Missonis bring flagship, fashion and famiglia to Beverly Hills

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Designer Angela Missoni and her daughter Margherita opened their new Rodeo Drive store by hosting an intimate dinner Wednesday night, which felt appropriate for the family-owned business.

Instead of the whole universe of stars, there was a tightly-clustered constellation of kindred spirits, including Joy Bryant, Quincy Jones (who is pals with Angela Missoni), Angie Harmon, Nicole Ritchie, Eva Mendes, designer Gela Nash-Taylor and hubbie John, model Erin Wasson and stylist Rachel Zoe.

Everyone was rocking Missoni in their own way. Jones wore a shirt with zigzag cuffs, Harmon was in a black gown covered in fringe, that revealed the brand’s signature zigzag knit when it shimmied. Wasson was working a more boho layered look.

Antonio Monfreda, who designed the store at the corner of Rodeo and Little Santa Monica Boulevard, was in town from Rome to admire his handwork. For him, the design was all about the light, he said. The building, covered in white aluminum slats, catches the color in different ways over the course of a day, making the facade seem like an ever-changing Missoni textile. The all-white interior is the perfect showcase for the colorful knit dresses, sweaters, scarves, neckties and pillows, arranged in vitrines, nooks and fold-down slats that add even more texture to the space.

Dinner was served, appropriately enough, family-style and fashionably enough very late, at five round tables in the back of the store, where the home furnishings (including eye-catching candles that look like balls of yarn) are usually showcased. In one of the funnier moments of the evening, Wasson used her Bic to light the candles on each dinner table, only to be reprimanded by the fire marshal, who we’ve often noted is the most powerful man at any party.

And, in a fitting end to the evening, party guest Mario Testino gathered up all the ladies for a tight-knit (we had to do it) group portrait. They obliged with such speed, they practically left their dessert forks hanging in the air.

Note to fire marshal: Testino knows how to clear a crowded room.

-- Booth Moore and Adam Tschorn

Top photo from left: Margherita Missoni, Angela Missoni and Joy Bryant. Credit: Charley Gallay / Getty Images