Italian fashion's resident hippie couldn't let Milan's '70s moment happen without him, could he? After a tricky Fall show, Roberto Cavalli was back on form today with a Just Cavalli collection that simultaneously tapped into his own origins and looked like it will connect with festival types of the 2010s who want a haute bohemian experience of their own. The JC hippie chick, of course, is a whole lot more sanitized than she was in her original form, not least because Mom is probably buying. Even if Just Cavalli is a lower-priced line, its designer is hardly marketing to the honest-to-goodness counterculture. Still, Cavalli's split-seam, floor-scraper dresses (some slit so high on the thigh they require shorts) would all but guarantee a wild night. And a silk scarf wrapped like a halter top around the torso and worn with low-rider flares had a raw, sexy 'tude. A master printmaker since the beginning, Cavalli avoided his signature animal spots here, instead using patchworks of chain links, daisies, and overlapping hearts—the better to unleash your inner flower child.
