Now is the perfect time to be the Roberto Cavalli brand. The strain of signorina sexy that the label’s titular founder invented and championed in the ’90s and aughts is very much back in style thanks to social media and to downmarket brands that have jumped on the catty Cavalli look. But after Peter Dundas’s ’70s-flecked disco glamour of the 2010s, the brand hewed minimal under Paul Surridge, only to part ways with the designer in 2019, leaving Cavalli rudderless at a time when it could have the most impact. It’s taken a while for the business to get back on its feet, but after a season off it’s returned to Milan Fashion Week with an installation in the city’s Mudec museum called “Skins.”
The premise is simple: Roberto Cavalli is about animal prints, from snakeskin to feathers to the all-important tiger. Mannequins arranged around the museum’s first floor display a full range of looks in mash-ups of almost every animal print under the sun. London’s swinging ’60s provide a vague starting point for the collection, with newsboy caps complementing short suits and Pattie Boyd dresses in vivid orange tiger-print chiffon. The best looks here tap into that boho spirit from Signore Cavalli’s sexiest shows, all tissue-thin dresses in leopard mash-ups that could be laced up to the neck, or undone to reveal a skimpy bikini—or perhaps nothing at all—underneath. The in-house design team was wise not to give up on Cavalli’s va-va-voom but instead to provide options for women to make these sultry little things work for both day and night. With block-heeled lace-up boots—not a stiletto in sight!—these are modern clothes with exactly the right amount of OTT Cavalli flair.
For men, there are suits embossed to look like python-meets-anaconda worn with tiger-print trainers and richly embroidered blazers meant to evoke tiger stripes. (For the Micks to match the womenswear Patties.) References to Art Deco patterns are perhaps a little too thought-out for the pure excitement Cavalli can offer. This is a brand for your heart, not your brain—and there’s plenty to lust for this season.
