MILAN — Missoni has named Filippo Grazioli its new creative director, WWD has learned.

In an exclusive interview, the brand’s managing director, Livio Proli, confirmed the nomination, saying that while Grazioli’s first collection will bow at the end of May with the brand’s pre-collection for men and women, its first show will have take place in the spring of 2023. in September. He won’t be showing a separate Missoni men’s collection in June.

Grazioli, born in the Marche region, will turn 41 on May 9 – coincidentally the day founder Ottavio Missoni died in 2013.

A graduate of the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Grazioli developed his career in Paris. During an internship at Staff International, he met Martin Margiela and worked with the designer on women’s collections until 2013.

In 2015, after a stint as a senior female designer at Hermès, he made another important personal encounter, meeting Riccardo Tisci and becoming director of collections at Givenchy. Grazioli then followed Tisci to become runway collection director at Burberry.

“It’s Filippo’s chance to become number one, not everyone has the prerequisites to do it, but he does,” Proli said of Grazioli. “He has a serious methodology and he can modernize Missoni in a context that is constantly and rapidly changing, while paying homage to the brand and its roots. What I’m looking for is a luxury hand, not snobby or conceptual.

He warned against trends “because you do things that are borderline, that don’t belong to you”, while seeking a “clean, very elegant, sensual but not erotic or vulgar image” for Missoni.

He believes that there is a Missoni style, symbolized by the family, which has created a loyal community and that Grazioli will know how to appropriate these “subliminal values” and these codes in a modern way.

Grazioli “brings a wealth of outside experience and is passionate about Missoni; he has done a study on the brand and he is extremely motivated”, adds Proli.

Alberto Caliri, who took over from Angela Missoni as interim creative director in May last year, will transition to the brand’s in-house collection and lead a new phase for the division, which is overseen by founder Rosita Missoni. He will also be in charge of the Missoni Sport line with consultant Davide Tognetti and will work on the Missoni Lab training project at the company’s Sumirago headquarters.

Proli hailed the “modern creativity” of Caliri, “a true artist who managed to refresh the brand without betraying its roots and a long-term asset to Missoni, and an extension of the family.” Offering a sexier look and injecting a new dimension into the brand’s signature geometric patterns, its collections have garnered positive reviews.

The change in creative direction is part of the five-year plan presented by Proli, who joined the Giorgio Armani group business in 2020, after Italian fund FSI took a 41.2% stake in the family business in 2018.

The refresh of the collections and the image of the brand is proving to be a success as Proli was proud to reveal that Missoni closed 2021 with sales of 105 million euros, compared to 110 million euros in 2019, “recovering two years earlier than planned” and despite the closure of the M Missoni line.

“There are no more uncertainties, we aim to stay the course and cushion the vagaries,” Proli said.

Asked about Russia, Proli said Missoni does not have a business in the country, but he admitted the brand will feel the impact in its stores located in luxury resorts in Saint Tropez, Portofino, Porto Cervo, Capri and Forte dei Marmi, long favored by the wealthy. Russian buyers.

Proli is relaunching the Missoni Sport brand, which was licensed to Malerba and closed in 2007. Now produced in-house, it is a wellness and comfort line, which sells around 20% less than the brand iconic, and the returns are strong, Proli reported.

The CEO has also touted the relevance of the in-house line, which he considers to be in line with the brand’s lifestyle appeal, and records sales of around 30 million euros. “Missoni is a way of life,” he said, noting that interest in the division has grown.

In October, Missoni signed an agreement with Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan to use its Missoni Home line to decorate the exclusive apartments and penthouses of Urban Oasis, a 38-storey beachfront building under construction near the canal of Dubai Water.

The project, which is expected to be completed in 2024, marks Missoni Home’s first extension in the Emirates.

In the United States, the company has partnered with the OKO Group to create Missoni Baia, a 57-story, 249-unit building overlooking Biscayne Bay, which is expected to open at the end of the year.

“We want Missoni to come back to shine in the United States, where brand awareness is very high, and we want to recreate a distribution that matches the label,” said Proli, who plans to open a store in Los Angeles. by the end of the year. There are Missoni stores on Madison Avenue in New York and at Bal Harbor Shops. The United States is the biggest market for the brand’s online activities.

Other developments in the distribution network include the relocation of the brand’s boutique to Rome, doubling its surface. Relocations are also taking place in Munich and Milan, where a store in Via Sant’Andrea will be transferred either to Via Spiga or Via Verri. “We are in negotiations now,” Proli revealed.

China is also a priority. After opening stores in Shanghai and Chengdu, Missoni will open a unit in Beijing by the end of the year.