Italian designer Rosita Missoni , co-founder of the eponymous fashion house known for its bright and patterned styles, died on Thursday at age 93, a company official said. She had launched the business in 1953 with her husband Ottavio Missoni , developing a brand which became popular for its colorful knitwear featuring geometric patterns and stripes, including the signature zigzag motif known as fiammato. Born into a family of textile artisans close to the northern Italian town of Varese, Rosita studied modern languages.
On a trip to London in 1948 to improve her English, she met Ottavio, who was competing with the Italian 400 meters hurdles team at the Olympics in the city. The Missoni brand gained international recognition and awards for its distinctive patterns and avant-garde use of textiles and an approach to fashion often compared to modern art. It was also helped by what was dubbed the "battle of the bras" in 1967.
Missoni had been invited to show at the Pitti Palace in Florence but before the models went out on the runways Rosita noticed that their bras were visible through their tops, ruining the intended color and pattern effect. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. She told the models to remove their bras but, under the runway lighting, their outfits became totally transparent and the incident caused a sensation.
They were not invited to return the next year, but Missoni was quickly on the covers of big-name fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle.
