After claiming his stake as the ‘King of the Jungle’ in washes of flamingo pink, Florida Key lime and feathered motifs for Spring/Summer 2024, Roberto Cavalli took to the runway on day one of Milan Fashion Week with a renewed approach. Cavalli himself was once heralded as the titan of tiger stripes, but since current creative director, Fausto Puglisi, was appointed in 2020, the brand has shifted into a skin more resonant with the modern Italian women’s needs.

Eschewing the signature skin-barring codes of the house, Cavalli entered a more meditative state. Not quite a humbling, but perhaps a grounding of instincts as the luxuriate found its motif du jour: Italian marble. From the outset, the contrasting ivory and jet-black streaks that characterise the coveted rock set the tone for a more self-contained collection.

In following fashion’s pendulum shifts, Roberto Cavalli has ideated on the concept of pause. A creative exhale, indeed. This recentering emerged in a barrel of sleek silhouettes that focused on textile arrangement and artisanal techniques over print-centric pieces. The typical veined marble of Carrara’s Apuan Mountains, colloquially known as the exclusive Calacatta variation, introduced the collection.

A distinctive crinkled fabric unfolded over the first few looks in a slender maxi dress sanctioned with a black midsection and an ankle-grazing tiered bubble jacket. Then, things took an uptown approach in sleek double-breasted jackets and drop-waist peplum layers. This felt fitting considering the collection was inspired by the marble of Sicilian chapels. If Puglisi is inviting us to church, Cavalli’s adherents will be well dressed for the part in the skirt sets and buttoned-up jackets.

Later in the collection, geometry and geology melded through the presence of diamond-shaped crystals affixed to the straps of mini dresses or serving as buttons on cinched jackets. This artistic choice signified the type of fabric experimentation that strengthened the collection. Here, marbling wasn’t merely screen printed onto conventional materials but rather deftly replicated through corresponding beadwork and sparkling knitted thread. (A skin-tight mohair dress paired with gogo boots styled with a mirrored disc was emblematic of this refreshed force.)

Though the silhouettes oscillated between experimental, avant-garde and austere, there was still no shortage of party pieces for the Cavalli aficionado. In key-hole cutouts, velveteen draping and a colour pallet reminiscent of the metallic hypnotic hues found in a rainy oil spill, is this collection proving a leopard can change its spots? As the adage goes, birds of a feather flock together, and if Cavalli’s commercial propensity is anything to go by, these pieces will soon be picked up and proudly hanging amongst its previous collections.

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