Missoni

The Missoni family is holding fast to the hope that Vittorio Missoni's missing plane was hijacked, and Vittorio's eldest son has called a crash implausible.

"My father will come back; we are waiting for him," said Vittorio's 28-year-old son Ottavio Missoni Jr. in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. "I am not speaking with my head but with my heart. A plane cannot vanish in this way, on a short route, without leaving any trace . . . I remain convinced that the least plausible reason is that they crashed into the water. My uncle Luca, in Venezuela, has also confirmed that these planes are capable of sea landings in case of emergency."

Luca Missoni, Vittorio's brother and a trained pilot, is in Venezuela working with the search party that's been trying to find Vittorio, his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, their friend Guido Foresti, and Foresti's wife, Elda Scalvenzi. They were on a small twin-engine plane traveling from Los Roques to Caracas on Saturday morning, but the plane disappeared shortly after taking off. Angela Missoni, Vittorio's sister and the brand's creative director, said earlier this week that she hopes the traveling party was kidnapped. "It's better to be kidnapped than at the bottom of the sea," she said.

In the meantime, it's said the Missoni brand will carry on with business as usual. An unnamed source told Page Six that the house plans to show its men's collection in Milan next week. However, there's no official plan to replace Vittorio if he and the others aren't found.

"There is no succession plan in place," the source said. "Nobody expected this to happen."

From left, Giacomo Missoni, his father Vittorio Missoni, and brothers Marco Missoni and Ottavio Missoni Jr.

Three days after a small plane carrying Vittorio Missoni went missing off the coast of Venezuela, members of his family are staying optimistic that he'll be found.

"Our hope is that he is still alive," said Vittorio's sister Angela — the brand's creative director — in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "We want to hope, because for us it is important."

Other members of the family have been active on Twitter. Margherita Missoni has been retweeting news stories about the disappearance. Her cousin Jennifer last night said, "We believe. We won't stop until we #findvittoriomissoni !!!!!"

Venezuelan officials have vowed they won't stop, either. The search team includes a plane, two helicopters, several Coast Guard boats, and nearly 30 divers, according to the Associated Press. They've been searching for the plane and its six passengers since they were reported missing on Friday.

"All the authorities involved in these tasks are not reducing the intensity of the search until they locate the plane as well as its crew and passengers," the government said in a statement.

La Repubblica broke the news that Missoni, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, their friends Guido Foresti and Elda Scalvenzi, and two Venezuelan crew members were missing on Friday. The four had been on vacation in Los Roques with Scalvenzi's brother Giuseppe and his wife Rosa Apostoli, but those two didn't board the missing plane because there wasn't enough room. Il Messaggero reported that they arrived safely in Milan on Sunday.

Vittorio was headed to an airport outside of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Afterward he'd planned to go to Spain and then to Italy, where Missoni had been scheduled to show its latest men's collection on Jan. 13. The brand is expected to decide today whether the show will go on.

Angela said she was notified about her brother's disappearance while on vacation in Oman with her parents, Rosita and Ottavio, who founded the brand in 1953. She told her mother immediately, but they waited to tell her father.

"We decided to let him rest, he was very tired," Angela said. "When, at 5:30 in the morning he saw us all standing and he looked at our faces and said, 'What happened? I am 92, but I'm not stupid.' And so we told him the truth."

A look back at all the Pre-Fall 2013 collections we've seen so far.

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Reports that Missoni has plans to launch a lower-priced line have already been debunked by one of the brand's most public faces, Margherita Missoni.

"Missoni is NOT launching a second line," Margherita tweeted on Friday, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported on the family's plans for a diffusion line. "We already have a second line and it's called M Missoni."

Earlier, Margherita had also tweeted to Elle UK that its story regarding the new line was "completely false."

Curiously, it was Margherita who was quoted in the Journal's story about the line, which the paper reported was spurred by the success of the family's popular collaboration with Target. Missoni reportedly said the diffusion line would be higher-priced than the Target offering. "I don't think I could put the zigzag on that," she said, referring to the price point.

The story was pegged to the methods Missoni has used to stay ahead of the curve.

"You need to evolve," Margherita said. "If you sit for a moment, you're not relevant in fashion anymore."

We've reached out to Missoni for comment, and will update this post when we have a response.

Missoni is NOT launching a second line. We already have a second line and it's called M Missoni.

— M Maccapani Missoni(@mmmargherita) November 16, 2012

@elleuk this is completely false

— M Maccapani Missoni(@mmmargherita) November 16, 2012

Photo courtesy of Yoox.

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