Roberto Cavalli

Born in Florence, Italy, Roberto Cavalli (November 15,1940), was brought up by an artistic family. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a prolific member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute, concentrating in textile print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories.

Roberto Cavalli likes innovations and experimentations and likes to push technique to the limit. In the early 1970s, he invented and patented a revolutionary printing procedure on leather, and started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately getting commissions from the likes of Hermes and Pierre Cardin. At the age of thirty, 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 boutigque in 1972 in Saint-Tropez.

In 1980 Roberto Cavalli married Eva Duringer, 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 Carribean; and then in Venice and Saint-Tropez. Besides the main line, which is sold in over fifty countries worldwide, Roberto Cavalli 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 accessoires, 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 cafe-sort in Florence, revamping it with his signature animal prints. This was shortly followed by the opening in Milan of the Just Cavalli cafe at Torre Branca and another boutique on Via Spiga.

Roberto Cavalli creates his vibrant patterns by using the most advanced technologies, but he gets his inspiration from nature as his predilection for animal prints and jungle and flower motifs testifies.

Cavalli lives with his wife Eva and their children in a villa on the hills surrounding Florence. He spends summers on their 41-metre yacht, which was specially made by Cantieri Baglietto and awarded with the Yacht Capital award in 2004.

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