Missoni Art Colour

The much anticipated Missoni Art Colour Exhibition opened last week at the Fashion & Textile Museum (FTM) in London. The exhibition was developed by the Missoni family with the MA*GA Art Museum, Gallarate, Italy and showcases over 60 years of fashion looks. These amazing garments designed by Rosita and Angela Missoni are shown alongside stunning artworks by Ottavio Missoni, which include beautiful paintings and huge scale knitted patchwork pieces. Paintings by leading 20th century European artists, such as Sonia Delauny, Lucio Fontana and Gino Severini are also displayed and set the scene for this wonderfully creative Exhibition.

Knit Patchwork by Ottavio Missoni

Missoni patchwork coat

A small selection of the Missoni Garments on display

My first visit to the Exhibition was on Thursday 5th May for a preview event hosted by Luca Missoni. As chief archivist for the Missoni family, Luca Missoni's personal insights into his family's heritage added a fascinating dimension to viewing the exhibition. A huge thank you to the FTM for this opportunity to talk to Luca Missoni and members of the Missoni design team. It was a lovely relaxed event with plenty of opportunities for questions and discussions.

Lucca Missoni

Lucca Missoni

The first patchwork sweater by Ottavio Missoni

On Friday, I returned to the FTM to attend a talk by the Exhibition curators. Celia Joycie, the FTM head curator told us about staging the exhibition in London and about the excitement and challenges of displaying the archive items and the artworks. Alessandro Castiglioni from the MA*GA Art Museum elaborated on how the Exhibition had been adapted to transfer from MA*GA to the FTM. He also spoke passionately about the creative world that Ottavio Missoni was a part of, describing the art in the exhibition and setting it in the political and cultural context of Italy at the time. Luca Missoni again added so much to the presentations and discussions with his wonderful descriptions of his parents and his childhood memories.

Tancredi
Senza titolo (Greenhouses)
Untitled (Greenhouses), 1953

This Exhibition has so much inspiration in every part of it: colour, garment design and high quality craft. Luca Missoni told us that his mother always chooses designs and colours that make her feel happy. I feel that Rosita Missoni's happiness, her whole family's passion for colour and their outstanding design talent all shine through in this exhibition. I know I will be returning again as it is wonderful to be surrounded by such amazing knitted garments and stunning knitted art! The Exhibition is on at the FTM until 4th September 2016.

The knitted art by Ottavio Missoni is on a massive scale

Detail of knitted art by Ottavio Missoni