Archival Roberto Cavalli is having a moment. Earlier this month, a rare stash of the designer’s 1970s printed leathers was exhibited and sold at the vintage store Reracked in upstate New York, and word has spread of multiple fashion enthusiasts scoring coveted pieces from the designer’s younger, punkier Just Cavalli line circa the 2000s on the bustling resale market lately. This widespread appetite for vintage Italian glamour points to a broader cultural hunger for the unfiltered, high-octane aesthetic that defined turn-of-the-millennium fashion.
Fausto Puglisi, the brand’s current creative director, has clearly picked up on this profound nostalgia for Cavalli deep cuts. Over his five years at the label, he has occasionally veered quite far from the house’s glamazon standbys, exploring different silhouettes and minimalist leanings, but this time he went all-in. He spiked the signature animal prints, velvet devorés, and intricate embroideries with a distinctly clubby edge. This collection was unapologetically for the girlies.
Its focus was sharply on separates, offering a masterclass in mix-and-match maximalism. Miniskirts, bike shorts, halter tops and hot pants, lace-edged camisoles, and embellished low-rider jeans with strappy thongs peeking out above waistbands paraded down the runway. The kaleidoscope of patterns and textures stood out dramatically in a fashion week that had otherwise been heavily dominated by a sea of black, white, and neutral beige.
Backstage, Puglisi reflected on the cultural timing of his design choices. “I’m thinking about the time we’re living in,” he said. His instincts are undeniably spot on. After years of quiet luxury practicality, low-key dressing, and muted pandemic-era pragmatism, heels are trending once again in the front rows of major fashion shows. As an astute observer noted hours after the Cavalli show at an industry dinner that packed the perennial Milan hotspot Bice, “Milan is partying again.”
Puglisi’s reference list, as is customary for the designer, was a mile long, spanning high and low culture across decades. He cited Courtney Love in all her grunge splendor, the nostalgic teen drama Beverly Hills 90210, global style icon Zendaya, an Antonello da Messina masterpiece that was infamously stolen from a Sicilian museum, and Todd Gray’s evocative work “Octavia’s Gaze” on display at LACMA. He particularly appreciated Gray’s piece for the way it “put different worlds dialoguing together.” All of them got namechecked backstage as foundational inspirations for the mood of the collection.
It is all just subtext, however. At the end of the day, these were clothes designed for stoking good times, something that Puglisi is indisputably good at delivering on the runway.
