Biography
Angela Missoni was the creative director and current president of Missoni, her family’s knitwear brand known for its psychedelic patterns and multi-coloured zigzag designs. The brand sold a minority stake to private equity firm FS Mid-Market Growth Equity Fund in June 2018, but Missoni remains president of the company.
Missoni began her professional life running a children's nursery and did not enter the fashion industry until her children were school age. At this time, she launched her own label and, after a few seasons at her label, she took over from her mother as creative director of Missoni, debuting her first line for the brand in 1997. Her designs and attitudes reinvigorated the label and placed it back in the fashion zeitgeist, marking the start of a period of commercial success lasting well over a decade.
Missoni’s designs and her further development of the brand, along with the accompanying press, largely enabled the company’s expansion into the hotel industry and lucrative collaborations with companies such as San Pellegrino and Target.
Angela’s daughter, Margherita, is being groomed as her successor, working on the label’s younger M Missoni line, along with accessories and swimwear lines. "Now that she's more involved, I realise that she has all the qualities necessary to be able to do it. I'd like to eventually have a second life, like my mom had [with Missoni Home, to which her mother moved in 1997], I saw this renewal of her enthusiasm late in life, and it was very different, a different pace. Let's call it a 'Part II,'" Missoni told Harper’s Bazaar.
Missoni stepped down in May 2021 from her role as creative director. Her last collection for Missoni was Autumn/Winter 2021. She remains in her role as president of Missoni.