ROBERTO CAVALLI’S ANIMALIER PRINTS REIGN SUPREME, FROM THE CATWALK TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

BY RHIANNA JONES

Italian fashion has long been a beacon of opulence, elegance, and exoticism. And while most designers take a more subtle approach to luxury with sumptuous fabrics and exquisite tailoring, others like Roberto Cavalli dare to break tradition and instead run wild. Literally. Cavalli’s signature prints have dubbed him the “Godfather of Animal Prints” and master of exotic expression for nearly 50 years. Cavalli was born into the world of aesthetics, growing up in Florence’s majestic beauty surrounded by art thanks to the influence of his grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, a prominent painter of the famed Macchiaioli group. Following his family’s legacy, he graduated from the Florence Art Academy where he nurtured his passion for patterns, exploring and experimenting with printmaking as a personal masterclass.

Cavalli’s foray into fashion was stoked by his entrepreneurial spirit, when he invented and patented a printing technique on leathers as well as the sand-blasted look for jeans. Upon showcasing these techniques, he was immediately commissioned by French legends Hermès and Pierre Cardin in the early ‘70s.After establishing his name in the industry, he debuted his eponymous collection at the Salon de Prêt-à-Porter in Paris at the ripe age of 32. He took his innovative designs back to Italy, sashaying down the catwalks of Florence’s famed Palazzo Pitti, and later within Milano Collezioni. Word soon spread throughout the fashion circuit of an explosive young designer with a penchant for exotic prints, printed denim, woven leathers, and bold brocades. With public and private support, he opened his first boutique not in a cosmopolitan fashion capital like Milan or Paris, but the hedonistic haven of Saint Tropez.

As a jet-setter mecca, Saint Tropez was the perfect choice for his target clientele, glamorous globetrotters who dared to be bold and live free. Again breaking with tradition, for Cavalli, fashion was never a medium of simplicity, subtlety, or neutrality. For him, the world was his jungle and he aspired to build an empire that roared. Similar to his brand ethos, Cavalli hardly stayed in the shadows or lived a simple life. In his words, “I think I was the first to show that a designer could be like a rockstar, that people should love your fashion but also put your name together with your fashion.”

His animal magnetism won the hearts of starlets and supermodels alike, dressing everyone from early icons like Brigitte Bardot and So a Loren to Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez in his sensual opulence. But beyond his star-studded clientele and luxurious lifestyle, at his core, Cavalli wants his designs to spark joy. He bathes in beauty as he does the sun, and he believes his designs should be equally aswarm, inviting, and invigorating. “Fashion should be something that in the morning, when you open your window, you say, ‘Oh fantastic, sun!” Then you say, “OK fantastic, which color will I wear today because I feel happy?’” In an era rife with so much uncertainty and gloom, we often rely on our style for escape and reverie. Take a page out of Cavalli’s delicious book and smother your troubles in silken smiles and leopard joy. That is the dream of dolce vita