The Midas Touch
Review of Roberto Cavalli Spring 2026 Fashion Show
By Mackenzie Richard Zuckerman
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Seduction, Softened & Gilded Ease
There’s always been a kind of untamed decadence at Roberto Cavalli — a house that made its name on maximal sensuality, animal instincts, and the kind of glamour best appreciated through sunglasses after midnight. But for Spring 2026, under Fausto Puglisi’s direction, something shifted. The collection still shimmered with signature Cavalli codes — gold lamé, serpentine prints, body-clinging silhouettes — but it arrived with a different energy: less defiant, more dreamy.
Gone were the roars of tiger stripes and lava-loud color clashes. In their place came a quiet storm of bronze, platinum, ivory, and champagne — tones that felt more moonlit than sun-drenched. Puglisi leaned into a kind of ‘rock star heaven’ fantasy, one where the woman wears the pants (or a gleaming chainmail gown) and doesn’t need to shout to be seen. The styling suggested a shared world — one where men and women might both wear snake-embossed tailoring or fringed lamé — but it was the casting, pacing, and palette that made the collection feel unusually unified.
Still, this wasn’t a complete detour. The Cavalli DNA pulsed throughout, especially in its reverence for the body and love of spectacle. But the energy had matured. The overt sensuality was filtered through a haze of ease: floor-length skirts replaced the micro-mini as the hero piece, and the house’s usual sharpness gave way to something more diffused.
In a moment when maximalist houses are reconsidering what boldness looks like, Cavalli asked a generous question: Can sensuality whisper and still seduce?
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
At its best, Spring 2026 proved that evolution doesn’t require erasing a house’s identity. Cavalli can still deliver sex appeal with edge — but here, Puglisi wrapped it in poetry. Risk showed up in restraint: the quieter palette, the softened tailoring, and the inclusion of more fluid silhouettes all marked a meaningful pivot. These choices could have dulled the brand’s power, but instead they offered a welcome breath — a space for the Cavalli woman to move, shimmer, and surprise.
There were still moments that leaned into the formula: glittering bodycon dresses with corset bones, skin-revealing cutouts, snakeskin boots ready for the afterparty. And some may argue the collection played it safe by avoiding sharper provocations. But perhaps the real provocation was tonal — asking what Cavalli looks like when it’s not trying to outdo itself, but simply inhabit its own glamour with conviction.
This season, Puglisi didn’t reinvent the Cavalli fantasy — he let it breathe. And in doing so, he delivered a new kind of seduction, one that arrived softly, trailing gold fringe.
