Rosita Missoni, co-founder of Italian knitwear label, dies

Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the eponymous Italian knitwear label Missoni, has died aged 93.

The news was confirmed by the president of Italy’s Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, who praised the brand’s iconic “multicoloured textures”.

He described her death as “a great loss for Italy, Lombardy and for the province of Varese where she was born and lived”.

Rosita founded the luxury brand – which became known for its zig-zag motif – in the northern Italian region with her husband Ottavio in 1953.

Rosita, whose parents were shawlmakers, was born in 1931 in the town of Golasecca, Lombardy.

While on a study trip to learn English in London, she met Ottavio – known as Tai – while he was competing in the 400m hurdles at the 1948 Olympic Games.

At the time, Tai was producing his own knit tracksuits, including bottoms with a zip so they could be put on over trainers.

“When I got married, four sewing machines arrived with my husband,” Rosita told the AFP news agency in a 2016 interview.

The pair, who married in 1953, initially set up a machine-knitwear workshop in Gallarate, northwest of Milan.

Their big break came in 1958 when a Milanese department store ordered hundreds of Missoni-labelled striped dresses.

Missoni’s first catwalk show came in 1966, followed by a presentation at the Pitti Palace in Florence the following year.

A controversy over the see-through quality of clothing, after models were asked to remove their white bras because they could be seen under blouses, propelled the brand into global fame.

Tai died in 2013, aged 92.

The couple’s daughter, Angela, took over the fashion house in the late 1990s, although Rosita continued to work on the label’s home line, Missoni Home.