The holy grail of jewelry design is celebrating three-quarters of a century of ornamental seduction and its Aventura Mall boutique was there to help raise a toast to its splendor. BVLGARI’s Serpenti, a snakelike jewel introduced in abstract form in 1948, is celebrating the 75th anniversary of being the house’s muse and, unsurprisingly, its best seller. To mark the occasion, a special Serpenti collection has been on a global tour and recently it made its way to South Florida to dazzle with its fabulosity.
The ever-shifting nature and eternal spirit have been a leitmotif of BVLGARI’s snake icon since its inception when the first Serpenti creations made their debut as watches to be wrapped around the wrist. At that time the offerings were more stylized: its linked body was crafted employing the ingenious Tubogas technique, coupling masterful goldsmithing with the innate suppleness of the icon, a symbol of wisdom, rebirth, and vitality. The industrial-inspired flexible tubular band of precious metal was an expression of BVLGARI’s spirit of innovation and foreshadowed Serpenti’s evolutionary future that helped the Roman-based jewelry house to soar to new, international heights. The design eventually evolved in the 1950s when it featured a realistic-looking snakehead set with precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, or emeralds for the eyes. The timepiece’s dial was located discreetly in the serpent’s mouth creating an illusion of a “secret watch”. By the 1960s the body of the Serpenti bracelet-watches took on a more sophisticated design, featuring scales made from sheet gold that was attached to one another with gold pivots. BVLGARI revived the Tubogas style in the 1960s and 1970s, with the watch dial now in a geometric shape, continuing to reinvent the collection with every and every iteration.
Serpenti gained an iconic status thanks to a publicity photo of Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra in Rome, where the star wore a Serpenti diamond watch. Since then, the Serpenti collection has slithered its way into the hearts of many powerful and stylish women in no small part thanks to the brand’s mythic status and jaw-dropping appeal. The Serpenti expanded the boundaries of jewelry by continuous commitment to creative intrigue, exciting collaborations, and its endless metamorphosis that yielded a wide range of items featuring the fabled serpent.
You can expect to be awed by the BVLGARI’s anniversary range intended to be released periodically throughout 2023. There will be new Serpenti jewelry, bags, accessories like key chains, and, naturally, more watches. During its recent visit to the Aventura Mall’s BVLGARI boutique, the collection was admired by a few lucky clients who had the opportunity to preview it during a private shopping event. And even though the assemblage has returned to Italy, where it will continue to circle its global network of boutiques, the BVLGARI’s year of celebration will continue to wow the brand’s legions of devoted fans.
