Margherita Missoni: ‘My Ambitions Are Less Important Than My Well-being’
Margherita with her grandmother and Missoni founder, Rosita Missoni. (Photo: Rex)
Margherita Maccapani Missoni might be the heiress to one of the most prestigious fashion dynasties in the world, but she’s in no rush to take over.
The 33-year-old designer is the granddaughter of Rosita and the late Ottavio Missoni, the Italian couple who founded Missoni back in 1953. The label made waves with its zigzag prints and becoming one of the first haute couture houses to sell knitwear. “It just wasn’t something you bought as luxury back then,” Margherita tells Yahoo Style.
Despite Rosita being in her mid-80s, she still has an active role in the company, overseeing homeware, while Margherita’s mother, Angela, serves as Missoni’s creative director.
Margherita with her mother, Angela. (Photo: Rex)
That’s not to say there isn’t a place for Margherita in the company. She sees herself getting involved in the day-to-day operation eventually, but for the time being, she says she doesn’t “need the stress” of helping run such a huge business. “My ambitions are less important than my well-being,” she explains. “My children come first.”
As an alternative, Margherita opted to launch a children’s wear line last year — a venture that she could throw herself into from the comfort of her own home, with a modest staff of just two employees.
Margherita with her husband and sons. (Photo: Instagram/@mmmargherita)
It certainly sounds like an ideal setup for a young mother with two preschool-age kids. The trio work from Margherita’s home, which is about 40 minutes outside of Milan, while the kids 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 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 given a hat by Vivienne Westwood on her 7th 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 label.
It was interactions like these — and the acceptance that fashion was practically in her blood — that inspired Margherita to try 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 children’s wear label, Margherita Kids, got off to a good start with an exclusive launch on yoox.com and appears to be thriving. It’s pared down and durable (the designer made headlines last year for saying, “Kids shouldn’t dress like North West”), and it exudes her own effortless style.
For Margherita, fashion “is not only about an exercise of style. It’s about having wearable items.” This is an ethos that she follows with her own label and one that her mother and grandmother adhere to with Missoni’s garments. While wearable items have been a tenet of Missoni’s ideology since its founding, other brands are catching up — but this doesn’t scare Margherita. “Fashion is in the midst of a big change, which I’m very excited about,” she says. “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.”
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