Filippo Grazioli unveils new Missoni menswear at Milan Fashion Week
Nicola Mira
Ahead of the eagerly awaited women’s ready-to-wear show in September, Filippo Grazioli has provided a glimpse of the direction he intends to steer MissoniMilan Fashion Week
Grazioli’s appointment was announced in March, but he had joined the label, well-known for its knitwear and the famous zigzag patterns, already a year ago, keen to have the time to immerse himself in Missoni’s history and archives, “with the whole staff and the [Missoni] family’s support.” He was notably able to consult with Rosita Missoni, who founded the label with her husband Ottavio in 1953, and their daughter Angela, Missoni’s current president, who took over from her parents in 1997 and was in charge of design until last year.
“I’m here to rekindle the flame and help this label, with its powerful codes, transition into the 2020s. You have to have a huge amount of respect, for what Missoni is for a start, and for the materials you need to sublimate. We have fabrics and designs, but not really a Missoni silhouette, and I’ll be focusing mostly on this,” Grazioli told FashionNetwork.com
Grazioli wants to work on a style that is “rather relaxed, urban, easy, generous and comfortable,” the idea being to “engage with men’s daily lives, infusing the entire wardrobe with the comfort and lightness of knitwear.” For this first menswear collection, Grazioli drew his inspiration from founder Ottavio Missoni and his famous cardigans, focusing on the label’s signature knitted fabrics produced at Missoni’s own atelier in Sumirago, north of Milan, using the Raschel machines that have been crucial for Missoni’s success.
The Spring/Summer 2023 collection features Missoni’s classic, colourful striped patterns in sweaters matched with jersey darted trousers pleated at the waist. The zigzag patterns are often barely visible, embossed tone-on-tone in a white ensemble, as a mere detail at the back of a pair of white sneakers, or on the pocket, collar and cuffs of a shirt. Sometimes the patterns are magnified in a fresh twist, elsewhere they mix and match in different sizes.
Grazioli prefers total looks and monochrome sets that put the accent on textures. His style is quite understated, mostly featuring primary colours like white, black, yellow, red and blue. Knitted tops are sometimes trimmed with stripes typical of varsity jackets, or styled in more of a chic French Riviera
A graduate of Milan’s Istituto Europeo di Design in 2003, Grazioli, 41, started his career with an internship at Staff International, the production arm of Italian fashion group OTB, where he met Martin MargielaHermès with Christophe LemaireGivenchyRiccardo TisciBurberry
“I sought to create a spontaneous, timeless aesthetic, talking about Missoni through the details,” he said. According to Grazioli, the goal is to “lead Missoni into the future by injecting it with a more luxurious feel, and heightening its quality in terms of details.”
As part of this repositioning effort, the prices of some product categories have been raised. Grazioli has also designed a capsule collection of high-end cardigans, made with patchwork fabrics or knitted using special stitching, priced between €1,200 and €1,490, while tops are priced at around €1,000 and trousers between €600 and €790.
