Mike Tyson making will star in Fausto Puglisi's first menswear campaign for Roberto Cavalli; he also makes cameos in the collection video that dropped today.
Mike Tyson Talks Roberto Cavalli, Naomi Campbell, and Why He Still Loves Being in the Ring
For his first full menswear collection for Roberto Cavalli, Fausto Puglisi has punched way above his weight—by casting boxing’s former undisputed world heavyweight champion of the world, Iron Mike Tyson. As well as making cameos in the new collection video that dropped today, Tyson will star in its campaign. Speaking during our conversation for the review of that collection, Puglisi said: “He is an icon, a champion, but also his story runs from the nightmare to the heaven. And this is humanity. To work with, he has been the king: he is so humble and charming.” After that call we asked if it would be possible to get on a Zoom with Iron Mike, and he said sure. This is an edit of the chat.
Hello, Mr Tyson. What do clothes and fashion bring you?
With me it’s all about the clothes. It’s all about the energy that the clothes give out. Believe it or not, but the clothes have a life of their own; the fabrics, they breathe. And some of them don’t like you, even if you like them, and sometimes you have to pick something that loves you. You might not love it, but it loves you: so you have to take it. That’s the art of design.
You had that famous altercation in 1988 with Mitch Green while you were picking up some altered clothes from Dapper Dan, which suggests your love for the energy that clothes give goes back.
When I was a young kid in the late 1970s, I was a street kid. We used to rob people’s houses, rob people, and with most of the money, you know we didn’t know what to do with money, so we bought clothes. We always looked like we were really dressed-nice kids going to private school, we had classes, but we were picking people’s pockets and robbing houses. So we got involved with fashion. And with fashion what you got was attention. “Hey you look nice: That looks nice.” It never failed: you’re the best looking guy in the room everybody is going to pay attention to. And I still try and be the best dressed guy in the room when I go out, all the time.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Luke Leitch
