Angela Missoni: new knits

For our latest collection, we were inspired by New York in the 1980s, and in particular Jean-Michel Basquiat. During this time period, from the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the artistic community wore Missoni menswear, so it's an inspiration that already had strong ties with that world.

Of course, I never look at the past or the archives and simply reproduce designs. I am always updating, because that is my nature. I am always looking forward. My purpose is to add a sense of uniqueness to the menswear and keep a focus on single items, because I believe that men buy clothing in this way and every piece has to be very strong and have a lot of personality.

It's interesting to think that in the decades since those early days, our idea of knitwear has changed from something that was very much associated with a sweater or a cardigan to a process that can be used to make coats, trousers and jackets. I love the idea of having more structured knitwear, so I started backing [putting a layer of fabric behind] certain knits for men, from fine ones to thicker versions, knowing that in this way I could create more tailored pieces.

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One of the special things about the way we knit at Missoni is that even though we might produce a more structured garment, it still looks and feels like a knitted piece. Additionally, there's the advantage of having your own unique fabric – we create many of our own fabrics because we knit them ourselves. Basically, everything you see in a Missoni collection is very distinctive.

Another thing I feel we should do is number everything we produce as a limited piece – we should number everything because we never exceed 500 pieces of a style.

The way we work, producing the majority of our pieces in our factory, means that we are able to tailor all the details. For example, you might change the gauge, or combine colours, or move a colour from one place to another. We also buy and dye our own yarns; we are not committed to outside factories to purchase certain yarns, which gives us the freedom to produce something completely different.

ANGELA MISSONI has been the creative director of Missoni for more than two decades; missoni.com