Roberto Cavalli for Crissa, c. 1970–1975.
Olive-green printed and appliquéd suede shirt jacket and trousers.
Cavalli was a painter before he was a designer. In these early years he patented a method for printing directly onto leather and suede, and the hide became his canvas.
The Piece
Tiny cream rosettes scatter across olive suede. Sweeping botanical appliqués in ivory, pale blue and charcoal rise across the chest, the hip and the back. Paisley and floral borders frame the shoulders, the deep two-snap cuffs and the long pointed collar. Visible zigzag stitching traces every applied panel. Green clover-shaped snaps with brass-toned centers turn each fastening into a small ornament.
The jacket is unlined; the smooth grain side of the hide shows inside, along with the outline stitching of each appliqué. The trousers are the quiet counterpart: paneled suede, a pointed back yoke and a straight, full leg.
The jacket bears its original "Roberto Cavalli for Crissa, Made in Italy" leather label. Offered together as a two-piece ensemble.
The Provenance
From the wardrobe of Fran Ornstein, whose mother was president of Crissa, the label Cavalli designed for during his founding period. She acquired these pieces on release and kept them for more than fifty years.
In Vogue
Featured in Vogue, September 2026. In her feature on Laura Ellner and Roberto Cavalli: The Painted Years, Vogue senior archives editor Laird Borrelli-Persson includes photographs of this jacket, with close-ups of its appliqué and snaps. She describes the collection as "poster-like art on animal skin."
Read the Vogue feature
The Designer
Cavalli's patented leather printing drew commissions from Hermès and Pierre Cardin. His Patchwork collection of 1971 was shown in the Sala Bianca of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence in 1972. Couture audiences dismissed it at first. Then photographs of Brigitte Bardot in a Cavalli printed jacket in Saint-Tropez made his work a fixture of fashionable European wardrobes.
The 1990s Cavalli of animal prints and red carpets became so dominant that this first chapter largely disappeared from public memory. The Painted Years brings it back.
In Museum Collections
Early printed leather work by Cavalli is held by:
Condition
Good vintage condition, with signs of age honest to a piece that was worn and kept. There is tonal variation in the suede nap, darkening along the lower left side seam of the jacket, and small marks on the interior grain side. All are disclosed in photographs.
Care: suede specialist cleaning only.
Measurements
available upon request
