WORLDTEMPUS - 16 January 2011
Miguel Seabra
Watchland officially marked the opening of the twentieth edition of its World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie (WPHH) with a dazzling press conference in Genthod to be remembered: together, Franck Muller and Roberto Cavalli put on a press conference-slash-show that almost left the media in attendance in awe due to the sheer display of charisma from both the watchmaker and the fashion designer. Many reporters even asked to take a picture with the designer.
The self-proclaimed “master of complications” will be joining forces with the fashion designer extraordinaire to create a new collection called Roberto Cavalli by Franck Muller that will be sold in the best Roberto Cavalli flagship stores and through a selection of the best Franck Muller boutiques and most prestigious retail stores. The new line is promised to be “extremely exclusive in distribution” though it will comprise mainly women's watches and some timepieces for men in the fierce, daring style of Cavalli.
The most beautiful wear Cavalli
The high-end Roberto Cavalli by Franck Muller collection won't be revealed until September and neither the Swiss nor the Italian man gave any hint on what it will entail. From this reporter's point of view, the main focal point of the day was the bromance in the air – with both men professing brotherly mutual admiration and unveiling details of their respective personal lives to the bemusement and even applause of the standing-room-only conference room. Muller even went so far as to tell the tale of his wedding proposal in a helicopter flying over the Grand Canyon and relating that his wife was wearing a Roberto Cavalli dress on that occasion. The fact that neither of them master have English as a mother tongue only made the stories more spontaneous and picturesque.
“The most beautiful women we see are always wearing Cavalli,” announced Muller. “Beautiful, charming, sexy and rich!” added Cavalli, who also teased his cooperation partner by jokingly saying that “my collection will be much more beautiful than yours…I love this competition, life is a competition!” More seriously, the designer expressed his wish to “create something different, something new that people will recognize instantly as if it were a Cavalli dress.”
A partnership for the future
The name Cavalli has been used in two watch collections and both were priced at very affordable points: Roberto Cavalli and Just Cavalli. The Just Cavalli line, oriented to a younger demographic, will continue to be sold, while the other collection will cease in order to allow the Roberto Cavally by Franck Muller label the spotlight. It will bear the motto “Premium Fashion Watchmaking.”
Vartan Sirmakes, co-founder of the Franck Muller Group, sees this as more than a mere co-branding venture. “I am very proud of this partnership, and in the future the Franck Muller Group and the Roberto Cavalli Group will be doing many things together.”
