Roberto Cavalli (born November 15, 1940) is an Italian fashion designer.

Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Italy on November 15, 1940 to an artistic family; his grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a prolific member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute, concentrating in textile print. While still a student, he made a series of flower prints on knit that caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories.

Roberto Cavalli likes innovations and experimentations, and likes to push technique to the limit. In the early 1970s, he invented and patented a revolutionary printing procedure on leather, and started creating patchworks of different materials. He debuted these techniques in Paris, immediately getting commissions from the likes of Hermès and Pierre Cardin. At the age of thirty, he presented his first namesake collection at the Salon for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. He brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and later on those of Milano Collezioni jeans made of printed denim, intarsia leathers, brocade and wild prints. He then opened his first boutique in 1972 in Saint-Tropez.