Missoni explores its colorful history in London exhibition

Italian fashion house Missoni will be the subject of an upcoming retrospective at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

Scheduled to open in May, the “Missoni, Art, Colour” exhibit is in partnership with The Woolmark Company and organized by the MA*GA Art Museum locating in Gallarate, Italy about 40 miles from Milan where the fashion house originated. The original museum exhibit, hosted by the MA*GA, ended in January and its move to London marks the first time Missoni will hold a retrospective in the United Kingdom.

The colors of Missoni
Missoni, Art, Color explores the relationship between Missoni’s colorful designs and the art world. The retrospective also underscores the importance of art as inspiration on Missoni’s founders, Ottativo and Rosita Missoni.

The exhibit is overseen by Luca Missoni, son of the founders and brother of Angela Missoni, the brand’s creative director and artistic director of the Missoni archive.

Throughout the exhibit space, visitors will see paintings by international artists who served as inspiration for Missoni’s well-known brand aesthetic. Artists featured include Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Sonia Delaunay alongside more than 100 pieces from the Missoni archives.

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In a statement given to British Vogue, the younger Ms. Missoni said, “The exhibition was born of an invitation from the MA*GA Art Museum in Gallarate, the town where my parents started their married life and their fashion business back in 1953.

“I am very happy that now from that Lombard town - a town that has brought Missoni international success and recognition since the very beginning - the exhibition will travel to London,” she said, “Like never before you can experience my parents’ inventive research and innovative knitwear side-by-side with some of the best modern avant-garde works, through which you can catch the many visual and conceptual affinities of the many drawings, paintings and patchworks, work on paper, patterns’ and sketches that my father Ottavio created throughout the Sixties and Seventies.”

Brand retrospectives have become common and are yielding large ticket sales and interest from consumers hungry to learn more about their favorite luxury houses. A retrospective celebrating the work of the late Lee Alexander McQueen is one example often cited as an impactful exhibition.

Following its heavily attended appearance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” was the most visited paid-for exhibit in London in 2015.

Similarly to its run at the Met, the retrospective on the late designer was the most popular exhibit in the Victoria & Albert museum’s 163-year history, selling 493,043 tickets, according to rankings from London Exhibitions. This shows the interest in the subject matter is not limited to one city (see story).