Vittorio Missoni
{{short description|Italian CEO of Missoni}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
Vittorio Missoni (25 April 1954 – 4 January 2013) was an Italian businessman, CEO of the fashion house Missoni founded by his parents in 1953. Missoni was credited with expanding the family shop into a global brand after his parents handed control to him and his two siblings, Angela and Luca, in 1996.{{cite news |title=Rosita Missoni: figli e nipoti una grande famiglia |url=https://www.repubblica.it/moda-e-beauty/2025/01/02/news/rosita_missoni_figli_e_nipoti_una_grande_famiglia-423917114/ |access-date=2 January 2025 |agency=repubblica.it |publisher=repubblica.it |date=2 January 2025}}
Childhood
Missoni was born in Gallarate, Lombardy, Italy, in 1954, to Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. His parents had opened a small knitwear store in Gallarate in 1953 shortly before he was born. They released their first articles of clothing using the Missoni label in 1958. The company, which is known for a distinctive zigzag knitwear pattern, became successful in Italy during the 1960s. The three Missoni children – Vittorio, Angela and Luca – became involved with the day-to-day operations of the family business.
Missoni
In 1996, Ottavio and Rosita handed control of the Missoni fashion house to their children. Angela and Luca took responsibility for the creative direction of the Missoni line, while Vittorio Missoni handled the business aspects of the company. Vittorio Missoni initially led the marketing and manufacturing departments of Missoni. However, he was widely credited with expanding the fashion house into a full global brand after becoming Missoni's chief executive officer in Europe and the United States. Under Vittorio Missoni, the company's trademark pattern and name expanded into household and cosmetic products, including perfume and towels. A Missoni Hotel chain debuted in 2009 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Accidental death
The plane in which Missoni and his wife were flying, a forty-four-year-old Britten-Norman Islander, disappeared on 4 January 2013, after taking off from Los Roques Airport in the Los Roques archipelago, where they had been vacationing, en route to Caracas, Venezuela. His wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, and their friends, Guido Foresti and Elda Scalvenzi, as well as two crew members were also on board the plane.{{cite news|first=Bibby|last=Sowray|title=Vittorio Missoni aircraft found |url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10146529/Vittorio-Missoni-aircraft-found.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=27 June 2013 |access-date=25 July 2013}} Right after the incident, Missoni's son insinuated that the disappearance looked more like a kidnapping.{{Cite web |title=Vittorio Missoni's Son Says Plane Crash Scenario 'Least Plausible' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/vittorio-missonis-son-plane-crash-scenario-plausible/story?id=18176985 |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=ABC News |language=en}}
The search for the missing aircraft took more than six months. His father, Ottavio, died in May 2013, before the plane was located.
On 27 June 2013, it was confirmed that Missoni's plane was found in the Caribbean Sea, north of the Los Roques archipelago 76-meter deep in the water.{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Lizzy |date=17 October 2013 |title=Vittorio Missoni plane crash: doubt cast on reports that body has been found |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/17/body-vittorio-missoni-recovered-plane |access-date=10 June 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |date=27 June 2013 |title=Venezuela finds Vittorio Missoni crash plane |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-23088866 |access-date=10 June 2023}} The aircraft was located by the crew of C&C Technologies' research vessel Sea Scout, an oceanographic ship, on the fifth day of their search for Missoni.{{cite web|title=C & C Technologies' Team Locates Two Missing Aircraft Near Los Roques, Venezuela - Tuesday, December 24, 2013|url=http://www.cctechnol.com/news/C--C-Technologies-Team-Locates-Two-Missing-Aircraft-Near-Los-Roques-Venezuela|website=www.cctechnol.com|access-date=11 February 2015}} In October 2013, the Ansa reported that the Venezuelan authorities had recovered five bodies including Missoni's. The Missoni family later confirmed that only the bodies of the two crew members were found and identified. In January 2014, a year after the disappearance, the search was still on.{{Cite web |date=6 January 2014 |title=Missoni’s Body Is Still Not Found |url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/vittorio-missonis-body-still-missing-search-continues |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=British Vogue |language=en-GB}}
See also
References
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Category:Italian chief executives
Category:People from Gallarate
Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2013
Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Venezuela