Roberto Cavalli’s customer is the tough-as-nails kind of girl who never leaves the house without a smudged ring of kohl around her eyes, so it was a change of pace to see the Just Cavalli design team tap into her softer side for Resort. The new lineup achieved this fresh sense of lightness by fusing bucolic florals with Japanese art motifs—all of which were, of course, mixed up with Cavalli’s signature animal prints.

There was a pajama-like ease to not only a gauzy tank dress with mesh insets and high slits with a built-in leopard slip underneath but also a colorful chiffon shirttail camisole and a matching pair of relaxed trousers. Eastern influences came in the form of origami folds along the hemline of a jacquard miniskirt and the Hokusai-esque wave patterns seen on a knit pullover and a silk blouse with cool French cuffs. The Just Cavalli team didn’t entirely suppress its maximalist tendencies here. Case in point: the exotic leopard-swan hybrid that appeared on some of the collection’s flashier evening looks. Apparently, you can’t change a leopard’s, or a bird’s, spots.
—Brittany Adams
Runway Feed