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Roberto Cavalli, the 83-year-old Italian fashion designer, was well-known for his animal patterns on leather and fabrics. His name-brand fashion brand revealed the passing on Social Media but gave no other information.
Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, known for a flamboyant and glamorous style, has died at age 83, his company said Friday on Instagram.
“Dear Roberto, you may not be physically here with us anymore but I know I will feel your spirit with me always,” Fausto Puglisi, creative director at Roberto Cavalli since October 2020, wrote in the social media post. “Your name will continue on, a beacon of inspiration for others, and especially for me,” Puglisi added.
The Italian-born designer became renowned in the early 1970s for his animal prints and for a sexy style that remained his trademark throughout his long career.
The company named after Cavalli shared its condolences with his family. “The Roberto Cavalli company shares condolences with Mr. Cavalli’s family loss. “His legacy remains a constant source of inspiration,” said Sergio Azzolari, CEO at the Roberto Cavalli fashion house.
Cavalli was born in Florence in 1940. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a renowned painter; Cavalli followed in his footsteps by enrolling at Florence’s Academy of Art, where he started experimenting with painting, patchwork and textiles.
Over time he developed an innovative leather printing technique, which earned him commissions from Hermès and Pierre Cardin, and set him on a creative path built upon an ostentatiously flamboyant aesthetic.
“Fashion is part of our life. When you wake up in the morning you say, “What do I have to wear to look beautiful, fantastic, sexy, special?”’ Cavalli told CNN in a 2008 interview. “That is the reason I love being a fashion designer because I can use it to measure your mood, your life.”
He presented his first namesake collection in Paris in 1970, before debuting on the catwalks in Florence and Milan, in 1972. That same year, he opened his first boutique in Saint-Tropez, the seaside French town that would become an international symbol of glamour and luxury.
