THE LEGEND OF THE SERPENTI
In all the trending fashion houses, in the Chinese zodiac calendar, in a certain blonde pop star’s comeback single teaser, it is very much the year of the snake. No other fash-
Presenting over 150 pieces of important art, jewelry and design at the Serpenti Form exhibition in Singapore, Bulgari knows the serpent best.
ion house has ties to the year’s much-lauded creature as the 134-year-old Italian jeweler Bulgari in the form of the Serpenti.
“We have so much heritage but it is equally important for us to explain where our inspiration comes from ,” Bu lg ari CEO Jean-Christophe Ba bin tells the STAR during the press conference for the Serpenti Form art, design and jewelry exhibition last week at the ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Exploring the many creative forms that the snake has taken in the worlds of art, jewelry and design, it is its first time in Asia —outside of Italy, for that matter — commencing a series where Tokyo is its next stop in November.
Another Singapore first-timer is Academy Award winner and Bulgari brand ambassador Alicia Vikander, who tells Jean-Christophe, “As an actress, I love the fact that the snake represents the shape-shifting symbol, which is something that I relate to very much — the willingness to reinvent oneself. I love that it symbolizes rebirth and creating different versions of yourself. I love how your jewelry defines different kinds of women.”
Having debuted in the neoclassical palace that is Palazzo Braschi in Rome last year, the structure’s history itself was a constraint in terms of projection and the materials it had room for. In its first time outside of Italy, in a city-state that recently turned 52 years young, Bulgari brand and heritage curator Lucia Boscaini seizes the contrasting carte blanche of a completely bare and high-ceilinged space. More than 150 exhibits — three times the size of the one in Rome — are on display over all the 10 petals of the lotus-inspired building of the museum. She calls it a “dream come true, because I have been able to do almost everything I wanted to do.”
Ascending to the fourth floor, the exhibition that runs until Oct. 15 is a bejeweled serpent’s lair through completely video-mapped walls. Where space is not an issue, works of Asian artists and materials that Lucia had to exclude in Rome and in the coffeetable book Serpenti in Art are now on view.
Lucia, having first joined and grown with Bulgari as marketing director, considers the brand’s overall direction to reach out to a younger market (with the launch of the leatherstrapped Serpenti Skin and the appointment of Bella Hadid as the newest face of Serpenti). “In this specific historical moment, we have a lot of information, we are overwhelmed by images, by inputs, we all have our smartphones in our hands. The risk is that there is a lot of façade and a lack of information. I truly believe authenticity is important today,” she says. “The importance of authenticity is more clear to the young people today. Bling-bling is not enough for them but to add context.”
THE SNAKE AS A SYMBOL
“In the Bible, the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, are in contrast with the snake, the source of diabolical temptation in the Bible. But in Chinese legend, Nuwa and Fuxi are the first man and first woman and they are half-woman and half- snake,” Lucia points out. “As an Italian it was linked to the Bible, to the Greek mythology that is known in my culture, and the snake has a negative role. In Chinese, it is totally positive. But what struck me as fascinating was that the snake is part of the very beginning of the human race.”
The eclectic and evocative itinerary unfolds from antiquity. In the first room, Nuwa and Fuxi are present, as is the snake as a universal symbol of life, renewal, rebirth — and its potential to wreak havoc, as in a statue of young Hercules strangling snakes from the early 3rd century AD.
Lucia says this is where the most valuable pieces in the entire exhibition are. “The antique jewelry, a bracelet from the 5th century BC and a golden a bracelet for the upper part of the arm from 4th century BC. A silver bracelet from Macedonia, 6th century BC has the heads of snakes on ends. They are all shaped like snakes. The coiling element first became fashionable when Cleopatra visited Rome, but these pieces prove that the snake was symbolically powerful before Cleopatra started the fashion trend.” These pieces, of course, were worn by women.
A second room shows these myths and legends revisited by contemporary artists, proof that the snake remains a universal symbol deeply rooted in the human imagination. Lucia draws my attention to the intricately paper-cut masterpiece by Wu Jian’in in his visual retelling of the Chinese legend of the White Serpent in “The White Snake Hid Immediately.” Upon closer inspection, you can see that each piece depicts the tale of transformation through hundreds of hand-dyed waxed figures in different states, altogether turning into mist permeating through a figurative sky.
The snake as a metaphor of renewal is something the East and West agree on. Alexander Calder revived the snake in kinetic sculptures, while Joan Miro chromatically explored its floating shapes on canvas. Closer to the Bible’s depiction of the serpent are Franz von Stuck’s 1909 painting “The Sin” and Marc Chagall’s “Moses and The Serpent,” illustrating the destructive and salvific facets of the reptile. How can the snake elicit both seduction and fear?
THE SNAKE AS A STATEMENT
In fashion and textile, the snake as a decorative reference is no longer an embroidered figurative element as a character costume — as in the original Turandot costume worn by Maria Jeritza for the premiere at The Metropolitan Opera House of New York in 1926 — and materializing, literally, in scales in a costume for a masquerade ball, as a viper tail in a deep backless gown from the 1930s, or free fall as a headpiece worn with it by Philip Treacy.
Even in a childlike representation, the snake retains its associations with complexity and duality, whether as a print on a sweetheart midi dress by Enrico Coveri in collaboration with Niki de Saint Phalle from 1987, side by side with “Pouf Serpent Jaune.” Niki turned to her fantastical art world to overcome the childhood trauma of being sexually abused by her father. Keith Haring, with his instantly recognizable line of lexicon-like symbols, on the other hand, incorporated Christian and pagan elements to a visual vocabulary that suggests both evil or danger as well as sensuality or knowledge.
Here, Lucia balances the sequence by mixing the artwork with sonography. An augmented reality feature through a tablet looks through the exhibit where a bejeweled serpent changes its skin with bursts of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Beside an untitled Keith Haring piece is a room where you can be part of the exhibition by creating and then animating your own Serpenti through the Design Your Serpenti web app. Your creation flies with your every wave and tap through digital interactive tools.
An impressive review of splendid Bulgari Serpenti creations from the Maison archives and private collections is in the last petal. The 70-meter installation features 500 video-mapped scales and floating Serpenti creations run along the wall, allowing the viewer to understand the evolution, creativity and passion behind each creation. Lucia says, “It is almost the entire heritage collection. We really wanted something that represents the evolution of Serpenti. I unfortunately missed the very first watch, a 1948 Tubogas that is now part of a private collection, and the collector didn’t want to lend it.”
It is so comprehensive, starting from a bracelet-watch in a highly stylized manner with coils realized either in the Tubogas flexible band or in gold mesh, to a minimalistic snake that is the Tubogas watch from the ’50s with a very tiny dial in line with the fashion at the time. It then progresses into a more animal-like form. “Some are smiling, while a 1965 one with jade, rubies and diamonds in gold has a more intriguing expression,” Lucia says.
Bulgari Philippines PR Angelina Legaspi notes, “Every collection of the Serpenti focuses on a different aspect of the snake.” In some, it is the tongue — human-like, as in one 1958 model — sometimes it is the form. Channeling the serpent’s sensual shape and eyes and its bold skin, the Serpenti is that perfect eccentric weapon for a woman to have up her sleeve.
THE SERPENTI WOMAN
During the ribbon cutting, Vikander wore pieces from the Eyes on Me collection, where the eyes of the serpent were the highlight, to hypnotic effect, as she danced and spark led throughout the night. The party was graced with Singapore’ s rich and famous, wearing the Serpenti, whether as a full-on collar with a matching golden robe, or a five-tour to soften an androgynous Le Smoking.
Lucia, agreeing with what Alicia said to Jean Christophe earlier, said, “It’s true that the Serpenti, like the snake, is very versatile. We have the most aggressive one, the very bold one, the tiny new ones. But it’s true that to wear a Serpenti, the lady on her own has to convey a certain charisma.”
Back at the exhibit, Lucia points out a 1961 portrait of Elizabeth Taylor hung above us where she was not wearing the Serpenti, unlike the others in the gallery, from Bella herself to Gong Li, but instead flaunting — not hiding — a scar she got from a surgery while filming Cleopatra that prompted a move from London to Rome. “She was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. I find this so irreverent, so edgy considering the person, the protagonist, the attitude she has. That’s the kind of charisma I dream of in the women who wear the Serpenti.”
In the Philippines, Bulgari is available at Greenbelt 4, Makati; Resorts World Manila, Pasay; Rustan’s Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Ortigas; and The Shoppes at Solaire Resort & Casino, Paranaque. Visit bulgari.com for information or @bulgariofficial on Instagram.