Margherita Missoni: “My Ambitions Are Less Important Than My Wellbeing”
Margherita with her grandmother, and Missoni founder, Rosita Missoni [Photo: Rex]
Margherita Maccapani Missoni may be the heiress to one of the most prestigious fashion dynasties in the world, but she isn’t in a rush to take over the reins.
The 33-year-old designer is the granddaughter of Rosita and the late Ottavio Missoni, the Italian couple who birthed the iconic “zig zag” label back in 1953, making waves as one of the first haute couture houses to sell knitwear. “It just wasn’t something you bought as luxury back then,” Margherita tells us.
Despite Rosita being in her mid-80s, she still has an active role in the company looking after the homewear, while Margherita’s mother, Angela, is Missoni’s creative director.
Margherita with her mother, Angela [Photo: Rex]
That isn’t to say there isn’t a place for Margherita in the company. Her uncle, Luca, looks after the archives and she sees herself getting involved in the day-to-day running eventually. But for the time being she says she doesn’t “need the stress” of helping run such a huge company right now.
“My ambitions are less important than my wellbeing,” she explains. “My children come first.”
As an alternative, Margherita opted to launch a kidswear line last year - a venture that she could throw herself into from the comfort of her own, with a modest staff of just two employees.
It certainly sounds like an ideal, and enviable, set up for a young mother with two pre-school aged children to raise. The trio work from Margherita’s home, some 40 minutes from Milan, while their children play in the garden under the watchful eye of their nanny.
Being part of a family such as Margherita’s comes with a certain level of expectation - if not from her own relatives, then from the public. So it’s not surprising that she took some time to find herself before entering the world of fashion.
Turning her back on her family’s legacy, citing a desire to “get away from fashion”, she opted to study philosophy at university and dabbled in acting on the side.
Margherita with her husband and sons. [Photo: Instagram/@mmmargherita]
Margherita is clear that her two children come first - not her career. [Photo: Instagram/@mmmargherita]
However, she couldn’t escape the business and talks fondly of spending time in the Missoni factory on a regular basis. Throughout her childhood and teen years, she rubbed shoulders with icons and recalls being gifted a hat by Vivienne Westwood on her seventh birthday, while Westwood was working for the label back in the 70s. According to Margherita, Westwood “wasn’t quite right for Missoni” thanks to her “different aesthetic” and the British designer parted ways with the Italian brand, on entirely amicable terms, to start her own eponymous business.
It was interactions like these and the acceptance that fashion was practically in her blood that inspired Margherita to turn her hand at design.
“I learned my craft studying people in the factory,” she says. “I know I lack some knowledge but I work with people that know everything I don’t.”
Her childrenswear label, named Margherita Kids, set off to a good start with an exclusive launch on yoox.com and appears to be thriving. It’s paired down and durable (the designer hit headlines last year for saying, “Kids shouldn’t dress like North West”) and exudes the mum-of-two’s effortless style.
For Margherita, fashion “is not only about an exercise of style. It’s about having wearable items”: An ethos that she follows with her own label and one that her mother and grandmother adhere to with Missoni’s garments. But it hasn’t always been that way.
Nowadays, people are buying practically straight from the catwalk and wanting clothes accessible to all: Haute couture seems to be a thing of the past. These changes don’t worry Margherita, though.
“Fashion is in the midst of a big change, which I’m very excited about,” she volunteers. “I’m not concerned about Missoni. We don’t have ambitions to compete with super luxury sports brands. To survive, you need to keep yourself unique.”
The model, mum and designer is currently the Master of Style at the House of Peroni residency [Photo: Getty]
It’s not just fashion that Margherita is enthralled by. She’s famous for her flair for interior design - her home has featured in numerous magazines - and it’s this exact love that tempted her to team up with Peroni to collaborate on the Italian beer brand’s annual House of Peroni residency.
Taking on the role of Master of Style, Margherita created the interiors of the pop-up inspired by her love of her home country with the help of London-based artist and set designer Petra Storrs.
“I have been lucky enough to grow up in a beautiful part of Northern Italy, where I am constantly taking inspiration from my surroundings and form the beautiful view I have of the Monte Rosa. Native flowers, family gatherings and Lucio Fontana, the Italian philosopher of art, all shape my creative output and have helped me curate the space in the residency,” she says.
The House of Peroni takes up residence at Proud East, 2-10 Hertford Road in London from May 19 until June 1.
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