Fashion icon Cavalli dies at age 83
Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has died at the age of 83.
The fashionista known for bold, exotic prints died in his hometown of Florence, according to the designer label bearing his name. No cause of death was given.
“It is with great sadness that today we say goodbye to our founder Roberto Cavalli,” the company said in a Friday statement. “Roberto Cavalli’s legacy will live on via his creativity, his love of nature and via his family who he cherished.”
The brand’s creative director paid homage to the visionary who launched the Roberto Cavalli label in 1970.
“Dear Roberto, you may not be physically here with us anymore but I know I will feel your spirit with me always,” designer Fausto Puglisi posted on Instagram. “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.”
Roberto Cavalli CEO Sergio Azzolari said Cavalli will live on as a “constant source of inspiration.”
Born in Florence in 1940, Cavalli was the grandson of famed painter Giuseppe Rossi, a member of the Macchiaioli group of Italian Impressionists. Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Cavalli too became an artist, enrolling at the Academy of Art in Florence at the age of 17 to study art and architecture.
While a student, Cavalli made a series of hand-painted sweaters for a friend in the knitwear business, and was soon inspired to branch out on his own after teaching himself textile printing techniques, according to Vogue. It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of major Italian designers including Valentino and Hermès.
At the age of 32, he presented his first namesake collection in Paris and quickly gained a list of celebrity clientele like Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren.
In the decades that followed, stars seen sporting Cavalli’s colorful designs have included style icons such as Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham and Madonna, who commissioned Cavalli to design the staff uniforms at her Hard Candy Fitness Club in Berlin.
The house Cavalli built also costumed Taylor Swift for the 2023 Grammy Awards as well as her $1 billion Era’s Tour.
When Beyoncé took the stage for her blockbuster Renaissance Tour, she too wore Roberto Cavalli. In a 2011 book celebrating 40 years of his work, Beyoncé thanked Cavalli “for being such a brilliant designer.“
As an artist, Cavalli celebrated selective overkill, whether it be leopard-print gowns or sand-blasted denim — the latter of which he’s created with inventing.
“Excess is success,” he would famously say.
When Cavalli served as Grand Marshall for New York City’s 2003 Columbus Day Parade, Cavalli rode in an Alfa Romeo convertible flanked by 20 Ducati motorcycle drivers, each with a model riding piggyback.
Though Cavalli was often seen designing for beautiful women, it was his own gender that he felt needed his help.
“I love women’s fashion, but women don’t need me as much as men do,” he said, according to British Vogue. “It’s the men who have nothing to wear.”
Men spotted wearing his eye-catching designs include the likes of rockers Lenny Kravitz and Adam Lambert.
Cavalli’s exuberant ethos carried over into his other business ventures as well, such as a popular Spanish nightclub and the first premium vodka produced entirely in Italy.
By the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth around $500 million, putting him among the top 50 richest designers in the world.
Cavalli fathered six children across two marriages and one long-term relationship, according to CNN. His sixth child, with 38-year-old model Sandra Nilsson, was born early last year. The couple had been together since 2014.