Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1218237
THE NEW MISSONI STORE AT Bal Harbour Shops looks like a coastline at sunset: yellow and mauve, rose and sand, inflected with beach-house white. "ere is this hint of yellow," Angela Missoni, the brand's creative director, explains. "In another shop, I use blues and other tones. But for Florida, it had to be light and very fresh." I ask about the pink, which warms the room. "at's a must," she says. "It's an evolution of the Missoni label color." Evolution, for Angela, is key. When Rosita and Ottavio Missoni founded their iconic fashion house in 1953, they may not have known they were building a multigenerational legacy, a vocabulary of icons: covetable fine-gauge knits, the colorful chevron zigzag, and a soft-to- the-touch whimsy. Angela and her siblings grew up in the original workshop in Gallarate, Italy, today located in the equally pastoral city of Varese. When she became creative director in 1997, there was never any fear of her altering the formula: Indeed, the brand has an inherent sense of momentum embedded in its foundation. "I am channeling my father and my mother," says Angela. "I have a deep respect [for them], but I always look forward." Even as her designs and projects feel distinctly Missoni—consider the signature patterned bikinis from her Missoni Mare swimwear line—it's because "I feel it in my roots, not because I look back." It's her parents' support, says Angela, that gave her the confidence to go on. It also helps that she's virtually memorized the Missoni archives and, as such, never directly references them for new seasons – only a combination of her memories and her constantly evolving inspirations. For Missoni Mare, displayed at the Bal Harbour store like delicate ornaments, Angela looked to a knit suit her mother made for her as a child. "I remember it was the summer of 2001, and I did the swimsuit and the famous campaign with Gisele [Bündchen]," she recalls dreamily. "I loved it so much, even though I think we [initially] sold 12 pieces. But I thought that bathing suit was so strong and so right." She was correct after all: after reviving the pieces, the line became iconic. Angela Missoni continues to weave new chapters of her family's iconic fashion legacy. Monica Uszerowicz sits down with the creative visionary at the new store. Knitspiration COURTESY OF MISSONI 62 BAL HARBOUR