Four years of notes, footnotes, sleepless nights spent writing and sheets of paper filled with memories. And then one single instant during which everything was about to vanish. This is the story of JUST ME
This should not be viewed as a fashion essay, on the contrary: it speaks about the story of the man not the designer, who lived the Twentieth Century intertwining the thread which bonds the wounds of the War to the glories of the Made in Italy in a simple and amazing narration.
A narration where sweat, success, defeat, intuition, the setbacks and the endeavors are written without censorship or stereotypes as the adventure of one of the most important icons of contemporary fashion.
“Do not be afraid”: the autobiography of Roberto Cavalli begins with the tenderness and drama of a war scene. These are the last words pronounced by his father Giorgio, captured and taken away from his family and executed in front of his wife by the German Army on July 4th 1944 in the small town of Cavriglia. Roberto was only three years old and this memory will be present in his mind as a warning as well as a regret. The first is a firm imperative to always take risks, to be different and to be a pioneer even when nobody understands your intuitions or your aesthetic. The second is instead a sort of nostalgia which will accompany him during his life: the desire to attribute a face to his father through a life filled with action and challenges, almost as a moral obligation.
ROBERTO’S WOMEN
“When people think about me and about the women in my life” states Roberto Cavalli “ the majority of people have a stereotype: they envision me surrounded by a group of models with a bottle of champagne”. Nothing could be farther from the stories told in JUST ME.
Most of the book is in fact dedicated to the women who represent a fundamental role in Roberto’s life. Beginning from his mother, a constant presence and the symbol of an incredible generation who was able to transform war and adversity in a new country with an array of opportunities.
Then Lietta, the sister who will help him build a memory of his father. And finally his two wives: the first, Silvanella who will give him two children, Cristiana and Tommaso; and Eva, his lifetime partner who will give him Rachele, Daniele and Robert. They are his core, the soul of the woman he imagined and who will later become the spirit of his creativity.
I AM NOT DESIGNER, I AM A TRANSFORMER OF TEXTILES
“Do not call me a designer, because I have never been able to sketch a silhouette” says Roberto. “My talent has always been to make fabrics and women special, viewing fashion as a ready-to-wear prêt-à-portér dream “.
Consequently JUST ME is not a list of models, successes, fashion shows and collaborations with Hollywood stars. It is rather the epic story of Ulysses lost in the Made in Italy ocean, searching for excellence, people and journeys who will make his dream possible. The dream of giving women a gown “which will change their life, because that is what the most beautiful gowns do: they can change a woman’s life”.
MATTEO RENZI: A FRIEND, A TRAVELLING COMPANION
The meeting was similar to the imaginary closure of a circle: July 4th 2012, the Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi invited Roberto Cavalli to commemorate the fallen during the Second World War massacre of Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni. 50 years after his father’s death, this moment represented for Roberto the seal of a lifetime and the spark of an affinity which still marks the two personalities of Renzi and Cavalli. Both being stubborn men of action and pioneers who will never ever be conventional.
