Few Italian brands project a lifestyle as specific as Missoni. Walking into its fall men’s presentation, the vast, bright space appointed with zigzag carpets, sofas and seating cubes for lounging, one almost expected to see members of the founding family and their pet bulldogs saunter in at any moment.
For his second menswear collection as Missoni’s creative director, Filippo Grazioli plied the house’s signature patterns in cheerful colors and exalted its knitwear wizardry in pursuit of something “cozy and comfortable.”
He also widened the brand’s fashion expression into evening — scattering sequins on a nubby cardigan and weaving silvery threads into a black shirt, T-shirt and pants for a laid-back version of black tie — and the denim category, using lasers to etch space-dye and flame patterns on a balmacaan and loose jeans.
Grazioli, who honed his experience working with Martin Margiela and Riccardo Tisci, is turning to menswear for the first time in his career and is building a broader, more modern wardrobe for the house that Ottavio Missoni launched in the 1950s.
He winked to the founder’s athleticism with tracksuits, and baseball jerseys tucked under languid suits instead of dress shirts. While a few of the cardigans screamed “grandpa,” the designer leaned into more contemporary items, such as neat shirt jackets enlivened with needle-punched waves of colorful mohair.
In the corner of the showroom were clothes not attributed to Graziolo, but representing the brand’s scope: Missoni Sport is getting a new life, offering anoraks, puffer jackets and vests for those who wish to live more colorfully.
