Roberto Cavalli’s Supermodel Muses Unite for a Bittersweet Milan Fashion Week Show

No one threw a party like Roberto Cavalli. And in Milan this afternoon, the mood felt especially charged as designer Fausto Puglisi unveiled his first collection for the brand since the passing of its namesake founder in April. It was both a celebration of the print master’s greatest hits—complete with a supermodel brigade spanning three generations of runway icons—and a wearable proposal for the Italian glamour Puglisi has been championing since his debut at the house.

But before the maximalism set in, Puglisi began the show in the most un-Cavalli way possible. Using his hometown of Messina, Sicily, as inspiration, the designer opened with a suite of all-white looks inspired by the locale’s sun-bleached architecture. A cut-out micro mini set the palette, followed by cropped suiting with trousers slung low on the waist and a series of midriff-baring resort gowns for the woman who spends her summers between Capri and St. Tropez. Details nodding to Messina’s fishermen—swirling ocean prints, crochet overlays, and rope trim—ran throughout.

The came the crescendo.

If the opening leaned into a more restrained Cavalli woman, the finale swept back to her va-va-voom heyday. And who better to show that than the supermodels who defined that very aesthetic themselves? Italian beauty Mariacarla Boscono led the charge in a dramatic feathered number, followed by Alek Wek in a look that nodded to Christina Aguilera’s 2003 MTV VMAs show-stopper. Karen Elson shimmered in molten gold, before Isabeli Fontana, Natasha Poly, and Joan Smalls closed in daring animal-print slip dresses that recalled another landmark Cavalli number Aaliyah made famous at the 2000 VMAs.

As the models walked to an old recording of Cavalli reminding everyone he “was the party,” the message felt unmistakably clear. Designers tasked with leading a brand following the passing of its founder walk a tightrope. Yes, it’s important to honor the past, but it’s just as crucial to push things forward. Tonight, Puglisi showed that the Cavalli legacy is in good hands—and far more expansive than animal prints.