6 May 2009, Sydney – Global textile symbol, the Woolmark recently
shared the limelight at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week with Missoni and Diet
Coca Cola, in honour of the global fashion icon, the Little Black Dress.
The Little Black Dress event, presented by Diet Coca Cola
and sponsored by the Woolmark brand, brought together 10 fashion designers,
each of whom designed three dresses inspired by the silhouette of the iconic
bottle shape. The designers included Alex Perry, Sass & Bide, Kate
Sylvester, Kirrily Johnston, Willow, Marnie Skillings, Alice McCall, Alpha 60
and 2009 LMFF Woolmark Designer Award winner, Romance Was Born.
The tenth member of the collective was world-renowned
Italian knitwear label Missoni, whose design head Angela Missoni created three
multi-coloured, multi-patterned knit garments inspired by the red and black of
the Diet Coca Cola packaging. Angela Missoni was represented at the Sydney
fashion week event by her daughter Margherita Missoni, brand ambassador and
scion to the iconic knitwear empire.
Australian Wool Innovation CEO Brenda McGahan said: “Wool
has been in the Missoni DNA since Margherita’s grandparents launched the
eponymous fashion house in 1953. Australian woolgrowers should take pride in
the fact that Australian Merino wool has played a major role in inspiring the
Missoni aesthetic and making it a global success.”
One of the three Little Black Dresses designed by Angela
Missoni will become part of the Australian Wool Innovation fashion archive
following a further round of promotional events.
The Missoni label was launched in 1953 by Ottavio and Rosita
Missoni. Combining machine knit technology and a brilliant artistic vision, they
created knitwear of exceptional beauty. Their innovative use of colour and
pattern is regarded widely as having transformed Milan from a centre of
industry to a centre of fashion. In 1972, the LA Times presented the Missonis
as the ‘new status symbol of Italian design’ and Bernardine Morris wrote in the
New York Times: “They make the best knits in the world; some say the best
clothes in the world”. In the late 1990s, their daughter Angela assumed
responsibility for the women’s collection. In March 2009, she received the
World Fashion Award for the woman who has most influenced fashion in recent
years by making decisions that have provoked change and have contributed to the
vitality and longevity of the brand worldwide.
