Interview With Roberto Cavalli, Premier Magazine

H I G H F LY E R S

ROBERTO CAVALLI

IMAGES COURTESY OF: LAMMTARA PICTURES

A BEAUTIFUL

WORLD

AN ITALIAN PASSION FOR FASHION, COLOURS AND LIFE AT ITS BRIGHTEST, ROBERTO CAVALLI IS A MAN ON A MISSION, TO MAKE THE WORLD SHINE. HIS CAVALLI EMPIRE INCLUDES EVERYTHING FROM CLOTHES TO CLUBS, BEVERAGES TO BEDDING, FROM NEW YORK TO KUWAIT. THIS SUMMER HE MAKES DUBAI THE FOCAL POINT, BY OPENING THE FIRST CAVALLI CLUB IN THE CITY

A

long-time favourite in the Middle East, Roberto Cavalli has been

creating the most flambouyant, technicolour outfits since the 1960s, taking a riot of textures and fabrics, such as leather, silk, animal skin and fur and melding them into something new, something fabulous and something

BY // GEORGINA WILSON-POWELL

incredibly popular.

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Born in Florence in 1940, Cavalli is

to buy a much-envied convertible Fiat

back decades and again in his most

the grandson of famous Florentine

1500) to his first ‘collection’ in 1972,

recent interview in Dubai; that ‘he loves

artist, Giuseppe Rossi, a painter

Cavalli has always seen fashion as an

beauty’, ‘he loves life.’ For him the

in the ‘Macchiaiolo’ movement.

art form, a 3D aesthetic. It was this

two are intrinsically linked. Even at

It was in an effort to emulate

love of art and beauty in its most gen-

69, Cavalli has the same spark and

his beloved grandfather that

eral sense that saw him beloved by the

excitement for the world around him

Cavalli

city’s

hippy generation of the 1960s, with his

as a child, and it is this love of life that

Academy of Art. He was soon

now classic patchwork coats. He was

expresses itself in his work through

besotted with the possibili-

then embraced by the most influential

an unashamed use of vibrant colour

ties of textiles, rather than

people of the 1970s who recognised his

that most people, most designers even,

paint, and developed a

joie de vivre and his passion, not just

would shy away from.

groundbreaking

entered

the

tech-

for the clothes themselves, but also

This explosion of colour found a

nique that enabled him to

for their ability to enhance the wear-

natural home back in the 1970s with

print complicated designs

er’s natural beauty. For Cavalli catwalk

the backdrop of the shimmering tur-

onto lightweight leather.

shows became exhibition spaces, mod-

quoise blues of St. Tropez. Cavalli’s

els became walking canvases and all of

reputation as an A-list designer was

womankind became his muse.

cemented when Brigitte Bardot walked

From his very first screen printed T-

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shirts (which

The designer has a couple of

allowed

phrases, that are repeated time and

h i m

time again, through interviews going

barefoot up the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival in one of his creations. This connection to the bold and

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the beautiful has continued throughout his career, Cavalli counts Hollywood actresses such as Sharon Stone, Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow not just as clients but also friends, along with singers such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce whilst Victoria Beckham has endlessly championed him. His daring (and sometimes revealing) style is favoured by his celebrity clients, relying on the show-stopping designs to reward them with acres of media coverage, something that has heightened global awareness of the

“BEAUTIFUL THINGS COST MONEY. EVERYTHING IN THE CLUB WAS CUSTOM MADE AND SO COMPLEX, THERE WAS NO TIME LINE AND NO BUDGET.”

music. His love of diamante and appli-

ture, seeming something for the first

qué, embellishing the smallest thing

time even after nearly seven decades

until it glitters and shines and attracts

of residency. For him it is both an influ-

the spotlight has seen him create out-

ence and an inspiration. Although he

fits for music stars like the Spice Girls,

spends part of the year in New York,

Britney Spears and Madonna. His lack

‘for the energy and the craziness’, he

of restraint when it comes to fashion

will always be a Florentine.

has found a niche with the echelons

Family is also intrinsic to Cavalli,

of the fabulous and famous but also

as it is to many Italians, and his is a

with anyone who believes that fashion

family business. His wife, Eva, handles

is about fun, about self-expression and

the day to day running of the empire,

a jubilant love of the ‘more is more’

overseeing the advertising and brand

approach to life.

image that Cavalli portrays through

Roberto Cavalli is synonymous with

its use of supermodels such as Kate

Cavalli brand massively over the last

living life to the extreme, indulging in

Moss. His son runs the local vineyard

two decades.

passions no matter what they are. He

that produces exclusive Cavalli wine,

Since the 1990s Cavalli has risen

lives a life that most of us could only

Cavalli Tenuta Delgi Dei, that has been

to become more favoured than he was

dream of and some of us could not

lauded by wine critics.

in the 1970s, endlessly interlinked with

even imagine. Everything around him is

Having begun with his first boutique

the worlds of acting, modeling and

reflective of the passion for colour that

in St Tropez in 1972, the Cavalli empire

exudes through his creations. Even his

now stretches around the world, with

superyacht (still often found at Cannes)

high end boutiques in America, Europe

is bright metallic purple, as is his heli-

and the Middle East. It is a testament to

copter, for which he is a qualified pilot.

his popularity in the latter region that

As much as the designer might

Cavalli has stores in the UAE, Kuwait,

seem to have his head in the fashion

Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, a portfolio

clouds, there is also a strong tie to

that many other designers could only

his family and to his hometown that

dream of.

Page 24: Roberto Cavalli; page 25 from left: one of his designs on the catwalk; Cavalli Club in Dubai; page 26: the designer with the Spice Girls; page 27: Cavalli‘s version of flower power.

is unshakable. A child of Florence,

Moving on from the stores, he has

Cavalli lives in a villa in the surround-

developed a pret-a-porter range, Just

ing countryside and still has a studio

Cavalli, as well as adding eyewear,

in the medieval town. He loves nothing

beachwear, watches, handbags and

more than to amble through Florence,

accessories to his name, cementing

looking at the 700 year-old architec-

the family business as a global brand rather than just a fashion label. It is this brand identity that forms the basis of what Cavalli has recently launched in Dubai. Cavalli Club is the result “of a long standing dream” of his in the “city of the future.” As a designer that has always been forward thinking and used revolutionary technology to push his creations to the limit, it’s no surprise then that he chose Dubai as the first city to launch his ‘lifestyle-concept club’ in a nod of recognition to the city’s remarkable evolution into a truly 21st century metropolis. “Dubai is a fantastic city and it is the future. The Cavalli Club is a big event for me, a dream that has been realised and Dubai has allowed that to happen for me. I am no longer young unfortunately but this is my biggest creative pleasure. We are walking in the future and I love it.”

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H I G H F LY E R S

“FOR CAVALLI CATWALK SHOWS BECAME EXHIBITION SPACES, MODELS BECAME WALKING CANVASES AND ALL OF WOMANKIND BECAME HIS MUSE.”

There’s a lot of ‘love’ when Cavalli talks. He is not backward at coming forward about what he likes or doesn’t like. His fiery Italian passion has not been dulled by age and experience, only stoked, “Arab women love my fashion, they are some of my biggest fans in the world. Fashion is a dream and Dubai makes this dream real.” At a cost of $30 million, many would have baulked at the physical cost of the Cavalli Club dream, but not Cavalli, “Beautiful things cost money. Everything in the club has been custom -made and was so complex that there was no time line and no budget.” A restaurant, café and shop, every last detail was planned and chosen by Cavalli himself, using kilometres of strings of Swarovski diamonds, acres of leopard and zebra hide. It reflects his desire to enshrine beauty in decadence. Not only can you sit, drink and look at Cavalli products you can also buy an entire range of Cavalli home accessories, furnishings and lines that mean his look can be recreated in your own home. “With my fashion, you really have to love life and live the style. Colours mean life for me and this is my new concept of living life with happiness and freedom. My colour is the colour of peace.” Known for his quasi-philosophical musings on anything at any given moment, the designer does reveal what makes a Cavalli woman, “Beauty and personality are two dif-

JOIN THE CLUB ROBERTO CAVALLI’S BUSINESS EMPIRE INCLUDES: Roberto Cavalli Just Cavalli clothing Just Cavalli Eyewear Just Cavalli Beachwear Just Cavalli Time Just Cavalli Timewear Class Roberto Cavalli Roberto Cavalli Angels and Demons (childrenwear) Roberto Cavalli Newborn Cavalli Vodka Cavalli Tenuta Degli Dei (wine)

ferent things. Beauty is beauty, personality is what I prefer. People who have more personality are more aggressive, more Cavalli. I don’t choose them but they choose me.” Cavalli could sit back and survey his empire, a multicolour web of businesses but he has no intention of stopping. Famed as much for his spirit as his designs, he’s already looking to open Cavalli Clubs in Moscow and Abu Dhabi; then there are collections to design, celebrities to dress and dinner parties to be thrown. Cavalli himself admits, “I love to be loved”, and it seems the world has no intention of falling out of love with him.

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