Thursday 28 November 2013

From the Streets of Florence to the Heights of Fashion



Roberto Cavalli was certainly not born with a silver spoon in his mouth – quite the opposite. He grew up on the streets of Florence with his mother and sister after his father died when he was only two. But now, he is strutting his stuff and telling his life story to the eager students at Oxford University.


Life was not easy for the young boy with a stutter, who describes himself as a ‘difficult child’ and was not interested in learning or education.

Things started to change when he became interested in a pretty blonde and went about becoming an export in printing on leather in order to impress her – a technique that was new and unknown at the time, but would stand him in good stead for the future.

He says at the time he dreams were modest - all he wanted was his own little car. He still remembers the first little blue Fiat 500 he bought, though now he has a fleet of luxury transport, including performance cars, a super-yacht and even a private jet.

He describes himself as the orchestra director’ of his fashion company, telling his new creative director Yvan Mispelaere what to play, and he professes his love of animal prints because of a fondness of nature. 

He berates the habit of big fashion labels paying the stars to wear their designs on the red carpet, saying ‘I don’t like to suggest what a woman should wear – I want her to choose my clothes without any suggestion’.

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