Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer renowned for his iconic and lavish animal prints, passed away at the age of 83. His eponymous brand confirmed the news in a statement shared on social media Friday afternoon, emphasizing Cavalli’s “life lived with love.”
Cavalli, born in Florence in 1940, hailed from a lineage of artistic talent. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, a celebrated painter, inspired Cavalli’s artistic journey.
Following his passion, Cavalli enrolled at Florence’s Academy of Art, where he delved into painting, patchwork, and textiles.
“Roberto Cavalli’s legacy will live on via his creativity,” the statement continued, “his love of nature and via his family who he cherished.”
Over time, Cavalli honed an innovative leather printing technique, garnering commissions from prestigious houses like Hermès and Pierre Cardin. This marked the beginning of a creative journey defined by an ostentatiously flamboyant aesthetic.
“Fashion is part of our life. When you wake up in the morning you say, “What do I have to wear to look beautiful, fantastic, sexy, special?”’ Cavalli told CNN in a 2008 interview.
“That is the reason I love being a fashion designer because I can use it to measure your mood, your life.”
More About Roberto Cavalli
In 1970, Cavalli revealed his inaugural namesake collection in Paris, later gracing the catwalks of Florence and Milan in 1972. That same year, he inaugurated his premier boutique in Saint-Tropez, solidifying its status as an international haven of opulence.
In 1980, Cavalli wedded Austrian model and beauty queen Eva Maria Düringer, who subsequently joined his creative endeavors as a business partner.
The union bore fruit with three children, adding to Cavalli’s existing two from a prior marriage. Together for three decades, their family expanded with the birth of a sixth child with his partner Sandra Nilsson in 2023.
During the mid-1990s, Cavalli sparked a denim revolution with groundbreaking innovations, including stretch jeans infused with Lycra and a pioneering sand-blasting technique for denim pieces, imparting a coveted lived-in aesthetic.
Alongside animal prints and intarsia leather, denim became a cornerstone of his distinctive style, leading to the birth of the youthful offshoot brand, Just Cavalli, in 1998.
In a 2013 talk at Oxford University, Cavalli divulged his affinity for wild animal patterns, spanning from denim to red carpet couture, stating,
“I love nature. Animals have the best dresses. God made them so well-dressed. Women like these designs, they feel natural in them.”
His sponsorship of the 2004 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, titled “WILD: Fashion Untamed,” further showcased humanity’s fascination with animalism expressed through attire.
Entering the 2000s, Cavalli expanded his empire with the inauguration of his first cafe-store in Florence and the iconic Just Cavalli club in Milan, a beacon of the city’s renowned nightlife.
A trailblazer in retail, he pioneered a high-street collection with H&M in 2007 and diversified into homewares and interiors. Venturing further, he introduced a vodka brand in the US in 2005.
Cavalli retired from his eponymous label in 2015, passing the creative baton to designer Peter Dundas.
However, Dundas departed after a brief tenure, succeeded by Paul Surridge until 2019. Amid financial challenges culminating in bankruptcy, a Dubai-based investment firm acquired the brand in 2019.
Fausto Puglisi now leads its fashion collections, expanding into Cavalli-branded real estate and hospitality ventures. Puglisi paid homage to Cavalli in the label’s Instagram post.
“Dear Roberto, you may not be physically here with us anymore but I know I will feel your spirit with me always. It is the greatest honour of my career to work under your legacy and to create for the brand you founded with such vision and style,” Puglisi wrote.
“Rest in peace you will be missed and you are loved by so many that your name will continue on, a beacon of inspiration for others, and especially for me.”