For Paul Surridge’s debut at Cavalli, time was the ultimate luxury on display.

It was a homecoming for the Florence-based fashion house Roberto Cavalli as Paul Surridge debuted his first full menswear collection for the brand during the middle of Pitti Uomo. Guests traveled at dusk to the Certosa del Galluzzo, a beautiful, 14th-century monastery that sits atop the hills of Florence. VIPs including Apple CEO Tim Cook, models Lucky Blue Smith and Johannes Huebl, and Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis took their front row seats in a courtyard against a bold red, blue and grey carpet.

To Surridge, time is the ultimate luxury, especially with the frenzied pace of life, and he decided to mark that idea with a print covered in watches, one with a gold watch that read “6:13,” which also was the date of the show, June 13, and another on a black-strapped watch printed with the time “19:30,” the scheduled start time of the Surridge’s Cavalli menswear debut.

Surridge referenced the wild side of the DNA of Roberto Cavalli, through a series of animal prints—the label’s namesake concentrated in textile print while in school—that were reminiscent of Cavalli’s time at the Italian fashion house. There were zebra prints on denim jeans and jackets, on baggy grid-print suits, and electric orange trousers. Then there was the loud leopard prints, and the more subtle, monochromatic snake skin pattern embossed on to leather. Then, the designer updated the Cavalli men’s silhouette to larger, looser-fitting proportions, creating an urban jungle sort of cool that embodied that Italian excessiveness that is so in tune with Cavalli. The sneakers, while streetwear in spirit, also carried the DNA of the house with python leather, rubber soles printed with reptile patterns, and animal prints on technical jersey.

With Cavalli’s iconic animalier prints revved up with a dose of abstraction and covering looser silhouettes, like the slouchy Bermuda shorts, and a mix of finely tailored athleticism, hanging belts and a touch of sparkle, Surridge brought the legacy of Roberto Cavalli menswear into the future, combining its Italian heritage with today’s technology-filled fast pace of life.

 

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