Angela Missoni recalled pre-show that when the family firm first burst forth, her father, Ottavio, was often asked the same question. “They wondered if he was bothered by all the copies you could see everywhere that had taken their inspiration from Missoni. And what he used to say is: ‘Up in the Andes they were already copying me a thousand years ago’. So this is a nice homage.” Strictly, this collection was inspired by a nation a little west of the Andes, but you could see what both father and daughter meant. Missoni’s uniquely dense kaleidoscopes of color do seem to have an affinity with South American artisan weaves. The Missoni family traveled to that continent when Angela was 15, and a jacket she bought in Guatemala provided the touchstone for this collection.
The opening half of the show was a loose, easy assembly of knit, shorts, suiting, zip-up tracksuit tops and shirts—some rendered in Tikal triangles of Missoni knit—interspersed with breton striped undershirts and cotton field jackets printed with bird of paradise camouflage. As wide-weave leather sandals were replaced with Cuban heeled, sling-strapped shoes paneled in brown suede and calf we entered a second phase of fantasy South American cowboy. The straw hats were as wide-brimmed as the pants were high-hemmed: These came with a little flare, in white and indigo denim and, later, more rich weave. This was a sweet non-literal return to a geographically distant realm with particular resonance to clan Missoni.
