By Eva Répessé
Roberto Cavalli just unveiled its Spring/Summer 2026 collection under the direction of Fausto Puglisi, and it was hard to miss. The show pushed Cavalli’s codes to the max by exploring what he calls “unapologetic escapism.” Puglisi’s vision feels both theatrical and wearable, a rare find. The golden walls of the runway reflected glamour, movement, and sensuality.
A Runway That Blinded This Show was impossible to ignore. Fausto Puglisi took a risk this season by focusing on one color, one statement, and one obsession: gold. That obsession meant slip dresses, trenches, flares, and sandals, all done in varying shades. What could have come across monotonous landed as subtle and clever. Cavalli is not afraid of excess. If anything, it thrives there. Several looks were tied together by wide belts set with oversized crystal plaques. The stone surfaces felt raw against the shimmer of sequins and metallic fabrics, giving the outfits a ritualistic quality. Instead of fading into the background, these belts became the focus; anchoring Cavalli’s glamour with something earthy and solid. (Look 19,27,29,33)
Prints, Textures, Renaissance Cavalli SS26 played with fabrics in a way that often felt close to Renaissance art, its rich surfaces, and its focus on craft. Animal prints added another layer with their raw energy, pushing and pulling between nature and order found in Renaissance imagery (Look 5, 33). Later in the show, metallic pleats gave the gowns a sculptural weight, like the folds you see in Botticelli’s figures (Look 27). It was not a literal revival of the past, but a way of bringing some of that grandeur into Cavalli’s modern language. Cavalli’s Renaissance was not costume, but translation: the memory of grandeur carried in texture, surface, and light.
Star-Studded Front Row In the Cavalli front row, we saw Ice Spice in a metallic Cavalli ensemble that seemed to mirror the runway’s fascination with shimmer. The cut balanced boldness with a sense of play. Just a few seats away, Natalia Bryant offered a softer approach in a tiered, sheer dress that felt bohemian in spirit.
Cleopatra Reimagined
Gold has always carried double weight; a material of wealth, power, and divinity. Amelia Gray’s turn on the runway became one of the collection’s defining moments. She walked in a bronze/golden gown drenched in sequins; its surface arranged in a pattern that seemed to blend tiger pattern with armor. (Look 39) The effect recalled Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra, both commanding attention through metallic brilliance and sculptural form. Yet where Taylor relied on crowns and ornament, Amelia’s version felt modern and pared back, a single gown carrying the spectacle through its sleek cut and rippling fabric.