This September, Filippo Grazioli is ready to bring Missoni to Millennials in his first FW runway.
For years Missoni was the epitome of Italian knitwear, but that did not necessarily deem it cool for the fast-evolving and viciously demanding fashion of today. Let’s face it, Missoni was (even if only to a certain degree) a little outdated. Cue in a new young face, in this case Filippo Gazioli, who is debuting his first fashion week this coming September, and you’ve got yourself a cocktail of exciting and promising fashion.
Gazioli has been, for a long time, a sort of protégé of Riccardo Tisci, an Italian fashion designer known for his work at Givenchy and Burberry. At both these luxury fashion houses, Tisci brought over Grazioli, who worked as a collections director in his most recent role pre-Missoni, for Burberry. But his curriculum vitae in fashion was nowhere near short of big, luxury names. With stunts also in Hermès, and Maison Margiela, Filippo Grazilioli has certainly been around.
Filippo, who we see on instagram as a lover of Missoni’s zig-zagged pattern, comes from quite a notorious education in fashion. Graduating from Milan’s Istituto Europeo di Design, the 40-year old Italian then carried on his learning in Paris. This amounts to 18 years of experience in large industry names prior to taking over at Missoni.
Grazioli comes into a recently shifting brand, which has been undergoing some managerial changes within its design team. This appointment as creative director of one of Italy’s finest luxury fashion houses comes with the re-positioning of Angela Missoni as president, following a lengthy but successful 24 years of creative direction. Alberto Caliri, who was overseeing the collections under Angela’s “rule”, will now move on to oversee homeware and Missoni sport.
Filippo Grazioli, on the official press release spoke: “I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given, and the possibility to shape my experience further in a new vision that maintains the joyfulness, freshness, sense of colour, and positivity that are the core qualities of Missoni.”
With a young and vibrant new face taking over, we can expect big changes in the brand, although perhaps they may be subtle in the upcoming fashion week. It does take a designer some time to find their voice within a pre-established brand after all – but with Missoni’s seemingly eager push towards a type of fashion which is worn by younger generations, it would be expected for the brand to swerve into unknown territory in attempts at appealing to a younger audience.
Expect to witness Filippo Grazioli’s fashion wonders first hand at Milan Fashion Week, on September the 23rd at 10:30am.