Dubai: Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli opened a $30 million outlet in Dubai on Thursday, despite the current situation.
At the Cavalli Club, clients will be able to enjoy his signature animal-print furnishings as well as an Italian restaurant and luxury boutiques.
"It is beautiful, and beautiful things are costly," Cavalli said about the venue at a news conference in Dubai. The club is located in the Fairmont Hotel.
Founded in Florence in the early 1960s, today the brand is distributed in over fifty countries directly through the Roberto Cavalli showrooms at Via Senato 8 in Milan and 715 Fifth Avenue in New York.
Cavalli said he had been offered to do boutique hotels in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Moscow. The designer makes his own liquor and chocolates, and plans to expand his lifestyle brand.
Naomi Campbell was planning, "until yesterday," to attend his launch party, Cavalli said.
Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Italy on November 15, 1940 to an artistic family. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a prolific member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery.
Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute, concentrating in textile print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories.
The Roberto Cavalli company produces the womenswear line, complete with accessories, that shows on the Milanese catwalks.
Further there are the menswear collections, Just Cavalli, Class, Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli Underwear, Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli Eyewear and Just Cavalli Time, Roberto Cavalli Angels & Devils (the children collection), Angels & Devils Shoes, Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli Perfume (by ITF), Roberto Cavalli Shoes (by Vicini), Roberto Cavalli baby (by Simonetta) and Just Cavalli Jewels (by Morellato & Sector).
By the mid 1990s, rapid business expansion has come in tandem with the strategic positioning of monobrand boutiques in prime locations consonant to the Roberto Cavalli product and clientele.
The first store opened in St. Barthelemy in 1994. Many other prestigious shops worldwide have opened recently: Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Dubai, Rome, Kuwait City, Jakarta, Beirut and Kiev. The label is also present in upscale department stores, such as Selfridges and Saks Fifth Avenue.
With inputs from Bloomberg.
