Filippo Grazioli is finding his footing at Missoni. His second outing as creative director showed a more convincing take on the label’s fundamentals. It was sexier and more confident. There was variety and attitude.
Glamour, an ingredient not always part of Missoni’s lexicon, was also added to the mix. In his first show, which was a sort of palate cleanser to the point of radical detoxing, Grazioli seemed to keep his cards close to his chest; here he came to play. He clearly felt more expressive and free. “I wanted to have much more fun,” he said backstage. “I wanted to bring about more femininity and emotion. It’s a bit more rock ’n’ roll.”
Missoni is an inherently modern brand, in that the simplicity of the silhouette, the uplifting appeal of its patterns and colors have an immediacy that seems to be truly timeless, a likable energy easily registered and embraced. That’s as true today as it was 70 years ago, when it was founded by Rosita and Ottavio. “But I don’t want to be stuck in the archive, I don’t want to be vintage,” said Grazioli. This season, his only archival ingredient was a rose motif created in 1984. He played with the signature Missoni knitted patterns—the zig-zag and the fiammato—blowing them gently up, or shrinking them down a notch, letting them breathe in fresh new patch worked combinations.
Grazioli kept the silhouette tight-fitted in sinuous dresses finely draped through plays of drawstrings, or in slinky sequined low-cut slips worn over flimsy nude tops with the archival rose motif in jacquard or appliqués. They made for a rather hot proposition, yet were nonchalant in attitude. A dressed up, glamorous vibe was also there in faux-fur sweeping coats in blown-up multicolor zig zag intarsia, and floor-grazing evening trench coats in frayed lamé, rendered in gradations of lilac and cerulean.
Grazioli’s personal twist is coming to the fore: judging from this outing, we should most likely expect a sexier, racier, seductive Missoni.
