There aren’t many fashion start-ups that can boast investment from former Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri and other powerful figures in the Italian fashion establishment, yet even with such a vote of confidence in her design ability, Margherita Maccapani Missoni is wary of pushing her brand too fast. This is why as it enters its third year of presenting collections, Maccapani remains at a developmental stage. This allows the knitwear scion to nurture her label according to market conditions while working to shape the nature of a project christened after her lesser-known paternal family.
This season the designer presented in Paris, in a beautiful high-story Left Bank apartment that was formerly owned by her grandmother Rosita, the Missoni matriarch and co-founder who died earlier this year aged 93. Margherita has lowered the prices of her pieces across the board, and tightened her range to focus on the jersey and wool jacquard fabrications that she feels are at the core of her brand’s USP. There was also a fair smattering of carefully cut rib knits and some printed long sleeve T-shirts.
The vibe of the collection remained off-duty dancer with a hint of luxury goth and a suggestion of lingerie dressing. Eventually we may see how Maccapani performs on a runway, but Margherita emphasized that for now her priority is establish a foundation strong enough to justify the expense of that format. She said: “Right now we’re in a phase of building our brand. So we’re using my presence a lot, for a lot of moments where I have direct interaction with customers, whether they’re in retail spaces or in more informal environments.”
