Vittorio Missoni biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Vittorio Missoni was born in 1954 in Gallarate, Lomardy, Italy, to parents Ottavio and Rosita. A year prior to Vittorio's birth, the Missonis opened a knitwear store in Gallarate. Their business continued to grow and evolve during the 1950s. In 1958, the first garments featuring the Missoni label appeared in stores. The Missoni family also added two additional children, Luca and Angela, to their numbers during this time.

By the mid-1960s, the company's easy knitwear designs, bearing a distinctive zigzag pattern, had become the basis of a successful brand. Vittorio and his siblings grew up in an environment of style and privilege, meeting fashion legends and posing for pictures that ran in fashion and lifestyle magazines. In the late 1960s, the Missonis relocated their company headquarters from Lombardy to Milan—this move contributed to the elevation of northern Italy, and Milan in particular, as a world capitol of fashion.

Leadership of Missoni

In 1996, after more than 30 years in the business, Ottavio and Rosita passed leadership of the Missoni house to their three children; the change took place at a time when interest in the brand had ebbed significantly. Each of the three younger Missonis took on a distinct role within the business, with the goal of restoring it to international prominence. While Angela and Luca assumed creative control, Vittorio led the manufacturing and marketing side of operations. Eventually, he moved from a marketing role to become the company's chief executive in Europe and the United States.

Vittorio Missoni initiated the brand's global expansion after 1996. Over the next 15 years, Missoni became a lifestyle brand as well as a fashion house, lending its name and well-known patterns to items as diverse as towels, perfume and bicycles. The first Missoni hotel opened in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2009. A collaboration with the modestly priced chain store Target in 2011 proved so popular that traffic to the Target website overwhelmed its servers. Advertisements featuring the Missoni family, including Angela's daughter Margherita, have helped to establish the glamorous image of the brand. The Missoni family compound in Sardinia has been featured in Missoni ads, as well as in countless magazine articles and profiles.

Disappearance

On January 4, 2013, a private plane carrying Vittorio Missoni, his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, and several close friends, disappeared off the coast of Venezuela. The party was returning from the resort island of Los Roques, a destination favored by many wealthy Italians. At the time of its disappearance, the plane was headed for the Caracas airport—a short trip, usually taking less than an hour.