July 27, 2014

73-year-old fashion designer Roberto Cavalli offends me and some Sufis.

1. I'm offended by his absurd shorts — cut-off stone-washed jeans. But I must say I got a kick out of the photograph of him with his 26-year-old girlfriend Lina Nilson because — she's also in shorts — the 2 have virtually identical legs.

2. The Sufis are offended that his new cologne, Just Cavalli, has a logo that looks a lot like a symbol the M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi school of Sufism has used for 150 years — and have had trademarked for 27 years. It spells out the words "Allah" and "Ali." According to Georgia May Jagger — the 22-year old model (and Mick Jagger daughter) who appears in the video ad — the perfume's logo is supposed to look like "The tattoo is the bite, the snake bite. It draws us together. And it’s basically the sign of seduction." That kind of talk tends to irk the Sufis, whose symbol is said to represent "peace, purity and the name of God." The Sufis lost in court on the trademark infringement issue, but it seems obvious that the Cavalli people would have selected a different logo if they'd seen that their effort to seem very sexy was going to get mixed up with Islam. Here's the ad:



And here are the 2 logos, side by side (with the Cavalli logo tipped sideways):

23 comments:

lemondog said...

1. He has bigger breasts.

2. Old Batman TV Show Theme Song

Michael K said...

idiots

FleetUSA said...

Sadly her 23 y/o legs won't look as good at 73.

Otherwise this is just tabloid trash.

Paco Wové said...

I didn't realize religious sects could trademark their symbols. The Catholic church must be kicking themselves for not picking up on this revenue opportunity.

That said, it's a pretty tacky-looking symbol, like something some death-metal fan would come up with as a logo for their favorite band.

Emil Blatz said...

Ruh-ro fo Mistah C.

fivewheels said...

It's clearly a TIE fighter.

Henry said...

Darth Vader should sue next.

rhhardin said...

The yacht was moored in Spain. I don't know if that's meant to be the sufi connection.

The discovery of America wasn't all that happened in 1492.

Saint Croix said...

Sufis, by the way, rock. You're not going to find any terrorist sufis. You know how they love us in Kosovo? How they name streets after George W. Bush? Sufis. Sufis drink alcohol and hate the Wahhabis. Sufis are the spiritual face of Islam. They are the guys who think the Koran should not be read literally.

Rumi is a famous sufi. "There are as many paths to God as there are souls on earth." Beautiful, yes?

Wince said...

...the 2 have virtually identical legs.

Except: click-zoom on that first photo and it looks like Cavalli is working on one of those "knee vaginas".

Biff said...

Just imagine how mortified the Nazis must have been when they realized that the swastika had been in use by cultures around the world for centuries! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

Carol said...

well, I like his cutoffs better than the ubiquitous baggies meant to hide b-ball players' panty girdles...uh I mean compression shorts...

tim maguire said...

You can't fool me, that's the bat plane.

I agree with Paco, in fact, unless they can show me that mark in commerce, i'm going to take the position that it is not a valid trademark.

tim maguire said...

Hmm...gross old man dates hot young woman. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he's rich.

The Godfather said...

Cavalli and his girl friend prove the formula: A man looks like a fool if he is seen publicly with a girl younger than twice his age, plus 7 years.

But her legs do NOT look just like his.

Ann Althouse said...

"A man looks like a fool if he is seen publicly with a girl younger than twice his age, plus 7 years."

So Cavalli can only be seen with a girl who's 153. Noted.

Ann Althouse said...

"But her legs do NOT look just like his."

I said "virtually."

Hers are slightly longer, and he needs to shave his to get the full likeness.

But he's got the thigh gap… etc.

Sam L. said...

The Sufi symbol looks awfully familiar--I think it's a 2-bladed battle axe head.

Anonymous said...

I would be offended that you were offended but I doubt you were really offended so, then, neither am I.

tim in vermont said...

OK, those shorts are absurd.

Phil 314 said...

Jorts!

catondan said...

Having no luck obtaining 26 year old girlfriend. Should I get a pair of these magic shorts?

Deb said...

Two things no-one that age should do, male or female: wear shorts or go sleeveless. YUK.