Rosita Missoni (née Jelmini; 20 November 1931 – 1 January 2025) was an Italian knitwear designer. She and her husband

Ottavio Missoni Ottavio Missoni (11 February 1921 – 9 May 2013) was a Dalmatian Italian businessman, founder of the Italian fashion label Missoni and an Olympic hurdling, hurdler who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Along with his wife Rosita Missoni, Ro ...

co-founded Italian luxury fashion house

Missoni Missoni is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese, Italy, Varese, and known for its colourful knitwear designs. The company was founded by Ottavio Missoni, Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953. History Early beginnings The busin ...

Early life

Rosita Jelmini was born in

Golasecca Golasecca ( or ) is a town and in the province of Varese, Lombardy (Northern Italy). It has given its name to the Golasecca culture, a prehistoric civilization who lived in the Ticino River area from the Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was ...

, northern Italy, on 20 November 1931. Her family were textile artisans based in the Milan region who specialized in the manufacture of shawls

Career

She met Ottavio Missoni in 1948 when he was participating in the London Olympics, and married him in 1953. In 1953, she and Ottavio started a small knitwear store in Gallarate. The business would become the fashion house Missoni. They later moved to Sumirago where they built a factory. They were part of a group of Italian designers whose ready-to-wear clothing became popular globally in the 1950s and 1960s. The brand became famous for its colorful knitted garments with zigzag patterns, made on "Raschel" machines like those used by Rosita Missoni's family for making shawls. Rosita Missoni cites Sonia Delaunay as one of her inspirations. From 1997, the couple's children, Angela, Luca, and Vittorio Missoni, took over the management of the fashion house, sharing the creative and financial aspects, while Rosita Missoni developed Missoni Home and dedicated herself to interior design by reusing old patterns.

Personal life and death

She and

married in 1953. They had three children, all of whom became involved with the Missoni business; their son,

Vittorio Missoni Vittorio Missoni (25 April 1954 – 4 January 2013) was an Italian businessman, CEO of the fashion house Missoni founded by his parents in 1953. Missoni was credited with expanding the family shop into a global brand after his parents handed contr ...

, was CEO until his death in a plane crash in 2013. Ottavio Missoni died later that year. Rosita Missoni lived in a house in Sumirago since 1970, which she decorated in a colourful and exuberant way, with a certain proportion of pieces found at flea markets. She regularly received journalists there. Missoni died from complications of pneumonia at her home in Sumirago, on 1 January 2025, at the age of 93.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Missoni, Rosita 1931 births 2025 deaths 20th-century Italian businesswomen Italian women fashion designers Italian fashion designers People from the Province of Varese Missoni family