The Just Cavalli formula is undergoing some rejiggering. In Roberto Cavalli’s days, it was a playground for party dresses and glamazon-gone-casual jeans. Paul Surridge, the creative director at Roberto Cavalli and its little sister JC line for the last year and a half, is a dyed-in-the-wool minimalist with long experience in menswear. His inclination is to streamline wherever possible, and he’s at his most persuasive when he’s showcasing his sartorial know-how, as he did with the sequined Prince of Wales pantsuit and another in black with silver piercing embellishments that he cut for fall. Tailoring is the big topic of the moment, so the timing is right for Surridge to lean into what he’s good at.
The animal and tropical prints that have long been central to the Cavalli aesthetic are more learn-as-you-go for Surridge. He approached the signature animalier motifs in a clever way: by hand-drawing zebra and tiger stripes, he produced a lower-key vibe that he liked. He did his best to avoid tropical prints—too cliché. The closest he came was a cotton trench with plissé details in a dark green foliage motif that could’ve been camo. Logos are obligatory in this market, and he took an experimental approach, splashing block letters on athleisure separates and embroidering “just” in script on the chest of mohair sweaters like a monogram. As for the denim, it was sexy and distressed; the men’s versions were holey, about what you’d expect from this label. The new Just Cavalli is still a work in progress. What did look definitive, however, was a shaggy white Mongolian coat. Surridge put it at the top of this slideshow.
