founded the Italian house Missoni with Ottavio Missoni in 1958, known for its colorful knits and its famous zigzag pattern, died at the age of 93. Always dapper and dynamic, the matriarch of the Missoni family continued until recently to follow the developments and activities of the brand, after overcoming the loss of her husband twelve years ago, on May 9, 2013, and that of their son. , Vittorio, earlier the same year.

Born in 1931 in Golasecca, in the province of Varese, north of Milan, she had been immersed in textiles since childhood, her grandparents and parents making shawls and precious embroidered fabrics. She was 17 when she first crossed paths in 1948 with Ottavio Missoni, who was taking part in the London Olympic Games, where he competed in the 400 meter hurdles, while she was on a language trip. Ten years his senior, the young man, nicknamed Taï, is already active in textiles with the production of knitted sportswear.

They married in 1953 and moved to Gallarate, still near Varese, where they set up a knitting laboratory in their basement. Full of ideas and technical inventiveness, they started their activity with a women’s line called “Jolly”, before starting to work with knitwear, giving their name to their house in 1958. The couple settled ten years later, not far from there, in Sumirago, which became the stronghold of the family and the company, and where the headquarters and production establishments of the brand are still located, even today. hui symbol of made in Italy.

Notoriety did not take long to arrive, notably from 1967, during a presentation of their collection at the Pitti Palace in Florence, when Rosita asked the models to remove their bras because they could see themselves under the clothes, leaving the curves of young women shine through under the knitted models. A scandal that puts the brand in the spotlight.

These famous avant-garde and colorful knits with lines, zigzags and floral patterns will make the success of the house, which knows how to make itself immediately recognizable with its joyful and timeless style. In seventy years, the Missoni saga has left a lasting mark on the history of made in Italygrowing over the years by multiplying activities.

In 1997, Rosita Missoni passed the baton to her three children, Vittorio, Luca and Angela, the latter taking over the artistic direction of the house, while her mother devoted herself to the line for Missoni Home, continuing to express her passion for textiles and colorful pattern combinations.

​In 2018, the company opened its capital to the Italian investment fund FSI, up to 41.2% – the family retaining the remaining 58.8% of shares -, managing to preserve its unique know-how, combining art and crafts, by investing in its own tools and also relying on numerous local laboratories. In Sumirago, the third generation of Missoni has been active for several years now.