The Italian founded the Roberto Cavalli brand in the 70s, which is still worn by the world.
Designer Roberto Cavalli died at the age of 83, he was ill / photo Getty Images
Italian fashion icon Roberto Cavalli, who gave the world the name brand Roberto Cavalli, died at the age of 83. He was seriously ill and it was getting worse, he writes to the Republic about the circumstances of the famous designer’s death.
According to the publication, Cavalli spent the last hours of his life in Florence with his beloved Sandra. The Swedish model has been his relationship partner for the past fifteen years. He left six children as a legacy for the world: the youngest of them, Giorgio, is a little over a year old, the media reports. One of the first to confirm the death of the designer was the governor of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani – he said about Cavalli:
“He was not only an innovator and textile artist, but also a symbol of creativity and skill, who boldly mixed the colors of our land with international trends.”
The mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, also commented on the tragedy:
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of a great Florentine designer. He left his mark on the modern language of Italian fashion. We will not forget his genius and his unconditional love for Florence.”
Italian Deputy Minister of Culture Lucia Borgonzoni expressed his condolences. She called Roberto Cavalli one of the brightest and most eclectic voices of Italian fashion. “A unique designer whose talent and creativity over his long career brought our country to the center of the world stage. I express my sincere condolences to his partner Sandra and his family,” she said.
Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanche, for her part, emphasized that it was Roberto Cavalli who spread the concept of “Made in Italy” to the world.
“Bye, Roberto… Your creations will remain eternal and always very modern,” the official said goodbye in social networks.
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What Roberto Cavalli meant to the world of fashion
Cavalli became fascinated with fashion at a very young age. He was born in 1940 in Florence (at that time still in the Kingdom of Italy) in the family of an engineer. His father died during World War II at the hands of the Nazis when Roberto was only 4 years old. As a child, Roberto was considered a not very successful student. It happened that he was left to study for the second year. Cavalli passed the exams with difficulty. After graduating from high school, he tried to learn to be a hotel administrator, as well as master accounting. However, the attempts were unsuccessful, it turned out that Cavalli was more attracted to fabric and fashion. Perhaps this is due to his mother, Marcella Rossi, who founded her own tailoring atelier in the 1950s.
Cavalli persuaded her to give him a chance and let him study at the School of Art in Florence, first enrolling in an interior design course specializing in furniture fabrics. There he began to study the technique of weaving on a hand loom and various types of printing on fabric, to make his first creative experiments. Finally, in 1970, Roberto Cavalli created his own name brand, Roberto Cavalli, which is still worn by the world. He was engaged in his “child” until 2015, until he retired after selling the brand. In 2019, a businessman from the UAE, Hussein Sajwani, became its owner.
However, this was preceded by decades of revolutions that Cavalli gave to the world as a designer. One of these is the Just Cavalli line of women’s and men’s clothing, created in 1988. Cavalli became famous for patenting the procedure of drawing on leather products, being one of the first to create a collection of clothes using the patchwork technique. Also, his brand is known for using animal prints: leopard, zebra, etc.
