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Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the Italian knitwear brand, has died


Reuters Rosita Missoni, wearing Missoni's signature rainbow print cardigan with a bright necklace and earrings, waves to the audience during the 2017 fashion show.Reuters

Rosita Missoni founded the brand with her late husband Ottavio in 1953

Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the eponymous Italian knitwear label Missoni, has died at the age of 93.

The news was confirmed by the president of Italy’s Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, who praised the brand’s iconic “multi-colored textures.”

He called her death “a great loss for Italy, Lombardy and for the province of Varese, where she was born and lived.”

Rosita founded the luxury brand – which became famous for its zigzag motif – in the northern Italian region with her husband Ottavio in 1953.

Rosita, whose parents were shawl makers, was born in 1931 in the town of Galoseca, Lombardy.

On a study trip to London to study English, she met Ottavio, known as Ty, when he was competing in the 400m hurdles at the 1948 Olympics.

At the time, Ty was making his own knit tracksuits, including zip-up bottoms so they could be worn over sneakers.

“When I got married, four sewing machines arrived with my husband,” Rosita told AFP in a 2016 interview.

The couple, who married in 1953, originally set up a machine knitting workshop in Gallorate, northwest of Milan.

Getty Images Italian fashion designer Ottavio Missoni and his wife Rosita Gelmini in the office of their fashion house in Sumirago. Both have short gray hair and wear signature Missoni knitwear. Getty Images

Rosita and Ottavia Missoni are pictured in their office in the 1990s

Their big break came in 1958, when a Milanese department store ordered hundreds of Missoni striped dresses.

The first Missoni fashion show took place in 1966, and the following year the presentation took place at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.

Controversy over the sheerness of the clothing, after models were asked to remove their white bras because they were visible under their blouses, brought the brand global fame.

Ty died in 2013 at the age of 92.

The couple’s daughter, Angela, took over the fashion house in the late 1990s, although Rosita continued to work on Missoni’s home label line, Home.



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