Circling a searing ring of fire like the concubines of Dante’s Inferno yesterday in Milan, Cavalli fuelled his inflamed spitfires of AW14 with a deadly Italian glamour, recollecting the vampish femininity of the 1920s and also the “geometry” of the ‘30s, according to Roberto himself. Evidently, he couldn’t get enough of the quintessentially Cavalli, more is more, maximalist ideology, revelling in a heated decadence as models emblazoned with sizzling flames and sanguine tipped fur left a scorching trail of merciless disregard in their wake.
The cavalier chivalry of this often outspoken, unmistakably iconic, design force called for a surplus of ostentatious outerwear, naturally, with head-to-toe snakeskin ensembles flanked by sets of foxy pelts paraded throughout the fiery spectacular. In an ode to a resurrection of the exotic flapper, Cavalli crafted dropped waists, spotlighting a graphic modern Art-Deco print, swamped with encrusted embellishments and crowned by the plush tuft of fox fur collars.
Examples of the sheer, slinky, overly beaded knockouts, many featuring flares of fire rising from extended duchesse hemlines, then passed the torch to some scintillating suits, more mammoth fur swaddles, and finally a duo of caped shrouds, trimmed with fur of course, acknowledging a trend for lux drapery.
Aside from the perilous pyrotechnics, it is important to note that Cavalli’s intense passion and duty to nourish fashion with unaffected soul, still remains intact, for he has learnt that after the dust settles, at the end of the day, there will always be a part of us that craves just a little bit of Cavalli.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Style.com