Quotes of the Day

David Beckham wears his animal-print tops and Mary J. Blige wears his dresses. His lush boutiques can be found in every major fashion capital. His company's slump-defying sales — from €67 million in 1999 to €206 million last year — are the talk of the industry from Milan to Tokyo. The easy explanation for the success of the house of Roberto Cavalli is that his sexually charged designs returned to the runway in 1994 — the perfect time to fill a missing niche in the then-minimalist fashion landscape. But the real reason for Cavalli's triumph is his wife.

In 1978 when Cavalli, then 37, met Eva Duringer, he was already a textile printer, fashion designer and divorcé. She was an 18-year-old Austrian high school student and a contestant in the Miss Universe contest he was judging. Her transition from runner-up to friend, girlfriend, wife, mother of his children and eventually business partner happened, she says, "slowly, slowly."

Between 1977 and 1994, Cavalli's fashion business had become lackluster. After making a name for himself in the 1970s with miniskirts and maxicoats worn by stars like Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren, he found himself overshadowed by Gianni Versace in the 1980s and undone by the minimalist trend of the early 1990s. "I was thinking maybe to stop," says Cavalli, who was born and studied art in Florence. "But then Eva became interested so I started — for her — to involve myself again."

The timing couldn't have been better. Eva's interest coincided with the end of minimalism and with Cavalli's discovery of a method of sandblasting and printing stretch denim, a technique that got him noticed by the press. Now, while Roberto indulges his passion for prints, parties and public appearances, Eva spends 15 hours a day focusing on what she modestly calls "the other part." In other words, all the things that turn a designer's dreams into a successful brand — the ad campaigns, the company's 10 licensees (which make everything from Cavalli goblets to beaded bikinis) and the commercial collection, which buyers find in the showroom. It's thanks to Eva, for example, that the micro-mini dresses that debut on the Cavalli runway miraculously reappear there in three different lengths. "Roberto comes up with the concepts," says Sheik Majed al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti retailer who is opening two new Cavalli boutiques in the Middle East this year, "and she makes it happen. He's out with the celebrities and she's at home in Florence making his dreams come true."

And the dreams are bigger than ever. In addition to the printing plants, the clothes, the underwear, the home collection, the accessories and the children's line, the couple manage a Just Cavalli restaurant in Milan, as well as a café and their own chocolate factory in Florence. At the fashion shows in Milan this week, magazine editors and store buyers will see the first runway presentation of the revamped Just Cavalli line, the brand's less expensive spin-off. And before the year is out there will be new Cavalli stores in Los Angeles, Cannes and Moscow — with the Moscow store housing another full-scale restaurant. "Eva is a perfectionist Austrian," Cavalli says. Lucky for him.

• LAUREN GOLDSTEIN | London
• Revealed: Roberto Cavalli's Big Fashion Secret— Mrs Cavalli