Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli dies aged 83

FILE PHOTO: Italian designer Roberto Cavalli talks with journalists before the Just Cavalli Autumn/Winter 2015 /16 collection during Milan Fashion Week, February 26, 2015. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

(Reuters) -Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has died at the age of 83, his company said in a post on Instagram.

"The Roberto Cavalli company shares condolences with Mr. Cavalli's family," Sergio Azzolari, chief executive of Roberto Cavalli, said in the post.

Cavalli died on Friday at his home in Florence, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

The designer, who founded his label in the early 1970s and was known for his animal prints, had been ill for some time. He is survived by his six children.

The Florence-based fashion group is owned by Auriel Investment SA, controlled by Dubai's Hussain Sajwani, who rescued it in 2019.

(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi in Bengaluru and Giselda Vagnoni in RomeEditing by Chris Reese and Rosalba O'Brien)