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Angela Missoni Is Over Fashion Shows, Supermodels

Angela Missoni would like to do an H&M line. She would not like to do another fashion show. “I want to be judged on the clothes, not the performance,” she tells the Telegraph. “My parents used to hold their shows in the factory and invite a hundred people — which was the world’s press and their biggest customers like Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Joan Burstein, of Browns boutique. That was all you needed.” But now you need a front row flecked with celebrities, who must be dressed and coddled and a seating system that denotes which of your guests is most important to you and the industry, while maintaining an aura of exclusivity for the whole show that makes all guests feel like they’re better than the people who were not invited.

“For the past fifteen years, I’ve been trying to come up with an alternative to catwalks,” Missoni continued. “Every spare five minutes I have, I try to imagine a different way of doing it — something less cold and distant. By 2010 I want there to be an alternative.” Oh but if there are no more fashion weeks, where will we get the biannual cheap thrills that come with being Important Enough to Attend Fashion Shows? And the nonstop free booze to wash down said cesspool of insecurities?

Missoni also doesn’t care to pay, say, $70,000 to have a supermodel like Naomi Campbell in her show. “There may no longer be supermodels, but there are models who charge super prices. The whole thing becomes a power play,” she said. “I prefer to show my collections on fresh, young girls to capture that spirit. Having Naomi or Gisele in your show is really just about saying that you were able to get her.” When it was pointed out to Missoni that her most famous campaign was fall 2004’s starring Kate Moss as Brigitte Bardot, she replied, “Maybe, but the funny thing was that Kate had actually been forgotten about then. She only came back really strongly later — and I know because it’s not like we paid a fortune for her.”

Why I want to kill off the catwalk [Telegraph UK]

Angela Missoni Is Over Fashion Shows, Supermodels