A Miss for Missoni

While I've never professed serious love for Missoni, I can't deny there are some house staples I would love to own. I've many a time oogled over a beautifully patterned knit sweater that, true to its brand, couldn't be anything but the alluring, comfortable, and opulent M. I can remember the first Missoni dress I fell for was in a shop in one of the high-end retailers in St. Martin, I believe. It was a wrap dress, of their signature pattern, a kind of pastel yellow, gold, and orange, with delightful zagging slices of eggshell blue. I fought myself over the instinct to buy that dress pretty ferociously, as it definitely wasn't per-se my accustomed "style" but, four years later, I still find myself thinking about it...

But the Missoni for Target line simply does not equate for me. Besides the general design of the clothes (which remind me greatly of some of my most favored seventh-grade staples, see photos below) I think there lies an issue with the general expansiveness of the line, and also the entire fashion concept. I think the line should have more closely adhered to what Missoni is known for, and as a unique, unmistakable brand, for me that would have been a very limited pool of upscale garments and accessories: the places where their philosophy and style translates best. That I can buy Missoni style bathroom rugs, bycicles, salad bowls and i-pad covers leaves me feeling-dare I say it?- A little exploited. And a little oversaturated. Not to say there weren't any successes in the Missoni for Target line. I liked the classic knit dress, the velour shorts and a few other pieces like this girls sweater vest, or the velour shorts picture below... I even liked their "rose" motif, represented here in a bra...

The other problem I had was mainly conceptual. Missoni is a brand known for their distinctive pattern and their materials. The Missoni pattern itself is iconic, not because of its novelty alone, but because, in this authors opinion, Missoni has managed to take a standard geometrical pattern and elevate it into opulence through their luxurious materials, impressive attention to knitting and weave, and carefully chosen color palettes. If you asked me if I liked small geometric patterns on a dress I would strongly reply in the negative, and yet hand me a Missoni sweater and the playfulness of the colors, the softness of the materials, and the whimsical Bohemia of the pattern, somehow draws one in and combines to create something exceptional. When you take away the added touches that are necessarily stripped from the Missoni for Target line in order to meet a certain price point, not only is the image of the brand devalued, but you are left with only the barest bones of that iconic lines design philosophy-- that is, a lot of bright zig-zag lines. In my opinion it reminds me of the entrance to Marc Jacobs stores, a roomful of knick-knacks and kiddied-down paraphernalia, key-chains, grocery bags, ect.. targeted at a younger set, who have not yet developed the sensibilities to separate brand name from value. And this is what I find distasteful. For me, I respect a line that searches for an opportunity to further investigate its most artistic visions via couture, which is a dying breed due to its rarely equatable financial returns, rather than a line that dumbs down its concept in order to reach a wider commercial body. It comes down to the idea of whether fashion is an art or industry? I like to argue the former but in this case, its all but clear, financial gain is the main motivation.

This is not, by the way, to say that I disapprove of all the newer attempts to fuse high fashion with a lower price point. Simply to say that it's a slippery slope when we let the brand carry the value rather than the design. Two instances that come to mind, in my opinion, of extremely well-executed collaborations are Stella McCartney's Collaboration with H&M and Proenza Shoulers' earlier collaboration with Target... even if Target later seemed to borrow a little too much from Proenza with their copycat PS1 Bag.

Here are some of my personal NO's: the puffer jacket (why? that's all, why?), the middle shirt i'm pretty sure i've already seem hundreds of times at every outlet superstore available, and the sweater is straight out of my 7th grade wardrobe.

To decide for yourself go to Missoni Target.
For info on the PS1 controversy see NYT on the PS1 Bag.
For either the Proenza Shouler for target line or Stella McCartney for H&M line just get googling.