Roberto Cavalli

Defiant is the best word to describe Roberto Cavalli, the fashion designer for whom life and business are constant dares. Global recession? In this era of downsizing, he opened the Cavalli Club, a 26,190-square-foot restaurant and nightclub, in Dubai last May. Cutbacks and deep discounts on clothing worldwide? In March, Cavalli unveiled what he called “my most ambitious and innovative project to date,” the seven-story Cavalli department store, on Rue Saint Honoré, the most expensive street in Paris. And these big, brash gestures do not represent some recent evolution for the designer; Cavalli has always defied everything and everyone, from his humble background to his harshest critics, who have at various times predicted that he was finished.

“I declare war on the economic crisis!,” Cavalli recently told me. How? By continuing to be Roberto Cavalli, in your face and full steam ahead. He has launched brand extensions, including a Cavalli MasterCard in an iridescent purple snakeskin pattern and introduced with an ad featuring a barely clad Milla Jovovich and Roberto Cavalli Pets, a line for dogs and cats that includes satin trimmed robes, velour tracksuits, and patent leather collars and leashes. “I continue to create dreams,” he says. “Everybody needs to dream, especially in tough times. Specifically, I’m working much more closely with all my retail stores. It’s like going back to the beginning burning the midnight oil, getting to know my customers personally, visiting them in cities all over the world.” The result? He insists he’s doing well. And while the financials of his privately held company are closely guarded, so we don’t know exactly how well he’s faring, everything else about Cavalli is extremely public one long history of survival against the odds.