“Take a good look at these two,” said Diana Vreeland to her assistants in 1970, “because they are two geniuses.” As editor-in-chief of Vogue, Vreeland was sparing with her praise, but in the case of the two Italians, Rosita Missoni and her husband, Ottavio, she had discerned a talent that would make their name and transform the fashion status of knitwear. Missoni became synonymous around the world, particularly in the 1970s, with blasts of bright colour in dozens of materials and patterns.
The most characteristic of these was a zigzag, but the pair were also among the first to perfect pliable knits with vertical stripes (which made the wearer seem slimmer). Ottavio, known as Tai, would create the schemes in watercolour and gouache, while Rosita cut them into the outline of garments..
