Cavalli lures Mrs Beckham back to the catwalk

A model presents a creation as part of Roberto Cavalli's Fall/Winter 2006/2007 men's collections during Milan Fashion Week. Picture / Reuters

MILAN - Victoria Beckham on the catwalk, a lavish Viennese stage set in honour of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth and velvet smoking jackets embroidered with jade green koi carp? It must be a Roberto Cavalli show.

Yesterday's menswear presentation by the ostentatious fashion designer had all the over-the-top elements that make Cavalli the label of choice for flashy Russian consumers, pop stars and footballers.

It is Cavalli who was responsible for the £5,500 (NZ$13,900) embroidered black poncho that David Beckham was photographed wearing last month in London.

Yesterday his wife, who is a close friend of Cavalli, took to the catwalk for the second time in her career - she modeled in a London show for Maria Grachvogel in 2000 - as part of the finale.

Female models often take part in Milanese menswear shows as a sweetener to the occasionally bland business of pinstriped suits and loafers, but Cavalli trumped his competitors yesterday by persuading a celebrity to glide, somewhat cautiously, down his carpeted catwalk.

When a designer seats his audience in Louis Quinze-style lounge chairs and has them spoiled with pyramids of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and his very own brand of vodka, he risks that the clothes themselves may be overshadowed by his mise-en-scene.

This was not the case.

Despite his stated Viennese theme for autumn/winter 2006, Cavalli's male models took a trip to Japan in shaved mink bomber jackets or tomato-red silk shirts that wrap over the body in the style of a kimono.

He then threw in motorcross gear just for good measure, a neat black biker jacket appearing almost restrained in comparison to other more baroque designs.

Known for his innovative work with leather and furs, Cavalli also sent out scarlet padded biker trousers and tangerine-orange snakeskin jeans.

Expect to see them on the legs of certain affluent footballers later this year.

- INDEPENDENT