Creating ‘everyday’ sparkle at Bulgari

When the announcement came in April that Mary Katrantzou would be joining Bulgari as creative director of leather goods and accessories, it marked a newly created position for the designer — but it wasn’t the start of her relationship with the LVMH-owned jewellery house. That began five years ago and has blossomed in “a natural evolution”, says Katrantzou on a video call from Athens, where she relocated two years ago from London. She now spends her time between the Greek capital and Florence, where Bulgari’s atelier and craftspeople are based.

When Katrantzou staged a landmark show for her eponymous label, featuring couture pieces for the first time, in October 2019 at the Temple of Poseidon in Greece, Bulgari loaned her pieces from its high jewellery collection. “The show was in many ways a homecoming for me, and Bulgari saw an opportunity to highlight its dual Greek and Roman roots,” recalls Katrantzou. (The luxury house was founded in 1884 by Greek silversmith Sotirio Boulgaris — the brand name would later be simplified to Bulgari — and today it is embedded in Rome as one of the country’s finest jewellery houses.) “I think, in that moment, we both recognised there was a strong affinity between my work and the Bulgari brand,” she says.

The relationship continued to blossom: in March 2021, Katrantzou took part in the collaborative series, “Serpenti Through the Eyes Of”, which was established in 2017 and has seen the likes of Ambush’s Yoon Ahn and Casablanca’s Charaf Tajer design a capsule collection for the house, reinterpreting its signature Serpenti snakehead motif. The collaboration, which marked Katrantzou’s first full range for the luxury house, included jewelled minaudières, scarves and leather bags.

“I think it was a very successful collaboration, not only commercially but on the image building side too,” says Katrantzou. She took on another project for Bulgari that same year, partnering with perfumer Alberto Morillas to develop a scent for the house’s Omnia universe. Inspired by the gardenia trees in Katrantzou’s childhood home, the resulting scent merged sweetness and spice with its floral and zesty notes. “Bulgari has been a key part of my formation as a designer. I’ve had the opportunity to study its history and symbolism and now understand the richness of its narrative in a way I wouldn’t have five years ago.”

That development is crucial, not just for Katrantzou, but also for Bulgari, which is pushing deeper into categories beyond jewellery amid weak demand from China and aspirational luxury customers (while LVMH does not typically break out financial performance for its brands, in April the group said that watches and jewellery sales in the first quarter 2024 fell 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis).

At the helm of Bulgari is CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, who Katrantzou notes has a “very open” mind and is receptive to new ideas. That was demonstrated by her recent appointment, she says, which is “unconventional in itself — hiring a fashion designer to lead [a division at] a high jewellery house. The thing about Bulgari is that it’s not only high jewellery — it’s a whole universe that now includes watches, hospitality, perfumes and leather goods.”

Katrantzou recognises the additional categories as an opportunity for Bulgari to not only reach broader audiences, but generate newness. In recent years, luxury peers including Richemont-owned Cartier have been rolling out new leather goods styles, including the Double C and Panthère handbags. “The everyday relatability allows for a global generation of customers to be drawn to Bulgari, because in many cases, they might come and first buy eyewear or a bag before they buy the jewellery,” she says.

Katrantzou earned her moniker as the queen of prints after graduating from Central Saint Martins in London in 2008 and quickly garnering industry acclaim for her signature print dresses. These were snapped up by influential boutiques including the now-shuttered Colette in Paris, Browns in London and Joyce in Hong Kong.

When we’re launching a bag, we are thinking about its longevity

“You don’t understand the signs at the time, but if you look back at that first collection, it was all trompe l’oeil prints of jewellery on dresses,” she says. “In that sense, jewellery was always a discipline that I was interested in. In many ways to fashion, it’s an expression and an extension of yourself.”

In her new role at Bulgari, Katrantzou’s purview ranges from the designs of leather day bags to more unique, one-of-a-kind high-jewellery bags as well as accessories such as silk scarves. It marks a next step forward for the 140-year-old luxury house, which launched its first accessories collection in 1996 and in recent years has been growing its range of leather goods.

“One of my first thoughts was about how to [develop] the category so that it’s not directly linked to Serpenti, but still authentically links Bulgari to its Roman heritage and high jewellery,” explains Katrantzou, whose first collection will arrive in stores in August.

The result is a dazzling selection of chain bags and top-handle styles in solid colours such as burgundy, cream and black. Others come printed in gold and silver, or in a kaleidoscopic palette of greens, yellows and purples. Bulgari’s high jewellery offering is “already extraordinary” and serves customers at “the top of the pyramid”, but there’s room to make “everyday relatability” a bigger focus at the brand, in order to engage with younger consumers, Katrantzou believes. “I thought about how jewellery could be considered a functional accessory, while a bag could also be considered a piece of jewellery,” she says.

Katrantzou works alongside Bulgari’s creative director Lucia Silvestri, who oversees the high jewellery and played a formidable role in the pieces used at Katrantzou’s 2019 runway show. “The first time I met her, she showed me how alive the stones are. Back then, I didn’t even know that a sapphire comes in that many colours,” says Katrantzou. But there’s room for greater integration, she admits. “[Silvestri’s] team works on jewellery and we work on the bags. I think we will work a lot more closely in the future.”

While Katrantzou is tasked with introducing new drops four times a year, the pieces are “timeless”, she asserts. “My main focus is not so much on seasonality. It’s a continuous dialogue and that is very different from fashion, because here, first and foremost, we want it to be a forever piece. This is an investment that a woman can carry in her everyday life but it should also last for generations to come,” she says. “It’s a very different approach to thinking about the integrity of the design. When we’re launching a bag, we are thinking about its longevity. That’s a different kind of responsibility.”