A brief history of luxury: Bvlgari’s Serpenti collection turns 75

For 75 years, the Italian jewellery house has been creating and recreating the image of the snake in its jewellery and watches. More recently, it has also used the image in fashion accessories such as bags and glasses.

A favourite of film stars and the fashion world, the emblematic snake, a signature of the House of Bvlgari, will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2023. To celebrate the event, the jewellery brand opened an immersive exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London at the end of November.

*Benedetta Barzini, photographed for Vogue in 1968 © Gian Paolo Barbieri/Condé Nast, via Shutterstock*

Returning to the genesis of Bvlgari’s creation, the snake, glorified by fascinating myths, is a symbol of wisdom, rebirth and vitality. It is a recurring figure in jewellery. But Bvlgari is the first to create a watch inspired by it. Its first Serpenti model, released in 1948, has a spring bracelet that wraps elegantly around the wrist.

In the first highly stylised models, dating from the late 1940s, the polished yellow gold bracelets recall the supple shape of the snake’s body and are fashioned either from flexible Tubogas rings (a demanding metalworking technique that combines brilliance and elasticity) or from gold mesh.

In the 1960s, many details adorned the watch, reproducing the scales of the reptile while the snake’s head concealed the watch case. In 1962, the Serpenti collection became internationally famous, thanks to a publicity photo of Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra in Rome. The star was wearing a snake in the form of a diamond watch. The film caused a buzz in the newspapers at the time, not least because of the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and her partner, Richard Burton.

More recently, the collection has expanded to include all kinds of accessories, from bags to bracelets to scarves. Many stars wear the collection on red carpets, such as Zendaya and Anne Hathaway, who have recently become muse of the jewellery brand.

Realistically or geometrically abstracted, the Bvlgari snake embodies the main jewellery characteristics that are important to him: passion for colour, juxtaposition of materials and adaptability and advanced goldsmithing techniques.

Hélène Cougot

Passionnée depuis son plus jeune âge par l’art et la mode, Hélène s’oriente vers une école de stylisme, l’Atelier Chardon-Savard à Paris, avec une option Communication. Afin d’ajouter des cordes à son arc, elle décide de compléter sa formation par un MBA en Management du Luxe et Marketing Expérientiel à l’Institut Supérieur de Gestion à Paris dont elle sort diplômée en 2020. Elle a notamment écrit des articles lifestyle et beauté pour le magazine Do it in Paris et se spécialise en rédaction d’articles concernant le luxe, l’art et la mode au sein du magazine Luxus Plus.********** [EN] Passionate about art and fashion from a young age, Hélène went to a fashion design school, Atelier Chardon-Savard in Paris, with a Communication option. In order to add more strings to her bow, she decided to complete her education with an MBA in Luxury Management and Experiential Marketing at the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris from which she graduated in 2020. She has written lifestyle and beauty articles for Do it in Paris magazine and specializes in writing articles about luxury, art and fashion for Luxus Plus magazine.