Clean and comfortable Cavalli

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 23, 2018

There’s a new broom sweeping through Cavalli, and it’s a clean and comfortable one.

 
Courtesy of designer Paul Surridge, in his second act at the Florentine marque, the house has edited out much of the over-the-top phantasies for which founder Roberto was famous.
 
Yes, there are meters of bold Big Cat prints, Sumatra tiger and Kenyan leopard, though used in slinky flared trousers that were covered by long black frock, are featured in elegant boleros. Surridge is definitely an accomplished cutter.

What worked best were the memorable laser cut, big lapel alligator boleros; rock-star-boarding-a-private-jet, pony-skin double-breasted coats and a series of fiery bias-cut Western salon-gal dresses.
 
“Modern glamour. What does glamour mean; it means attraction. What’s attractive? It’s confidence and you cannot have confidence without comfort. Because otherwise you are projecting and projection in fashion is vulgar,” explained Surridge.
 
The show was also the first co-ed collection from Cavalli, with men and women wearing similar blended Murano prints, based on the aromatic color combinations seen in the famed Venetian glass. In a delightful visual conceit, Surridge even founded a local artist to spray paint one Murano look directly on to the torso of a hunky male model.
 
The show was not without drama – helped by the soundtrack, the music to Basic Instinct with all the melodrama that implies.
 
“It was about the power play between man and woman and the tension that implies within an alpha couple. Inspired by Murano perfume dresses,” added the designer, before embracing Bella Hadid, who climaxed the show in a UK postbox-red reptile coat.