Desert Rose
A whirlwind romance in Dubai is what Bvlgari offered guests at the launch of its new Fiorever collection. Charmaine Ho reports
The sun is setting over the Arabian Desert, painting the pristine sand in a spectrum of breathtaking blush hues.The glistening terrain is dotted with the 50 or so guests invited by Bvlgari to partake in the special evening, who are capturing this picture-perfect moment on their Instagram feeds. It’s the night before the global launch of Bvlgari’s new Fiorever jewellery collection in Dubai—a collection of fine and high jewellery floral designs that is to be a new pillar for the brand—and the Italian Maison, with character istic panache, has kicked off the festivities with an intimate three-course dinner in the middle of the desert under a canopy of stars. If the brand’s intent was to knock the socks off the VIPs on its guests list, it has certainly succeeded: Guests, who include Lady Kitty Spencer, Japanese actress and nd model Hikari Mori and Chinese fashion influencer Fil Xiaobai, have kicked off their heels to sink their bare feet into the powder r soft sand and enjoy the evening ing to the fullest. Even Spanish actress of Netflix’s
Money Heist fame, Úrsula Corberó, is having a carpe diem moment.At ent.At the lively African drumming session (cleverly organised in front of a looming #Fiorever orever sign), she’s seen with a djembe tucked snugly gly between her lithe legs at the expanse of her red dress.As s As she sat beating away at the drum with a million dollar smile to match the diamond studded Bvlgari choker around her neck, it becomes clear why Bvlgari chose her to be the face of its new brand pillar. She’s captivatingly beautiful and clearly a woman who knows how to have fun.
“The Fiorever woman is romantic, passionate and ‘rock’; she’s dynamic, independent and versatile. As women, we have to be versatile.We are business women, wives, mothers, lovers… we have to be so many things altogether,” says Bvlgari’s Creative Director for jewellery, Lucia Silvestri, when I speak to her the next day. “Úrsula Corberó, she’s ‘rock’. And then you look in her eyes and there’s her romantic side. She’s so petite, so small, but strong and independent. I like her personality and
I think she’s perfect for this collection.”
We’re minutes away from the launch and Lucia is getting ready for the event in her room at the Bvlgari Resort, where the great unveil is to take place on the property’s beach front. Till now, no visuals of the new collection (which gets its name from a play on the Italian word for flower, fiore, and forever) has been released. I casually mention this to Lucia and her face lights up with a grin: “You want to see what
I’m wearing tonight?” Moments later, she emerges s from her bedroom with a triple-coil tubogas choker ker that’s studded with petite diamond flowers.The gleaming aming gold design is exactly as Lucia describes it: Romantic, mantic, bu but ut also “‘rock’ in some way”.
Ranging from versatile everyday pieces to staggering high jewellery designs, the collection is centred on a fourpetal motif that has appeared sporadically throughout t Bvlgari’s history, in the form of delicate Tremblant brooches es from the ’50s, to a weighty pendant necklace from the ’70s; 70s; not to mention the Fiore di Bvlgari high jewellery collection launched in 2015.
“The beginning of the story starts from a sketch of a brooch from 1985. Mr Bulgari told me: ‘You have a challenge; you have to find four precious stones for the petals.’ It was a big challenge, but after two years, I found four emeralds and we started to create our fiore and we sold it immediately,” Lucia recalls .“So I ordered other coloured gems like rubelite, aquamarine, tanzanite… and then we started, every year, to create a flower. So, finally, this new collection colle in diamonds. Bvlgar i is about colour, colou of course, but we also would like to emphasise t the fact that we can can work with diamonds because it’s in our DNA.” Available in white and pink gold, the fine jeweller y collection of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings allow women to choose their preferred level of sparkle by offering designs that range from a single stone to full diamond pavé—with the possibility of coloured gems being introduced at a later stage of the collection’s development.
And then of course, there are the high-end creations that literally drip w with the precious stone: Like the lace-like bib necklace s seen draped across Lebanese actress Nadine Nassib Njeim’s d décolletage at the launch; or even Corberó’s open cuff necklace necklac (featuring eight sizable diamonds in the midst of 52.65 552.65 carats c of diamonds) that exploded into a firework of lights li with every flash of the camera that evening. “We felt that the flower is the right symbol for a tribute to women. It’s a playful collection; you can play with the pieces we’ve created and put two, three pieces together,” says Lucia. “And pay attention to the details: Even in the smaller pi pieces, it’s not flat nor rigid; [there are parts] that mov move a little bit.” Not that we’d expect anything less from a luxury empire with 134 years of jewellery expertise to its name.
That evening, after the jewellery had been unveiled to dramatic lights and music, and a hanging floral arrangement the size of a wrecking ball, Bvlgari’s guests take to the dance floor in delight. I gaze at the revelling crowd and remember Lucia’s description of the Fiorever woman: A business woman, wife, mother and lover. But tonight, all she is, is a woman who is bent on dancing the night away—in true Bvlgari spirit. ■