Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Italy, on 15 November 1940. In the early 1970s, he invented and patented a printing procedure on leather, and started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately getting commissions from the likes of Hermès and Pierre Cardin. At age 32, he presented his first namesake collection at the Salon for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. He brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and later on those of Milano Collezioni. He then opened his first boutique in 1972, in Saint-Tropez. In Milan in 1994 Cavalli presented the first sand-blasted jeans. By December of the same year he had opened boutiques in Saint Barth in the French Caribbean, followed by another in Venice. Besides the main line, which is sold in over fifty countries worldwide, Roberto Cavalli designs RC Menswear, the youth-aimed line “Just Cavalli”, launched in 1998 as well as accessories and perfumes.