Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli was born in 1940 in Florence, Italy, and prior to beginning his career as a fashion designer, he studied art at the Florence Academy of Art. In 1970, Roberto Cavalli presented his first collection, featuring innovative hand-screened leatherwear, and spent the next 20 years in relative obscurity before launching a collection of printed designs on denim in the early 1990s. Cavalli’s figure-hugging, flamboyant fashions, featuring exotic patterns and oodles of leopard print, became a red carpet hit with the Hollywood set in the 1990s, prompting Cavalli to launch sunglasses in 1999 and introduce his first perfume in 2002.

Roberto Cavalli has since expanded his label to include other accessories like bags, shoes, watches, a kid’s collection and a line for pets. In 2005, Cavalli redesigned the iconic Playboy Bunny costume and launched his own vodka, and in 2007, the designer created the tour wardrobes for Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez (who is rumoured to have asked Cavalli to design her wedding dress to dancer Casper Smart). In 2010, Cavalli celebrated the 40th anniversary of his label. Roberto Cavalli has been married to wife Eva Düringer since 1980 and the couple have three children together. Cavalli also has two kids from a previous marriage.