Roberto Cavalli: The Passing of a Fashion Legend at 83

Roberto Cavalli has died. The designer and founder of the eponymous Florentine fashion house was 83 years old and had been ill for some time. Born in Florence on November 15, 1940, he was among the most important signatures of Italian fashion. Roberto Cavalli, the designer founder of the eponymous Florentine fashion house: was 83 years old. Biography Born in Florence to Giorgio and Marcella, Roberto Cavalli was orphaned of his father at just four years old, killed in a Nazi roundup in Arezzo. Raised with the care of his mother and grandfather Giuseppe Rossi, a famous Macchiaioli painter, he decided to study art at the State Art Institute of the city, choosing textile applications of painting as his specialization. In the 1970s, he patented a leather printing process and began creating patchworks of materials and colors, attracting the attention of Hermès and Pierre Cardin. In the same period, at the Salon du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris, he presented his first collection under his own name, then brought his creations to the runways of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti and then to those of Milan Collections. In 1972 he opened his first boutique in Saint-Tropez, selling mainly printed denim jeans made of leather and animal prints. After a brief hiatus, during which he dedicated himself to his family and the breeding of racehorses, in the 1990s he returned to fashion, showing again in Milan in 1994. In the same year, he opened a boutique in Saint Barth, in the French Caribbean, followed by one in Venice and one in Saint-Tropez, coming to be distributed in 36 nations by the end of the 1990s. Alongside the Roberto Cavalli collection, the RC Menswear brands were created, and then the young line Just Cavalli, launched in 1998, which includes men's and women's clothing today, accessories, sunglasses, watches, perfumes, underwear, and swimwear. Cavalli also signs the line of dresses for teenagers Angels & Devils, the Class line, two collections of underwear, shoes, glasses, watches, and perfumes. In 2002 he inaugurated the first boutique-café in Florence. In Milan, he then opened the Just Cavalli Café in Torre Branca, and a boutique in via della Spiga. In 2007, Cavalli designed a line for H&M that was put on sale on November 8 of the same year. Seven years later, he opened his first Flagship stores in Paris and Las Vegas, as well as a showroom in Japan. Many over the years have been the testimonials of his fashion house, from Rita Ora to Jessica Stam, passing through Eva Riccobono, Laetitia Casta, Natasha Poly, Mariacarla Boscono, Karen Elson, and Karolína Kurková. On June 18, 2013, he received an honorary degree in Fashion Management from the Domus Academy in Milan, where he held a master class at the end of the ceremony. Private Life Just over twenty years old he married Silvana, his first wife, but the marriage lasted little and at 29 years old, after a betrayal, he separated. In 1980 he decided to marry again, this time marrying Eva Maria Düringer, second runner-up at Miss Universe three years earlier, who would become his main collaborator at work. From the first wife, he had two children, Tommaso and Cristina, while from the second another three: Robert, Rachele, and Daniele. On March 8, 2023, Giorgio, the sixth child of the designer had with his Swedish partner Sandra Nilsson, was born, named after the father. The Fashion House The stylistic legacy of Roberto Cavalli has continued over the years thanks to the work of Yvan Mispelaere, Peter Dundas, Paul Surridge, and currently Fausto Puglisi, who took the creative reins of the brand in 2020.