Since 1953, the tight-knit clan¹ has managed to build one of Italy’s most storied fashion empires while remaining exceptionally lovable.Italian fashion is, on the whole, a story of family businesses built on native soil, an immovable feast of Fendis and Etros working for the greater glory of mother and motherland. But few families tug² an outsider’s heart like the Missonis, whose chromatic³ knitwear has woven through time for more than half a century.

从1953年，这个亲密的宗族建立起意大利最著名的时装帝国之一，而这个家族依然十分令人喜爱。意大利时装总体来说是本土家族企业，是芬迪(Fendi)和艾绰(Etro)等品牌为母亲和祖国增光添彩的坚固不移的盛宴。但还有几个外来家族雄心勃勃参与角逐，比如米索尼(Missoni)，半个多世纪以来它一直在编织彩色针织衫。

Their sweaters knit on shawl-making machines — the innovation that launched Missoni as a fashion company — and a zigzag⁴ as recognizable as any logo are now part of fashion history. But this is just as much a story of Ottavio, known as Tai, and Rosita, the family’s patriarch and matriarch, and their charmingly delightful⁵ and totally unpretentious close-knit brood.They are the designers: Angela (Rosita and Tai’s youngest) took over as the house designer in 1996, and her daughter Margherita works on accessories and serves as muse⁶. They are the business stewards⁷: Angela’s late brother Vittorio was the company’s president until 2013, when his death in a small plane accident was a personal tragedy and an international mystery. They are the historians: Another brother, Luca, oversees⁸ the archives, and Angela’s son, Francesco, moved back home to work on a cookbook of family recipes. His cousin Marco has modeled on the runway. The family, at home in Sumirago, posed for their ad campaign in 2010. Who better? The Missonis are their own best advertisement.

他们的毛衣是在做披肩的机器上织出来的——这个创新让米索尼成为一家时装公司——毛衣上的之字形图案和任何著名标识一样为人熟知。这些毛衣是时装历史的一部分。但同样镌刻在历史上的还有他们的男族长奥塔维奥（Ottavio，人称塔伊[Tai]）、和女族长罗西塔(Rosita)，以及他们迷人、可爱、谦逊、亲密的孩子们。他们是设计师：安吉拉（Angela，罗西塔和塔伊的幼女）1996年成为该公司的设计师，安吉拉的女儿玛格丽塔(Margherita)是配饰设计师，同时也是安吉拉的缪斯。他们也是公司的管理者：安吉拉已故的哥哥维托利奥(Vittorio)曾是公司总裁，2013年乘坐小型飞机失事，这既是个人悲剧，也是全世界的谜团。他们还是史学家：安吉拉的另一个哥哥卢卡(Luca)监管公司档案，安吉拉的儿子弗朗西斯科(Francesco)搬回家中，撰写家族菜谱。他的表哥（或表弟）马尔科(Marco)是秀台上的模特。2010年，这家人在苏米拉戈家中拍摄公司的广告海报。还有更好的人选吗？米索尼一家就是最好的广告。

Theirs is a rarefied world, headquartered in the Italian alps, but open to guests. Those who sit down with them at their postshow dinners know their domesticity and warmth, the antithesis⁹ of fashion’s stereotypical¹⁰ sangfroid¹¹.

他们的世界很纯净，总部在意大利的阿尔卑斯山，但是对宾客开放。在时装秀后的宴会上和他们坐在一起的人了解他们的温暖和对家庭的热爱，他们是时装界常见的冷漠的对立面。

In May of last year, Ottavio passed away at 92. That September, Margherita’s son, Otto, was born, swaddled in chevron¹². Two weeks later, Angela sent her collection down the runway in Milan. Their spirit, like the proverbial show, goes on.

去年5月，92岁的奥塔维奥去世。那一年9月，玛格丽塔的儿子奥托(Otto)出生，包裹在V字形襁褓里。两周后，安吉拉在米兰的秀台上展示她的收藏。正如俗话所说，他们的精神永存。