what to say

"My adolescent years were terrible; I suffered so much and it was tough," she remembers. "When I became; mother, it was wonderful but so crazy—a lot going on My mid-30s to mid-40s were the best part of my life You gain an incredible sense of security. I would neve go back to my 20s, not for all the money in the world Not even for a billion euro."
Angela doesn't have to trade anything for money any way. After a few seasons with her own clothing label, sh-took the creative helm of Missoni's women's collectior from her mother, who was happy to shift over to thi less-hectic Missoni Home line. Her runway debut it 1997 jump-started the label and was the start of. 14-year run of enormous professional success. The lates collection for fall was a fresh and innovative take on th> brand's signature knits, with louche silhouettes and ; soft, cool pastel palette.
As creative director of a label as glamorous as Mis soni, Angela herself sometimes skews the opposite with a healthy earth-mother sensibility "A while ago, I started realizing tha everyone was going to the hairdressei I've never gone to the hairdressei I barely leave the house," sh-reveals. "And you'll hardly eve see me at a restaurant in Milan I go once a month; that's m; average." Though she has livec her entire life in the hills o Sumirago, doing her owr hair and nails, Angela i hardly a recluse.
Indeed, a cosmopolitar vibe is woven into he lifestyle just as tightly as thosi eclectic knits. With the well dressed Ragazzi on her arm, shi zips to Sardinia for August Venice for the film festival, Sevilli for Easter, Miami for art shows and New York for visits wit! Ragazzi's children. He privileged upbringing mad Angela's dermatological treatise. She is unwittingly cool about having her ex-husband turn up at dinnertime or for the holidays. "At this point, I look at him like one of my brothers. Sometimes you get along, sometimes you don't, but you hang on to them. He's the father of my children, so he is part of this family."
With her kids, she has always acted more as a friend than a household dictator, keeping a safe but controlled distance and granting them liberty. "It never seemed to me like freedom," Angela remarks. "It just seemed normal. I treated them like responsible people. And I'm a good listener, so they talk."
Ivoosening the choke hold and allowing them to float freely around the world—from New York to Sydney— worked. She adds, "Its funny because they all left home, and in the last two years, they've all come back to me."
With Margherita back in Milan after living in New York and now actively working with the family company, could she perhaps one day assume some of her mother's responsibility the same way Angela did for Rosita?
"I'm starting to see that," Angela says, conceding that she would happily hand over the role to anyone who could follow all areas of the company. "Now that she's more involved, I realize that she has all the qualities necessary to be able to do it.
"I'd like to eventually have a second life—like my mom had [with Missoni Home]," Angela admits. "I saw this renewal of her enthusiasm late in life, and it was very dif-x rent, a different pace. Let's call it a 'Part II."' ■