Missoni: Art Colour

Colourful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the inspiration behind the work of the fashion house Missoni.

Founded in 1953 by Ottavio and Rosita Mossoni specialise in knitted garments. The inspiration for which comes from early 20th century abstract paintings. The clothes were shown here with a large selection of these paintings.

I must admit I found the clothes took second place to the art here which seemed strange at a museum about fashion. There was a wonderful display in the centre of about 50 outfits but these have no commentaries so you didn’t understand the date or the inspiration. On asking I was lent a sheet with dates on it in very small print. 

I was interesting to see the art which inspired the work but I would like to have seen more the link made more directly. There was a good section upstairs which included designs in progress on squared paper and it was interesting to see some of Ottavio’s own pictures.

The show had originally been at a museum in Milan which looked a lot bigger from the pictures. This version felt a bit watered down and maybe needed the narrative rethinking for a smaller space.

Closes on 6 September 2016.

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