Roberto Cavalli
“The Florentine designer who made tiger and snake prints, patched leather and stretch jeans the look of the jet set, from Saint-Tropez in 1972 to the red carpets of the 2000s.”
Roberto Cavalli was a Florentine fashion designer who turned animal prints, printed leather and distressed, stretch denim into the glamorous, unashamed look of the jet set. He was born on 15 November 1940 in Florence and died at home there on 12 April 2024, aged 83. He did not invent glamour, but he sold it in a way few Italians had: tiger stripes, python and leopard on silk, leather and jeans, worn by pop stars, models and film actresses. His house, Roberto Cavalli, grew from a small printing workshop into a brand with boutiques, perfumes, a vodka, cafés and a Dubai nightclub.
His father, Giorgio Cavalli, a mining surveyor, was shot by German troops in 1944, when Roberto was four; his mother, Marcella Rossi, was a dressmaker. His grandfather Giuseppe Rossi was a painter whom the family and many obituaries place among the Macchiaioli, the Florentine painters of light and patches of colour. From 1957 he studied at an art school in Florence (the Istituto d'Arte, or the Academy of Art, depending on the source), learned textile printing and in 1960 began to hand-print sweaters and knitwear for Italian makers. In 1969 or 1970 he found a way to print on soft leather. He showed printed leather evening gowns and swimsuits at the Paris prêt-à-porter fair in 1970 and, after a patchwork collection of worn jeans, leather and printed cloth, presented his line in the White Room of Palazzo Pitti in 1972.
That year he opened a boutique in Saint-Tropez, where Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren were customers, and his 1970s clothes suited the rich hippie and disco crowd. In 1977 he met Eva Düringer, Miss Austria, while judging the Miss Universe pageant; they married in 1980 and she became his business partner. The 1980s were hard: minimalism ruled, he did not show in Milan, and by 1993 he thought of closing his factory. Then came the comeback. At Milan Fashion Week in 1994 he showed sand-blasted jeans, and soon after, jeans cut from stretch denim with Lycra, shown on Naomi Campbell. A jeans line, Just Cavalli, followed.
From the late 1990s he was one of the best-known names in fashion: a Madison Avenue store in 1999, red-carpet dresses for Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera, the giraffe-print dresses of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, a collection for H&M in 2007, a vodka, the Caffè Giacosa in Florence and the Cavalli Club in Dubai. Critics called the clothes vulgar; he answered that fashion that is not crazy is not fashion.
The money ran out later. The company lost money from 2014, sold 90% to the Italian fund Clessidra in 2015 (valued at about 390 million euros), and passed through three creative directors, Peter Dundas (2015–2016), Paul Surridge (2017–2019) and, from October 2020, Fausto Puglisi. In 2019 it sought creditor protection and was bought by Dubai's Vision Investment, the investment company of Damac's chairman Hussain Sajwani. Cavalli died on 12 April 2024; his funeral was on 15 April at San Miniato al Monte, above Florence. In May 2026 the brand's owners signed a deal to sell a majority stake to the US group Marquee Brands, with Damac staying as a shareholder.
What happened
- 1940
Roberto Cavalli is born in Florence (a suburb of the city, says the New York Times; a small Tuscan village, says the Guardian), the son of Giorgio Cavalli, a surveyor for a mining company, and Marcella Rossi, a seamstress. His mother's father, Giuseppe Rossi, was a painter, described by the family and several obituaries as one of the Macchiaioli.
Florence: born here on 15 November 1940 (a suburb, by the New York Times), his art school, the Via de' Tornabuoni headquarters and Caffè Giacosa from 2001, his home in the hills, where he died on 12 April 2024- 1944
His father is shot by German soldiers in a reprisal for a partisan attack; Roberto, four years old, develops a stutter. Magenta Florence links the killing to the Cavriglia massacre of 4 July 1944, in which soldiers of the Hermann Göring division shot 173 men in villages of that commune.
- 1957
He starts at a Florence art school, the Istituto d'Arte until 1960 by the Irish Times, which says he never sat the final exam; Gale and the Guardian say the Academy of Art. He learns to print designs on cloth.
- 1960
A friend launching a knitwear line asks him to hand-paint sweaters, and they sell. He begins to research textile printing in earnest, printing knitwear for Italian makers and later for Krizia and Hermès.
- 1969
He gate-crashes a party given by the shoe designer Mario Valentino, says he can print on leather and, the next day, works out how: a glove-skin from a French tannery, printed and sewn into a pink evening gown.
- 1970
He patents a process for printing on soft leather and suede and shows printed-leather evening gowns and swimsuits at the Salon du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris; 'people like it, but nobody buys', he later told Vanity Fair, but Hermès and Pierre Cardin commission him.
- 1971
He makes his Patchwork collection: jeans from a container of worn American prison jeans, washed, cut and sewn with leather and printed cloth, in tune with the rich hippie taste of the early 1970s. Italian couture snubbed the denim.
- 1972
His collection is shown in the Sala Bianca (White Room) of Palazzo Pitti in Florence; Gale calls it the formal launch of his women's line. Paris had come two years before, so 'first show' depends on the source.
Palazzo Pitti, Florence: the Sala Bianca, where his collection was shown in 1972He opens his first boutique in Saint-Tropez, called Limbo. Photographs of Brigitte Bardot in one of his printed jackets there bring him the young and rich of Europe; Sophia Loren also shops.
Saint-Tropez: where he opened his first boutique in 1972- 1974
A first menswear collection is shown and fails: 'too feminine, too colourful', he later told the Daily News Record.
- 1975
The leather appliqué, painted motifs and printed evening dresses of these years are what the Galleria del Costume in Florence keeps. Some sources date the founding of the house to 1975; the company itself says 1970.
- 1977
Judging the Miss Universe pageant in Santo Domingo, the 37-year-old divorced designer meets the contestant Eva Düringer, Miss Austria, then 18.
- 1980
He marries Eva Düringer. The 1980s are the lean years: minimalism takes over, he stays in Florence and takes no part in the Milan shows. The Met says his sand-blasted jeans and photo-printed denims 'finally achieved critical acclaim' in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a date that other sources put in 1994.
- 1993
With sales down, he considers closing the factory and asking the unions to help his workers find new jobs. Naomi Campbell wears stretch jeans in one of his shows this year, says the New York Times; other sources date them 1994 or 1995.
- 1994
He shows at Milan Fashion Week for the first time, persuaded to a comeback show (Irish Times; Gale credits Eva with reviving the business); the autumn-winter 1994 collection includes the first sand-blasted jeans, and tiger and wild-animal prints on jeans, gowns and embroidered fur.
Milan: Milan Fashion Week from 1994, the Via della Spiga boutique and the Just Cavalli café - 1995
The Guardian dates to this year the stretch jeans: he adds Lycra to denim to make them fit closer, personally distresses a pair, prints a snake round the leg and sends them out on Naomi Campbell. The line is first called Cavalli Jeans, then Just Cavalli.
- 1998
Just Cavalli, the younger line, is dated 1998 by the company chronology; Wikipedia's biography says 2000. In the same year Marcolin begins to make Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli eyewear.
- 1999
His first United States store opens on Madison Avenue in New York. By 2002 his American sales have tripled in two years.
- 2001
He takes over the historic Caffè Giacosa in Via de' Tornabuoni, Florence, next to his boutique, and has it remade with wood and leather instead of marble and velvet (2001 or 2002, depending on the source).
Florence: born here on 15 November 1940 (a suburb, by the New York Times), his art school, the Via de' Tornabuoni headquarters and Caffè Giacosa from 2001, his home in the hills, where he died on 12 April 2024 - 2003
At Milan Fashion Week he shows a collection against a wall of video screens, with Eva Herzigova in a snakeskin-print evening gown and a black leather gown, and says that next winter's skirts will be either very long or very short.
Milan: Milan Fashion Week from 1994, the Via della Spiga boutique and the Just Cavalli café- 2004
Red-carpet years: Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera wear his dresses, and on screen Carrie Bradshaw wears his giraffe-print dresses and peony jeans in Sex and the City. A photograph of him with Beyoncé dates from this year.
- 2005
Playboy hires him to redesign the Bunny costume, and his campaign is photographed by Annie Leibovitz.
- 2006
Roberto Cavalli Vodka is launched, with a launch party at the Raleigh Hotel and another in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles; the bottle carries a serpent.
At Milan Fashion Week he shows a soft, 'sensual, not sexy' autumn-winter 2006 collection and explains it to the AP; Cindy Crawford and Emmanuelle Seigner sit in the front row.
Milan: Milan Fashion Week from 1994, the Via della Spiga boutique and the Just Cavalli café- 2007
'Roberto Cavalli at H&M' goes on sale in about 200 stores: 25 women's and 20 men's pieces; he is the first Italian designer in H&M's collaborations. That year he also designs the stage outfits of the Spice Girls' reunion tour.
- 2009
The Cavalli Club opens in the Fairmont Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, with a party for more than 400 guests; billed as the first designer club in the Middle East, it cost nearly $30 million, and was due to open in the autumn of 2008. A club in Milan was planned for June.
Fairmont Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road: the Cavalli Club, opened on 7 May 2009- 2013
He speaks at the Oxford Union, where he says that minimalism is boring. On 25 May he stages the opening fashion show of the Life Ball at Vienna City Hall, with Eva at his side.
- 2014
After years of growth, the company begins to lose money: the Guardian says annual losses from 2014; Wikipedia gives 210 million euros of sales and a 12 million loss for 2014.
- 2015
Peter Dundas, previously at Emilio Pucci, is named creative director, to show his first collection in Milan in September.
The Italian private-equity fund Clessidra, through a new company, buys 90% of Roberto Cavalli; the founder keeps 10%. Sources told Reuters the deal values the house at about 390 million euros. Some Italian reports dated it earlier, to March.
- 2016
Dundas leaves after three seasons; the house says a new creative director will be named in due course.
- 2017
Paul Surridge, formerly at Z Zegna, is named creative director; his first collection, for spring 2018, is shown in Milan in September. On 29 July the Via de' Tornabuoni boutique and the Caffè Giacosa next to it close, as sales fall by 13.6% and 200 jobs go.
Florence: born here on 15 November 1940 (a suburb, by the New York Times), his art school, the Via de' Tornabuoni headquarters and Caffè Giacosa from 2001, his home in the hills, where he died on 12 April 2024- 2019
Surridge announces on Instagram that he is leaving. The company had sought creditor protection from a Milan court (March or April, according to the source) and closed its American stores.
A Milan court approves the debt restructuring that the sale needs; the buyer is Vision Investment Company, the private investment vehicle of Damac chairman Hussain Sajwani, and Italian media put the price at 160 million euros.
The sale is completed: Hussain Sajwani buys Roberto Cavalli through Vision Investments, part of the DICO Group, ending a long sale process; DICO says it will keep the management stable.
- 2020
Fausto Puglisi is named creative consultant with 'all responsibility for design functions'; his first collection is announced for January 2021.
- 2022
The autumn-winter 2022-23 show, designed by Fausto Puglisi, carries the founder's animal prints on: a tiger-stripe gown is among the looks photographed.
- 2024
Cavalli dies at home in Florence, aged 83, after a long illness; the house announces it on Instagram. His funeral is held on 15 April in the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte.
Florence: born here on 15 November 1940 (a suburb, by the New York Times), his art school, the Via de' Tornabuoni headquarters and Caffè Giacosa from 2001, his home in the hills, where he died on 12 April 2024
