The Beauty Blog

The Wall Street Journal today reports that Italian designer Roberto Cavalli, well known for using wild animal prints and sexualized cuts in his design, is having hard times with the executives he hires to seek buyers for his fashion houses.

“I find many of them a bit dry,” says the 67-year-old, cigar-smoking Italian designer. “Sometimes incompetence is useful,” he adds, now speaking of himself. “It helps you keep an open mind.”
[Roberto Cavalli]

Mr. Cavalli single-handedly transformed a hand-painted knits business into one of the world’s most famous fashion brands over the past four decades. But now, the designer’s disdain for corporate culture is running up against a broader shift in Europe’s fashion business. [...]

It is said that two years ago, Cavalli hired a former Calvin Klein executive to clean up the fashion house’s operations, but Roberto Jorio Fili left was fired after 13 months. Cavalli has also been looking for an outside investor to ensure his company’s survival, but finds it hard to let go.

“I’m used to always deciding everything myself,” Cavalli says, “It’s a blessing, but also a terrible defect.”

Cavalli recently rejected a Saudi fund’s offer for a majority stake in his fashion house even though the price was far above market levels. Now, Cavalli desperately wants to team up with another investor, but there appears to be no more offers on the table for him to choose from.

Hopefully, things will work out for Cavali in the very near future.

Photo: © William Bedzrah