Missoni Opens a Bright New Costa Mesa Boutique With C Magazine

C Magazine Toasts Missoni’s Bright New Costa Mesa Boutique

Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Photography by CARLA RHEA

Filippo Grazioli’s high-visibility spring Missoni collection filled its new Costa Mesa boutique with a riot of colors as C Magazine welcomed the storied Italian house back to California with a cocktail party held on Wednesday, May 24. The designs, Grazioli’s first as creative director of the dynamic knitwear brand founded by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, displayed his fresh interpretation of the house’s signature zigzag pattern formerly reworked by Angela Missoni, who is now the Varese-based company’s president. The geometric motif is also referenced in the architecture of the new 2,475-square-foot South Coast Plaza space, the house’s first U.S. concept store. Slashes of colored lights and metal also recreated the innovative woven pattern to hypnotic effect on the store’s façade, and the pattern was subtly echoed in the interiors across slatted walls and on carpets, chairs, and sectionals as guests entered the space.

A rainbow of hues spread across pared-back body-con dresses, skirts in midi and mini lengths, scarves, shirts, pants, and sneakers lit up the boutique punctuated by bursts of magenta, cyan, lime, and lemon yellow as guests got a look at Grazioli’s collections for men and women alongside watches, glasses, and fragrances as well as Alberto Caliri’s coveted Missoni Home offerings. Notably, the minimalist designs and seaside essentials also included looks in black and white that referenced house codes but reworked them into modern, graphic looks. As beats by Jehan El-dabbagh, known as Allura, filled the new outpost, bites crafted by Quattro Caffé garnished with fuchsia blooms made the rounds, and a new era for Missoni began with the West Coast opening of its brightest new stateside space.