Roberto Cavalli names design director

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Oct 7, 2013

Yvan Mispelaere has been named as design director at Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli, where he will work alongside the label’s creative director, Eva Cavalli. He takes over from Norwegian Andreas Melbostad, whose last collection at the brand will be spring-summer 2014.

Rumours of a new addition to the design team started circulating several months ago when Andreas Melbostad was named global creative director at Diesel Black Gold. As it pursues development, Robert Cavalli decided to beef up its team with the addition of Yvan Mispelaere in a role specially created for the French designer.

Originally from Normandy, Mispelaere was formerly artistic director at Diane Von Furstenberg until he left the position last year. He began his career in 1989 as an assistant to Claude Montana, the then creative director of Haute Couture at Lanvin. In 1994, he fled to Italy to work with Valentino and Prada. In 2000 he returned to Paris where he headed up design at Féraud, before moving on to assist Phoebe Philo at Chloe. Before taking on his role at Diane Von Furstenberg in 2010, Mispelaere worked for Frida Giannini at Gucci.