Just Cavalli’s new creative director DANIELE LOMBARDO has a radical idea – maybe, instead of solely existing as the younger clothing line of Roberto Cavalli, establish its own brand identity…
One morning about nine months ago, Daniele Lombardo, the heavily tatted, newly installed creative director of Just Cavalli, announced to his team that he wanted to change the perception of the brand from the ground up. Like many diffusion labels, which offer a designer name at a democratic price point, Just Cavalli has struggled in recent years as new technology and globalisation shifted the way consumers see luxury brands. Far from pity, Lombardo sees this shift as a golden opportunity for a great reset.
“People are waiting for Just Cavalli,” he tells MAXIM on a recent video call. Instead of being a ‘secondary line’, Lombardo, 44, revealed far greater plans: a pivot of sorts towards cutting-edge streetwear and an identity separate from Roberto Cavalli. “We are not the afterthought of Roberto Cavalli. We are currently repositioning to be in the competitive high-end streetwear, this is going to be our new challenge.”
The outspoken designer hails from Calabria, a region rich in fashion history as the birthplace of Gianni Versace. Mr. Lombardo says that he was more preoccupied with football than clothes while growing up. “I knew Versace had come from Calabria, but fashion wasn’t something so mainstream. It was a lucky thing. I never was thinking to become a designer and it was not in my future coming from a small village in southern Italy.”
It was a chance conversation his father had that saw Lombardo attend a local fashion school when he was about 18. “I knew how to design; I was always sketching on everything: desks, notebooks… anywhere I could, and a friend of my father asked him, ‘Why don’t you send your son to the fashion school?’ My father was very modern and open-minded to start me on this journey 25 years ago. During those days, it was important to do a job that secured your future like a doctor or a lawyer, fashion was not on the list.” After graduation, Lombardo worked for countless design firms across Europe and North America, including a seven-year stint as Creative Director for Buffalo David Bitton in Canada, before taking up the Cavalli gig. “Everyone knows Roberto Cavalli, and Just Cavalli was a line for a younger customer,” Lombardo explains.
Founded in 2000, Just Cavalli was highly profitable and helped grow Mr. Cavalli’s business into new global markets. In the past, Just Cavalli typically took codes from the higher-end Roberto Cavalli line, such as Cavalli’s signature animal prints and translated them on products like sweatshirts and sneakers. “Today, we’re no longer branding Just Cavalli as a second line,” Lombardo said. “Just Cavalli is going to be the denim and the streetwear,” he explained. And although Mr. Cavalli clearly looms large over Just Cavalli, Lombardo is quick to steer the conversation away from dwelling too much on the Roberto Cavalli lore. The message is clear: the new Just Cavalli will stand on its own two feet, thank you very much.
Drawing from multiple sources of inspiration, Lombardo is heavily tapped into current cultural trends and references for his upcoming collection for Spring 2024, the first test for the new direction. The designer is planning on telling a “generational story” heavily inspired by HBO’s Euphoria. Lombardo was taken by the notorious show’s dreamy cinematography, diverse characters, and frank depictions of sexual fluidity on screen. “You need to absorb what you find around the world. Seeing this new generation, the birth of new trends and ways of being somewhat makes me feel old, which sparks my curiosity and creativity to go deeper and understand this cultural phenomenon. Recognising my limits reminds me that I am still on the right path to learn and grow.”
Lombardo’s path to success also includes exploring “cross brand collaborations”, a clever marketing tactic which unifies two companies that make different products but share some kind of kinship. He admires brands that are changing the game and have the courage to explore newness from cross brand collaborations to innovative marketing campaigns. “We need to show people we are back,” he says. After more than 25 years in some of the most coveted design rooms on two continents, Lombardo, it seems, understands what it takes to be a front-facing creative director. The brand is currently showing buyers the new collection out of the Milan showroom, and Lombardo makes a point of attending meetings with big accounts to show the collection personally.
“I want them to feel the energy and I need to sell the attitude,” he says. “Rebuilding something like Just Cavalli, you must do it with consistency and it’s a big job. I want them to be part of this project – I’m selling the dream.” We press Lombardo on whether there’s a danger in veering too far into streetwear territory – after all, for every Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton, there’s a cautionary tale like Villasenor at Swiss luxury brand Bally.
When we chat, the Rhude designer has just left Bally less than 18 months after grandly declaring he would transform the company à la Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. It was a surprising about-face given Bally CEO Nicolas Girotto had told journalists, including myself, that the company was betting on Rhuigi’s vision to transform Bally a year earlier. Instead, Rhuigi exited after about three full collections to go back to his own brand, leaving a trail of unsold stock and an “updated” logo which is sure to be nixed any day now.
Lombardo, who reveals he read my Girotto piece, believes the partnership with Rhuigi was “brave” and he appreciates the courage to “try and change”. Despite the focus on the new generation, Lombardo insists that Just Cavalli is an “attitude”, a way of being and showing up in the world. “Anyone can be a Just Cavalli customer,” he says. “I’m not here to sell you a T-shirt or a jacket, I’m here to sell you an attitude.”
By Reilly Sullivan
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