Fashion Icon Roberto Cavalli Passes Away at 83 in Florence

Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has died in Florence at the age of 83, a year after becoming a father to his sixth child, named Giorgio (after his own father), with his partner, model Sandra Bergman. As a leading figure in fashion for the last 50 years, Cavalli played a significant role in taking the 'made in Italy' brand global. Who was Roberto Cavalli 'Don’t call me a designer - he wrote in his autobiography 'Just Me' (Mondadori) - My talent, rather, is in discovering what makes a fabric, a dress, a woman special, always thinking of fashion as a ready-to-wear dream, ready to be worn.' His prêt-à-porter, recognizable by iconic motifs such as animal prints, was worn (and loved) by celebrities around the world, from Jennifer Lopez to Naomi Campbell, from Katy Perry to Lady Gaga, to name just a few. Roberto Cavalli, the 'king of animal print' who dressed thousands of stars, has died: who was the stylist (and art lover). His Life Born on November 15, 1940, Roberto Cavalli remained deeply attached to Florence, the city he moved to from the province with his mother, still a child and devastated by the loss of his father, who was kidnapped and shot on July 4, 1944, by retreating Germans. In the Tuscan capital, he started his fashion business already in the 1970s. A visionary, admirer of the female body, and constantly inspired by the natural world to the extent of making animal print an everyday fabric. First, it was the cheetah in the '70s, followed by zebra print in the '90s, then butterfly patterns, leopard, crocodile, lynx, snake, and sequins used as fish scales. The snake is the symbol of his fashion house, which today has boutiques all around the globe. A success that even led him to give a lectio magistralis at Oxford University. His Family Roberto Cavalli leaves behind six children. From his first wife, Silvanella Giannoni, he had Cristina and Tommaso, then married Eva Duringer in 1980, with whom he had Rachele, Daniele, and Robert. And then recently, little Giorgio. A fervent supporter of Fiorentina, he was among the first friends and supporters of a young Matteo Renzi. Among the anecdotes the city hasn't forgotten is also that of 2002, when Florence was invaded by the Social Forum and many big brands closed their boutiques for fear of the protesters: he, on the other hand, not only kept his open in Via Tornabuoni but also offered breakfast to some of them in the bar he had taken over next to the store. Since 2014, Roberto Cavalli has left the leadership of the maison, which is now entrusted to the creative direction of Fausto Puglisi. Today the brand is owned by the Dubai investment company Vision Investments, which is headed by Hussain Sajwani.