Roberto Cavalli Has Died at 83

Roberto Cavalli, the Italian designer synonymous with vibrant animal prints and sand-blasted denim, has died in Florence. He was 83 years outdated.

Born in Florence, Cavalli studied textile print earlier than occurring to launch his trend model in 1970. He introduced his first assortment for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris at age 30. It was there that his work, which included a revolutionary printing process on leather-based that he invented and patented, shortly garnered the discover of trend business mainstays together with Pierre Cardin. He went on to open his first boutique in Saint-Tropez in 1972, and was quickly after invited to current on the Sala Bianca in Florence.

All through his profession, the Roberto Cavalli model turned synonymous with daring, brightly-coloured attire oozing in intercourse enchantment, heavy use of animal prints and revolutionary method to materials. He went on to introduce extra strains, together with RC Menswear, Simply Cavalli, which was marketed to a youthful shopper, and a youngsters’s assortment. The model additionally expanded into hospitality, opening its Cavalli Café in Florence in 2002, an idea it will definitely dropped at different cities, together with Milan and Miami.

Within the final decade, his firm has confronted a collection of challenges: In 2014, it started posting annual losses. In 2015, the Cavalli household bought 90 p.c of the enterprise to personal fairness agency Clessidra Capital Companions. In 2019, it closed its US stores and laid off 93 staff. It filed for chapter in Italy in March 2019. The corporate went on to be acquired by Dubai-based actual property devloper Imaginative and prescient Funding Co. LLC later that very same yr.

The Cavalli collections are at present designed by Fausto Puglisi.

Keep tuned to BoF for updates on this growing story.