A change in creative director can be a huge moment of change or evolution for big design houses; especially when the label is a family business with an eponymous name. Such as Missoni, where after 24 years, last year, Angela Missoni stepped away from the creative director position to take on the role of president instead. Her long-time right hand, Alberto Caliri, stood in as creative director in the interim before the role was taken over by Filippo Grazioli.
Grazioli joins Missoni from Burberry, where he worked for creative director Riccardo Tisci as the label’s collections director. He also worked under Tisci at Givenchy and was the senior womenswear designer for Hermès. And his vast experience shows, with his first collection at the men's and women's pre-collection in May presenting a fresher, sexier, younger spin, with more simplicity and structure to the pieces.
And his highly anticipated Milan Fashion Week SS23 show also did not disappoint – combining sexy with modern elegance, with figure-hugging dresses slit to the hipbone, transparent gossamer materials worn over knit briefs or bodysuits or featuring shimmering panels of filmy chiffon. And all in a colour palette of CMYK that accentuated the graphic prints.
My favourite pieces were a series of little sequinned skirts that came in different colours and were worn over matt bikini bottoms that were paired with a transparent fabric printed with the glitch pattern.
The show climaxed with a series of tube dresses so finely knit they were see-through as a nod to the house’s signature technique and expertise craftsmanship. In fact, the collection was inspired by Missoni’s founders – Rosita and Ottavio Missoni – who in 1967 caused a scandal by sending models down the runway with exposed breasts. Today this seems the norm though as this season there were bare chests from New York to London. I’m wonder how the images will fare on social media.
