Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli dies

Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has died at the age of 83 after a long illness. Representatives of the couturier brand and his family have already released an official statement.

According to La Reppublica, Qawwali died in Florence, next to him was his 38-year-old lover, Swedish model Sandra Nilsson. They were together for 10 years, a year ago they had a child together, who became Cavalli’s sixth.

The death of Roberto Cavalli saddened many representatives of the fashion industry and celebrities with whom the designer was friends - now on social networks they express their condolences and share memories of the designer.

Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence on September 15, 1940. Here he entered the Academy of Arts, where he studied interior design, but never received a diploma. His career breakthrough came when Cavalli invented his own method of printing on fabric, which many luxury brands began to use. In the 1970s, Cavalli founded his own clothing brand, Roberto Cavalli, patented his method of applying designs to leather goods and began opening boutiques around the world. By the 2000s, the brand was widely known and loved by many celebrities who wore the designer's designs on the red carpet. The designer’s creations were unmistakable: animal prints, patchwork techniques, chains, sequins and rhinestones - all these were the hallmarks of his style.

Cavalli was married twice and has six children from different relationships. In recent years, he lived with Playboy model Sandra Nilsson, who is 46 years his junior.