Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli was founded in Florence in 1970 by its namesake designer, whose experiments with textile printing and leather gave Italian fashion a new appetite for excess. His first Paris collection introduced leather patchwork, followed by a presentation at Florence’s Sala Bianca in 1972. The house developed around the idea that a fabric could be as expressive as the shape of a garment.

Animal prints became its most recognizable language. Leopard and python patterns moved across silk shirts and denim, turning the natural world into something theatrical. Embellishment and a rock musician’s approach to dressing supplied another part of the identity, with clothes intended to attract attention and suggest a life beyond ordinary routines.

In menswear, that attitude appears in printed shirts worn open at the neck, leather trousers, and tailoring with a late-night sensibility. Denim has remained an important medium for experimentation, giving casual clothes the visual intensity usually associated with eveningwear. Accessories and fragrance extend the house’s world beyond the runway.

The founder stepped away from creative leadership in 2015. Peter Dundas and Paul Surridge followed, before Fausto Puglisi joined in 2020. Based in Milan, the house continues to revisit Cavalli’s imagery through changing silhouettes, preserving a connection between sensuality and the pleasure of dressing conspicuously.