ROBERTO CAVALLI

Roberto Cavalli was born in Italy into an artistic family in 1940. His grandfather was a 19th-century artist, and the young Cavalli studied art. He focused on textile printing and is known for creating sandblasting for jeans, as well as elegant creations and animal prints. Cavalli created and patented a printing process that allowed the printing of unique patchwork designs in leather on a selection of different materials. After showing the technique in Paris in 1970, he was commissioned by leading fashion designers such as Pierre Cardin and Hermes. He opened a boutique in Saint-Tropez in 1972, and his designs were popularized by Brigitte Bardot. Cavalli met his second wife, Eva Duringer, in the 1977 Miss Universe pageant, where he was a judge, and she was an Austrian contestant. They married in 1980 and became partners in life and business. In 1994, he introduced sandblasted jeans in Milan and opened boutiques in Venice and the French Caribbean. Its fashions are sold in more than 50 countries, and in 1998, Cavalli began to expand the company's line, which now includes men's and women's clothing, watches, glasses, jewellery, beachwear and perfumes. It opened cafés in Milan and Florence from 2002. Its fragrance line has a base of 25 aromas. The first, Roberto Cavalli for Women, was released in 2002 and in 2014, Just Cavalli Gold for Her was released.