OUT OF THE ORDINARY

The Missoni apartment in Milan is a joyous celebration of fashion, family and friends

-  JULIET BENNING

A well-organised party has always come high on the priority list of the Missoni fashion dynasty. Such is the family’s love of entertaining, that a whole apartment in the Milan office building has been designated expressly for the purpose. ‘We decided to set aside the apartment solely for pleasure in the 1970s. This has been the place where we celebrated all the collections,’ Rosita Missoni says. ‘Friends and editors loved our parties. The biggest was for my 77th birthday and now I am 91. Time goes by,’ she adds wistfully in a warm voice that breaks into frequent laughter.

Rosita and her late husband Ottavio founded Missoni in 1953, beginning as a knitwear workshop shortly after they married. Now the matriarch at the head of four generations, Rosita stepped down from the fashion label to focus on the homeware collection in the 90s. ‘I thought about retiring but very quickly realised it didn’t suit me so I moved over to the homeware line, which at the time was produced by my brothers. I have seven homes, in Paris, Venice, Milan, Sardinia and the Swiss mountains and how I decorate them has occupied much of my thoughts and has also become a hobby.’