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Roberto Cavalli (; 15 November 1940 – 12 April 2024) was an Italian fashion designer and inventor. He was known for exotic prints and for creating the sand-blasted look for
jeans Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by ...
. The
Roberto Cavalli Roberto Cavalli (; 15 November 1940 – 12 April 2024) was an Italian fashion designer and inventor. He was known for exotic prints and for creating the sand-blasted look for jeans. The Roberto Cavalli fashion house sells luxury clothing, perf ...
fashion house sells luxury clothing,
perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...
and
leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
accessories.


Early life

Cavalli was born in a suburb of
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on 15 November 1940. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, an artist and member of the
Macchiaioli The Macchiaioli () were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They strayed from antiquated conventions taught by the Italian art academies, and did much of their painting outdoors in order ...
Movement, produced work that was exhibited in the
Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of ...
. His father was killed in 1944 in the , a Nazi reprisal on civilians, when he was four. Cavalli enrolled at the local art institute, concentrating on
textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...
print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery manufacturers.


Career

In the early 1970s, he invented and
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
ed a printing process on leather, and started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately winning commissions from the likes of
Hermès Hermès International S.A. ( , ) is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, silk goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Since the ...
and
Pierre Cardin Pierre Cardin (born Pietro Costante Cardin; 2 July 1922 – 29 December 2020) was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometry, geometric shap ...
. At age 32, he presented his first namesake collection at the Salon for
Prêt-à-Porter Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a parti ...
in Paris. He brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of
Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
in Florence, and later his Milano Collezioni featured jeans made of printed denim, intarsia leathers, brocade, and wild-animal prints. In 1972, he opened his first boutique in
Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var departments of France, department and the regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is west of Nice and east of Marseille, o ...
. In 1975, he founded the house of
Roberto Cavalli Roberto Cavalli (; 15 November 1940 – 12 April 2024) was an Italian fashion designer and inventor. He was known for exotic prints and for creating the sand-blasted look for jeans. The Roberto Cavalli fashion house sells luxury clothing, perf ...
fashion, incorporating "femininity, spiritedness, and leopard print" as its pillars. The brand acquired appeal for its stable and unvarying looks despite the changing trends. 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 Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
and
Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var departments of France, department and the regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is west of Nice and east of Marseille, o ...
. Besides his main line, which is sold in more than 50 countries worldwide, Cavalli designed RC Menswear, as well as the youth-aimed
diffusion line A diffusion line (also known as a bridge line) is a secondary line of merchandise created by a high-end fashion house or fashion designer that retails at lower prices. These ranges are separate from a fashion house's "signature line", or principal ...
Just Cavalli, launched in 2000, today encompasses men’s and women’s wear and accessories, watches, jewelry, perfumes, eye wear, under garments, and beach attire. There is also the Angels & Devils Children Collection, the Class line, shoes and two underwear collections. In 2002, Cavalli opened his first café-store in Florence, revamping it with his signature animal prints. Soon after, in Milan, the Just Cavalli café at Torre Branca opened, as well as another boutique on
Via della Spiga Via della Spiga (; literally "Alley of the Ear") is one of the Italian city of Milan's top shopping streets, forming the north-east boundary of the luxurious ''Quadrilatero della Moda'' (literally, "fashion quadrilateral"), along with Via Monte Na ...
. In July 2011, his company collection was presented at the catwalk of The Brandery fashion show in Barcelona. On 18 June 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Master Diploma in Fashion Management from
Domus Academy Domus Academy is a private school of design in Milan, Italy. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in fashion, industrial design, design management, business and user experience design, product and interior design, design i ...
in Milan, during a ceremony after which he held a lectio magistralis.


Personal life and death

In 1964, Cavalli married Silvanella Giannoni, with whom he had two children, before their divorce in 1974. In 1977, while serving as a judge at the Miss Universe pageant, he met contestant Eva Düringer, whom he married in 1980. Together, they had three children and Düringer became his business partner. They worked together until selling the business. They divorced in 2010. In 2023, Cavalli announced the birth of his sixth child, with his partner, Swedish model and actor Sandra Nilsson. Cavalli died at his home in Florence, Italy, on 12 April 2024, aged 83, following a long period of ill-health.


Brand

As of January 2014, Cavalli returned to the role of men's creative director from his son, Daniele Cavalli, starting with the 2014 fall collection, appointing Martyn Bal as his righthand man. Also, on 24 January 2014, Gianluca Brozzetti (CEO) and Carlo Di Biagio (COO) announced they were leaving the fashion brand. In May 2014, Cavalli approached
Investcorp Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China, ...
, an investment firm in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
, as a potential buyer of a stake in his fashion brand. Many leading models have worked for the brand:
Jessica Stam Jessica Elizabeth Stam (born 23 April 1986) is a Canadian model. She is considered to be part of the crop of models described as "doll faces." In 2007, ''Forbes'' named her fifteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels, earning ...
,
Eva Riccobono Eva Riccobono (born 7 February 1983) is an Italian model, actress, and television presenter. Early life Riccobono was born in Palermo, Sicily, the daughter of an Italian father and a German mother. She has three older sisters. Riccobono began m ...
,
Laetitia Casta Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (; born 11 May 1978)FMD profile
Retrieved 4 December 2009.
is a ...
,
Natasha Poly Natalia Sergeevna Polevshchikova (; born 12 July 1985), known professionally as Natasha Poly, is a Russian model. Since 2004, Poly has appeared in high-fashion advertisement campaigns, magazine covers, and on runways. Poly established herself a ...
,
Mariacarla Boscono Mariacarla Boscono (; born 20 September 1980) is an Italian fashion model and actress. Rising to fame in the early 2000s, Boscono has walked the runways of major worldwide fashion weeks and festivals, including Milan Fashion Week, New York Fash ...
,
Karen Elson Karen Jill Elson (born 15 January 1979) is an English model, singer, and songwriter. Early life and education Elson was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and attended North Chadderton School as a child. She has a fraternal twin sister, film ...
, Karolina Kurkova, and Ivan Olita among others. Former
Acne Studios Acne Studios is a multidisciplinary luxury fashion house based in Stockholm, Sweden that specializes in men's and women's ready-to-wear fashion, footwear, accessories and denim. When founded in 1996, the label derived its name from the creative ...
creative consultant
Paul Surridge Paul Surridge is a British fashion designer and art director. Early life Surridge was born on 18 June 1974 in Hertfordshire, England. He was interested in architecture and photography until he discovered fashion on a television program called T ...
succeeded Peter Dundas as
creative director A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...
for the brand in May 2017. In 2019,
DAMAC Properties DAMAC Properties is an Emirati property development company, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company was founded by Hussain Sajwani and listed on the Dubai Financial Market in early 2015.Aya BatrawyTrump-linked tycoon to take Dubai dev ...
's
Hussain Sajwani Hussain Sajwani (; born 1952–1953) is an United Arab Emirates, Emirati billionaire businessman and the founder of the property development company, DAMAC Properties, and his private investment company, DAMAC Group. Sajwani bought land and prop ...
completed the acquisition of Italian fashion group Roberto Cavalli.


Criticism

Cavalli was sharply criticized in 2004 by the Hindu community for marketing a line of feminine underwear (designed for
Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...
) which featured the images of Hindu goddesses. The line was eventually withdrawn and formal apologies were made. The Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi school of Islamic
Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
accused Cavalli of copying their "sacred emblem" for branding the Just Cavalli line. The Sufi school brought forth a proceeding in Europe to the
Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) () is a decentralised agency of the EU responsible for the registration of EU-wide unitary trade marks and industrial design rights. These exist alongside the intellectual property right ...
(OHIM). "On 16 May 2014, the OHIM pronounced itself in the first degree rejecting the request made by the School to invalidate the Just Cavalli logo. The Court stated that the two logos are not mistakable and do not present any similarities." Nonetheless, students of the Sufi school continued their protest.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavalli, Roberto 1940 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Italian inventors Fashion designers from Florence Italian fashion designers