Roberto Cavalli's company seems to be in perpetual play, always on the brink of a sale, which might explain why his latest menswear collection recapitulated his commercial strengths in such a solid, sober way, especially after Spring's iffy Floridian excess. The emphasis was on dark, dressy sartorialism; tone-on-tone jacquards and dévoré with a dull gleam; and tight, hip-slung pants. In other words, Cavalli had reanimated his favorite archetype, the rock-and-roll dandy. In another era, our young blade might have been elegantly wasted, but there was a rigor to these looks that suggested he'd taken the pledge.
The work put into the fabrics was obvious in, say, the optic herringbone of a topcoat or the densely woven knits. It was telling in a collection that emphasized the commercial that the extravagant artisanal Florentine leatherwork that has always been a Cavalli signature was nowhere in evidence. In its stead, the extravagance was concentrated on a handful of lush fur coats, which were actually fake (except for the fox collars).
Some pieces had black ribbons attached, on which were printed the messages EMPATHY and NO BOUNDS. The decision to add these was apparently made a couple of days before the show. Matthew Miller and Alexander McQueen also used words in a similar way this season (as did the Simons/Ruby project before them). Designers captioning their own work? They do say third time's a trend.
