Ottavio and Rosita Missoni are to Italian knit as Gucci is to leather. Using inspiration from original an unexpected quarters – a piece of antique porcelain, a fragment of embroidery, a picture painted by someone they then employ in their factory and train to use their knitting machines – together they produce the most beautiful knits in ravishing colours, extraordinary patterns and perfect shapes.

Photographed by Barry Lategan.

Scanned by Miss Peelpants from Vogue, April 1971.