Missoni 2000

This season Missoni did the kids a solid. Angela Missoni has taken the knitwear her family has made famous and brought it to the edge (is it just me or is there a Rodarte thing happening here?). In tough economic times, people are very careful about how they spend their dollars, especially the young consumer who has a more limited income than their parents generation. The reality is everyone wants to be ahead of the curve, so with lines like Balmain, Rodarte, and McQueen out there, I think Missoni has realized that if they want to appeal to the youth they're going to have to step out on a limb and toughin up a bit. And toughen up they have.

They refreshed their signature Missoni zig-zag print and converted it into a full fur coat, then used the same fur to trim the collar of their heavy knit sweaters, add to that the gorgeous tiered oversize poncho, and all of this accessorized with Angela's new range of metal cuffs, Et Oila! you have Missoni made modern, and its no longer a long shot to imagine these designs being worn by the hipster fashion set of downtown New York.

Since mama and papa Missoni retired 12 years ago, we really haven't seen anything new or innovative coming out of the Missoni household, which is a shame since I've always associated this brand with young, free loving hippies of the 60's and 70's. So its nice to see they're now returning to the youth thats been embracing the label for years, while still managing not to isolate the more conservative or older crowd either. The great thing about this colleciton is every peice looks like it could be worn 5 different ways, I can practically envision the Lucky mag spread, "How to wear it 5 ways". I hate those spreads, with a passion quite frankly, but the point is, this is a credit to what Angela has managed to do this season, in presenting a collection that is edgy, cool, sophisticated, yet versatile. These are the kind of peices that people want to buy right now because theyre staples, 20 years from now, you can still pull out these sweaters, the tops, the ponchos. Its a strong collection and its about time! This is the Missoni I've been rooting for and waiting for all these years.