On the evening of 18 July, Bulgari held the opening night of the latest leg of its Serpenti Factory exhibition series. Brand ambassadors actor Wu Lei and actress Crystal Liu Yifei attended the evening, along with CEO of Bulgari Jean-Christophe Babin and the Italian ambassador to China Massimo Ambrosetti.
The tour of exhibits is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Serpenti, Bulgari’s snake motif. Since 2023, the show has travelled the world to cities such as London, Madrid, Shanghai, Seoul and New York before its closing stop in Beijing. The exhibition will be held at the Genesis Art Gallery between 19 July and 18 August.
The show itself is an art exhibit themed around the iconic Serpenti design. 18 pieces of artwork made by Chinese artists inspired by the snake will be on display. Some of them are the core pieces of the series, others made their debut at the Beijing show. The exhibition is divided into 5 parts exploring the history, development and future of the snake motif.
Of course, as Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent is an entertainment-heavy platform, the stars at the opening took most of the limelight. The topic “Wu Lei and Liu Yifei appear in the same picture” (#吴磊刘亦菲同框#) reached number 11 on the Hot Search list with 72.47 million views. Meanwhile, the topic “Liu Yifei haute couture white dress” landed at number 12 with 86.02 million views. Liu Yifei has been enjoying a popularity boom due to her performance in the hit TV series The Tale of Rose.
Bulgari successfully channelled the star power of its brand ambassadors at the offline opening. Online, Bulgari also partnered with Tmall for a livestream where Wu Lei guides the viewer through the exhibition so fans who can’t make it to Beijing won’t miss out. As jewellery overtook shoes to become the most-sold luxury category in Q2 2024, interest in luxury jewellery remains high. By combining brand heritage, artist collaboration and a celebrity campaign, the last stop of the Serpenti Factory is surely raising attention for the brand.
