Ottavio Missoni

Ottavio Missoni

Ottavio Missoni in 1990
Personal information
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1921-02-11)11 February 1921 Dubrovnik, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	9 May 2013 (aged 92) Sumirago, Italy
Residence	Varese, Italy
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	400 metres hurdles
Club	Gallaratese
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	400 m: 47.8 (1939) 400 mH: 53.1 (1948)

Ottavio "Tai" Missoni (11 February 1921 – 9 May 2013) was the founder of the Italian fashion label Missoni and an Italian Olympic hurdler who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Along with his wife Rosita, he was part of the group of designers who launched Italian ready-to-wear in the 1950s, thereby ensuring the global success of Italian fashion.

Ottavio Missoni was born in Dubrovnik, on the Dalmatian coast. His mother, Teresa de Vidovich, was Countess of Capocesto and Rogoznica while his father, Vittorio Missoni, was a Friulian sea captain who had moved to Dalmatia whilst it was under Austrian rule. He was educated in Zadar, Trieste, and Milan.

Aged 16, Missoni joined the Italian National Track Team in 1937. He won the individual national championship four times. He also competed with the Italian team in the 1948 Summer Olympics. At the age of 88 he was still practising sports such as shot put and javelin throw.

Missoni served as an infantryman during World War II. In 1942, he fought in the Battle of El Alamein, where he was captured by the Desert Rats and served out the remainder of the War in an English prisoner-of-war camp.

Whilst in London for the Olympics, Missoni met the 16-year-old Rosita Jelmini, an English student from Golasecca, Italy. She was in the audience at Wembley at the time he was running in the finals. They married five years later on 18 April 1953, and settled in Gallarate. Their first son, Vittorio, was born on 25 April 1954. Luca, their second son, was born on 4 July 1956. Angela, their only daughter, would follow in 1958.