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ROBERTO Cavalli had a taste for Ferraris, thoroughbred horses and fat cigars – and his love life also appeared the stuff of fantasy.
The Italian designer, who has died aged 83, married a Miss Universe runner-up, but was divorced twice.
Instagram/ nilsson_sandra_
AlamyCavalli tied the knot with his first wife Silvanella Giannoni in 1964 before the couple went their separate ways ten years later.
He has two children from that marriage – Tommaso and Christiana.
“I met a girl, the first girl I loved, and I married her with the first money I got,” he told Vogue in 2011.
“We first made love the night we married, after knowing each other for four years, and we had my first daughter nine months and ten days later!”
The fashion icon was then a judge at the Miss Universe 1977 pageant where his future wife was a contestant.
Cavalli married former Miss Austria Eva Maria Duringer in 1980.
He has kids Robert, Rachele and Daniele from his second marriage, which ended in 2020.
Eva became creative director of the Roberto Cavalli collection and the couple have worked together since.
Swedish model Sandra Nilsson, who is 45 years his junior, has been his partner since 2014.
She was given the £2.2million Stora Rullingen off the coast of Strängnäs, east of Stockholm, according to the Mail.
The 81.5-acre island comes with a four-bedroom villa, hunting lodge, pool, golf course and the remains of a Viking hill fort.
Sandra was a competitor on Scandinavia’s Top Model and won beauty contests including Swedish Miss Hawaiian Tropic.
The star was Playboy magazine’s Playmate of the Month in January 2008.
He became a dad for the sixth time last year when the couple had a baby boy.
The fashion industry legend explained they would be calling the new arrival Giorgio, in tribute to his father who was shot by Nazis during the Second World War.
At the time, he told magazine Novella 2000: “Sandra is doing fine.
“The baby, who was born a week ago right here in Florence, is beautiful and it was really emotional to see him right after he was born.
“His name is Giorgio, like his grandfather, my father whom the Nazis shot in the Cavriglia massacre when I was four years old.”
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RexGIORGIO ARMANI LEADS TRIBUTES
Cavalli, whose death was announced by his company on Friday, became renowned in the early 1970s for his animal prints and for a sexy style that remained his trademark throughout his long career.
In a post shared by the Armani account on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Armani said: “I cannot imagine a vision of fashion more distant from mine than that of Roberto Cavalli, yet I have always had enormous respect for him: Roberto was a true artist, wild and wonderful in his use of prints, capable of transforming fantasy into seductive clothes.
“I have learnt with great sadness of his passing: his Tuscan verve will be greatly missed.”
Brazilian model Adriana Lima said alongside a picture of her and Cavalli on X: “Unapologetic in style & spirit. We lost a legend today. Rest in Peace, @Roberto_Cavalli”.
A host of celebrities including Maya Jama attended the Roberto Cavalli Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear shoot in February.
Last month, Dune actress Zendaya wore Cavalli at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards.
She sported a grey fringed Roberto Cavalli gown from the spring/summer 2011 collection, with a deep-V neckline and an open back.
Her Cavalli outfit at the event tapped into the resurgence of the boho trend – recently seen during Paris Fashion Week.
Sex And The City’s famously fashion-first lead character Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, notably wore a Cavalli top in an episode of the series.
“We had that top for years in our wardrobe; I think we bought it at a sample sale,” Rebecca Weinberg, one of the SATC costume designers told InStyle last month during an interview about the show’s fashionable moments.
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