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.