Italian Fashion Watch

Here’s Roberto Cavalli’s men’s catalogue for this fall winter 08/09 season.

Critics noted that this is one of Cavalli’s most commercial and restrained collections, with classically-tailored suits reinterpreted in a more relaxed Cavalli style.

As usual, the collection had to include animal prints. This time he used leopard and giraffe textures. The artesan style typical of Florence was reflected in the suede jackets with brocade touches.

In a surprise shift of fashion gears, Roberto Cavalli, known for his racy styles, chooses sweet over sexy for next season.

His latest collection, shown Wednesday, was dotted with embroidered mini gowns, reminiscent of an imaginary “couture Barbie,” especially when shown off by the long-legged, demurely coifed models. There were also plenty of shimmery shorts and cropped jackets in the collection for Barbie to change into after the ball.

The outfits were accessorized by glittering gold and stone bracelets, in keeping with the current concentration on baubles and bangles, after several lean jewelry seasons on the Milan runway.

Summing up his show back stage, Cavalli warned against being fooled by appearances. “NaivetDe is not part of my vocabulary,” the designer quipped.

Many fashion designers started exploring their artistic capabilities in other area, such as designing helicopter interiors, buildings, restaurants or clubs.

Roberto Cavalli did something a little more unexpected and teamed up with the giant Coca-Cola to redesign the classic Diet Coke bottle. The new bottles will be distributed in a limited edition of 300000 units from September till December, but only in Italy.

I love the new designs. They look like they’re covered in leopard skin and I’d die to get myself one of those. It’s the typical Roberto Cavalli style, feminine and extravagant.

But I can’t help but wonder what do environmentalists have to say about it…?

Roberto Cavalli has a youthful side. That, or he’s figured out another way to add more $$ to his consistent fortune.

The 68-year old designer of sexy-fashion will shake up the Dubai scene with the November opening of his Cavalli Club in the Fairmont Hotel on Sheikh Zaved Road. Two floors, its own private entrance and a surface of an estimated 25.000 square feet.

Roberto Cavalli chose the Pragma Group as his partner for this important undertaking. He says “Dubai is a city of the future and the Cavalli Club is a futuristic space created with the whole world in mind.”

There will be a room showcasing jewellery, watches and exclusive accessories from Cavalli Maison, the Italian and sushi restaurants are selected by Cavalli, as well as a Cavalli wine and Cavalli vodka. The Club offers to the public a complete Roberto Cavalli lifestyle experience and a new way of shopping at a non-conventional time of day.

The opening will be in November 2008, with an outstanding party that will shake the whole of Dubai.

Recently blogs and online news sources went mad about a possible teaming between Roberto Cavalli and Amy Whinehouse. This deal would offer Amy an endless line of Cavalli’s outfits for free as well as a sum of money, with the condition that she wears them at every public appearance.

This kind of deal is common among fashion and clothing companies who select some of the most popular artists or sportsmen and offer them lucrative deals, as a great way to reach a desired audience.

It seems that Roberto Cavalli’s good friend, Victoria Beckham, is the one who proposed him to consider Amy Whinehouse in the first place.

The rumor was not yet confirmed, but if it is true, we should see Amy wearing high fashion dresses and accessories from one of the world most important fashion designer pretty soon.

Roberto Cavalli, Italy’s ‘king of bling”, swung his style barometer from strident and sexy to soft and subtle at Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday.

In line with the current mood for fantasy and romanticism that is emerging at these designer previews for next spring/summer, Cavalli turned down the volume on his formally over-the-top fashion formula.

“I used to design for a woman who wanted to flaunt,” he said. “Now, it’s time for a new woman who is more pure, simple and innocent.”

This proclamation, of course, did not stop the flamboyant Florentine from recreating the gilded Hall of Mirrors at Versailles as a video backdrop to his show.

But there was a sweet simplicity in the white broderie anglaise and floral chiffon petticoat dresses, even if some were unbuttoned as if in a boudoir. Fringed suede skirts, vests and trousers were mixed with Marie Antoinette-inspired peasant girl looks in pastels and patchwork florals.

Pale, sequined shifts, generally devoid of jewellery, offered a delicate suggestion of razzle-dazzle. But there was not an animal print to be seen, no splits to the thigh and no plunging cleavage.

Instead, for evening, Cavalli offered long, fluid dresses in watercolour prints of lilies, orchids and peonies, softened with a flounce at the hem.

England’s High Street chain H and M is focusing on the younger market with their own original designs…and a little help from a fashion heavyweight.

House designer Margareta van den Bosch has revealed that she created clothes to suit the fun and free shoppers. While guest designer, Roberto Cavalli, is following a similar trend.

Cavalli, who has dressed the who’s who of the film and music worlds, has put together a fall collection for the budget brand as a way to allow young girls to wear his clothes.

He told Times2, “The young stop me all over the world in the street and say ‘Oh, Roberto, you’re my idol’. I said ok to H&M so that youngsters could have the chance to wear Cavalli, not just the beautiful stars on the red carpet. I hope to see lots of girls queuing up to discover what I have created for them.”

H and M’s own young brand, Divide, is all about being playful for the upcoming chilly season.

Bosch said, “The Divided concept has a style that attracts both grown-up and teenage customers. I think the creativity and comfort is the key to success. Great patterns and prints, cool styles, and, most importantly, the latest trends translated in a playful and unpretentious manner.”

Cavalli’s collection will be available from November.

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has defended his decision to hire Kate Moss for a fashion shoot immediately after her cocaine disgrace, hailing her a “great professional”.

The catwalk beauty was photographed snorting the drug with then-boyfriend Pete Doherty in a recording studio in September 2005. She was subsequently axed from a string of lucrative modelling contracts, but Cavalli continued to use her despite the controversy.

He says, “People asked me why I picked Kate Moss immediately after her drug scandal. I find her a great professional, and have always liked her personality.

“I have never thought: ‘Does this person use drugs or not?’ I am anti-drugs, but what can you do? “As designers we have to trust the models’ personality and professionalism. I don’t want to know about their private lives.”

You can wear your favourite designer’s fragrance and makeup every day, splurge on their shoes and a handbag each season and if you are lucky enough to afford it, indulge in the clothing.

And in the fashion capital of Milan you can eat, drink and dance with your favourite designer brand.

Hotels, restaurants, bars and cafés bearing the names of some of the world’s most recognizable fashion names are popping up across the city.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana opened a restaurant and bar called Gold in the fall, joining Giorgio Armani who already had a café, restaurant, bookstore and a nightclub called Privé, housed in his mega Armani store on Via Manzoni. The complex is rumoured to be the site of an upcoming Armani hotel.

Roberto Cavalli has added a café to his empire. The Bulgari Hotel now has a restaurant and the Gucci girl can sit in the café outside her favourite store in the imposing Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II to people watch or steel her nerves before plunking down a credit card for the latest “It” bag.

Designers have full control on casting the perfect people to personify their image at their runway shows and in ad campaigns.

But when the clothes are available for sale to anyone, sometimes the image gets skewed.

A tour of some of these designer venues during the fall 2007 collections in Milan this week found the same principle applies to their brand extensions.

First stop on Saturday night was Gold, the restaurant, bistro and bar by Dolce & Gabbana.

One would think it would be the perfect brand extension for the designers of a super sexy label who appear to love the nightlife.

But after passing the large gold ingot sign outside the door, any lustre from the metal furnishings was dimmed by the unseductive lighting and the pedestrian crowd.

The bistro is swanky enough, with sculptural chandeliers and metal shutters, but in the bar area exposed brick walls and bright lights seemed to dull the effect of the decorative gold prisms lining the shelves and the bar.

“If the Dolce customer came here looking for some excitement, they would be disappointed,” said Ian Hylton, a Toronto expat who now works in China for Ports International as VP of design for its menswear division.

In the bar area, everyone was clustered in the smoking area – a glass enclosed chamber in the back. The music was far from inspiring and it was hard to look sexy holding a drink served in a ridiculously large glass.

And where were the stylish, sexy, feline Dolce & Gabbana fans? Except for the model-handsome bartenders, the crowd was all tight jeans and little tops that wouldn’t pass muster for the lower-priced D&G line.

The experience was far from the image the duo sells, especially after seeing the spectacular window display at the flagship store or the scintillating photo feature in this month’s W magazine. It features both designers, buffed, and dressed provocatively and posing suggestively with nearly naked models.

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It looks like Michael Jackson has decided to go in his first world tour in almost ten years. For such an event, he must look spectacular.

That’s why he chose Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli to be the one to design his stage suits and present the world an impeccable image of him.

The two met in Dublin where they decided the look for the first on stage appearance that will take place on Wembley Stadium, in London.

“Michael Jackson is a musical icon. It was a great honor for me to design something special for him. His personal style has had a great influence on the pop culture,” Cavalli said in a statement.

The pop star was involved in the previous years in a few scandals, but he was finally was called not guilty in 2005.