Angela Missoni may have found the perfect free spirit to define a new era for Missoni's menswear business: the surfer. And she was thinking not only of the riders who follow the big waves around the world, but also the surfers in cities like Sydney and Vancouver, where hanging ten before work or during your lunch hour is always an option, and the dream of escape is forever in the back of your mind.
That, at least, was the conceptual rationale for latching on to surfers as a reference point for a company known for its knitwear. But, strange though it sounds, surfers and sheep go way back, or at least to the sixties, when Australian surfers discovered Ugg boots. People returning to the U.K. and the U.S. from surfing competitions in Australia took Uggs back home with them. The world hasn't been safe from sheepskin boots since.
There was shearling on the Missoni runway today. A shawl-neck cardigan in a classic chevron weave was lined with it. So were the latest high-tops to come from the label's collaboration with All Star Chuck Taylor Converse. Both items lent themselves to Angela's free spirit. As did the big blankets patchworked from mohair and yak wool that enveloped some of the models. They were made for snuggling into while watching the setting of the sun after a day in the surf. And even the more "urban" pieces—the lightly tailored jackets and pants—were infected with the same shaggy languor.
The shades of gray, blue, and red that dominated the collection echoed shoreline, sea, and sunset. It's the kind of elemental story Missoni has told dozens of times before. But its success here made a pointed contrast with the retelling in the womenswear collection for Spring, which was less successful because it diluted the brand's facility with color and pattern in favor of something more abstract. The moral of the story? You can't mess with DNA.
