“Flamboyant” is how creative consultant Fausto Puglisi described the spirit of the Roberto Cavalli brand. “Roberto Cavalli himself was the king of excess and this is an aspect of the brand that I want to preserve,” said the designer. “Especially because being excessive is part of the Italian DNA and that’s one of the reasons why the world loves us.”
In this framework, Puglisi, who has always been attracted to American pop culture, decided to ask Mike Tyson to appear in the video the brand created to present its spring 2022 collection.
“Mike is like Coke — he is an ultimate icon. He is totally democratic and cross-generational. Everybody knows him, from the young kids to older people,” said Puglisi. “In addition, I’ve always been attracted by the idea of the second chance: Mike won everything and lost everything. He rose and fell and then rose again.”
The highly energetic video — in which a diverse cast of male models walks, runs, performs boxing moves and tries a flight simulator to electronic music in a minimal white space or in a sort of box covered with a patchwork of wild animal motifs — features Tyson captured in different situations. He poses in a zebra-printed silk robe trimmed with the brand’s logo, he shadowboxes sporting a leather tank top enriched with chains and metallic heads of wild animals, he walks in front of a wall of fire wearing a silk set with a bowling shirt and shorts printed with a jaguar head surrounded by flames, and he closes the video in a leather biker jacket kissing a white dove.
Fashion-wise, the collection Puglisi presented offered a compilation of eye-catching items rooted in the brand’s heritage. Jaguar and zebra motifs, tinged with the orange-y tones of a tropical sunset, or with more delicate desert tones, took center stage in the lineup, splashed on twill sets, deconstructed suits and denim pieces, which were also peppered with prints inspired by the brand’s Serpentine fragrance from 2005.
Hardware added a rock-‘n’-roll touch, while bombers with intarsia motifs and velvet tracksuits added a contemporary streetwear-like attitude.
“When I’m in New York I like to go with my friend to Magnolia Bakery, that closes late at night,” said Puglisi, referring to Manhattan’s popular pastry shop whose West Village location is a popular spot made famous by movies and TV shows, including “Sex and the City.” “There, you can meet so many different people. Some of them go there and eat half of a cupcake, others get five cupcakes…it doesn’t matter, everyone wants a piece of that. My idea is that Cavalli should be like Magnolia Bakery: you might want just a piece, you might want the whole look…you just feel that you desire that.”
