Resort's white cotton lace seemed so simple, but it actually pointed to a new focus at Roberto Cavalli. A return to the label's origins? In one way, at least, in that denim, Cavalli's original raison d'être, was given new life in his Spring collection. Jean jackets and pants were slashed open, the slashes filled with sequins, as though there were a shimmering underlife for the garments. Evening denim. Guipure was subjected to the same brutalism, sequins shining under the lace.
But all that came at the end of the show. Let's go back to the start, with a clutch of psychedelic stunners that were as powerful as anything Cavalli has ever shown. There was something fantastically tribal and ceremonial about these eye-popping pieces. An acid ritual at Zabriskie Point sprang to mind. At the same time, the dresses highlighted the artisanship of the house in the way that they were sliced and pleated together.
It was impossible to sustain such a peak, but Cavalli did manage to strike other major chords. That cotton lace is clearly his new best friend. Whether fashioned into a shirtdress or a full-length gown, it was diverting—a chance to contemplate the Cavalli woman as chaste, rather than chased. And then—bam!—a motocross jacket and micro skirt in Louisiana croc. Or a simple shift dress in sequins that, smoothed one way, read silver; the other way, leopard. That's the twisty way Roberto rolls. The Italians have a phrase for such a dichotomy, but we're much too polite to repeat it here.
