Rosita Missoni, co-founder of the Italian knitwear label Missoni, has died aged 93.
The news was confirmed by the president of Italy's Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, who praised the brand's iconic “multi-colored texture”.
He described her death as “a great loss for Italy, Lombardy and the province of Varese where she was born and lived”.
Rosita founded the luxury brand – which became famous for its zig-zag motif – in the northern Italian region with her husband Ottavio in 1953.
Rosita, whose parents were shawl makers, was born in 1931 in the town of Golasecca, Lombardy.
While on a study tour to learn English in London, she met Ottavio – known as Tai – while he was competing in the 400m hurdles at the 1948 Olympic Games.
At the time, Tai was making his own knitted suits, including caps with a zip so they could be put over trains.
“When I got married, four sewing machines arrived with my husband,” Rosita told the AFP news agency in an interview in 2016.
The pair, who married in 1953, set up a knitwear workshop in Gallarate, north-west of Milan.
Rosita and Ottavio Missoni in their office in the 1990s (Getty Images)
Their big break came in 1958 when a department store in Milan ordered hundreds of striped Missoni dresses.
Missoni's first catwalk show came in 1966, followed by a show at the Pitti Palace in Florence the following year.
Controversy over the quality of the clothing, after models were asked to remove their white bras because they were visible under blouses, catapulted the brand to international fame.
Tai died in 2013, aged 92.
The couple's daughter, Angela, took over the fashion house in the late 1990s, although Rosita continued to work on the label's home line, Missoni Home.
