ROBERTO CAVALLI ***(needs editing)

Roberto Cavalli is the last designer I have chosen to focus on for this blog since I find is collections very appealing. I feel his designs show an awareness of femininity and the body and are very beautiful. Cavalli is known for his exclusive prints but his collections always have so much more depth to them than just the prints, there’s always abundance of variety of different textiles he uses in his designs. Sometimes the textiles can juxtapose each other such as sequins teamed with fur or leather – one super natural and the other plasticy and synthetic, never the less the fabrics always look so luxurious and exquistite. He is also known for creating the sand-blasted denim look for jeans which has now become a staple jean style for many companies.

Cavalli, from Florence in Italy enrolled in his local Art Institute, where he studied concentrating and focusing on textile print. During his study there he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories; which is probably where the success story begins.

In the early 1970s, he invented and patented a revolutionary printing procedure on leather, and he started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately getting commissions from the likes of Hermès and Pierre Cardin. At age 30, he presented his first namesake collection at the Salon for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. He brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and later on those of Milano Collezioni, jeans made of printed denim, intarsia leathers, brocade and wild prints. He then opened his first boutique in 1972 in Saint-Tropez.

In 1980 Roberto Cavalli married Eva Düringer, who has been his lifelong companion and business partner. In Milan in 1994 Cavalli presented the first sand-blasted jeans. By December of the same year, he had opened boutiques in Saint Barth, in the French Caribbean, followed by others in Venice and Saint-Tropez. Besides the main line, which is sold in over fifty countries worldwide,

Roberto Cavalli to me seems a very business savy man, which lots of different money making avenues with lots of branches reaching out to as many people as is possible. He designs RC Menswear as well as the youth aimed line Just Cavalli, launched in 1998 and comprising today men’s wear, women’s wear and accessories, eyewear, watches, perfumes, underwear and beachwear. There is also the Angels & Devils Children Collection, the Class line, two underwear collections, shoes, eyewear, watches and perfumes. In 2002 Cavalli opened his first café-store in Florence, revamping it with his signature animal prints. This was shortly followed by the opening in Milan of the Just Cavalli café at Torre Branca and another boutique on Via della Spiga. 

Click Here to visit Roberto Cavalli's Webstore