Fashion

Dua! Anne! Lisa! Bvlgari Unveiled Serpenti Infinito with a Star-Studded Celebration

On Wednesday evening, the Roman house gathered guests on the High Line in West Chelsea for the unveiling of auruBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream; the latest chapter of Serpenti Infinito.On Wednesday evening, the Roman house gathered guests on the High Line in West Chelsea for the unveiling of auruBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream; the latest chapter of Serpenti Infinito.

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What happens when Bvlgari trades a jewelry vitrine for the New York skyline? Something rather hard to miss, it turns out. On Wednesday evening, the Roman house gathered guests on the High Line in West Chelsea for the unveiling of auruBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream; the latest chapter of Serpenti Infinito.

The installation, which marks Bvlgari’s first public-art presentation in the country, brings the instantly recognizable serpent motif to one of Manhattan’s most trafficked cultural thoroughfares. Among those invited to witness the unveiling for the first time were three ambassadors, which explained the awaiting fans and paparazzi scattered throughout the Meatpacking district. Actress Anne Hathaway, who sported a gossamer gown, baby bump included; newlywed singer Dua Lipa, fresh off a summer spent honeymooning through Italy with husband Callum Turner; and Blackpink singer and The White Lotus actress Lisa.

High above the city streets, guests mingled over caviar and Casamigos as the setting sun bathed their surroundings in an ochre glow. After taking in the view, attention turned to the newly minted installation. Then came the reveal. “I’m blown away,” Lipa exclaimed—pun intended, as the winds were blustery, to say the least.

Yet the installation did plenty of the wowing on its own. Conceived by Berlin-based artists Marco Canevacci and Yena Young of Plastique Fantastique, auruBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream takes its name from the Ouroboros, the ancient image of a serpent consuming its own tail and a symbol of transformation, renewal, and perpetual evolution. “The project emerged through an ongoing dialogue between the artists’ distinctive practice, the urban landscape of New York, and this particular spectacular context of the High Line,” curator Beatrice Galilee explained. The city, in turn, became part of the work, too: “Its reflective surface changes with the lights, the weather, and the movement of the people who encounter it.”

Hathaway experienced just that. “The way the reflections were happening, getting to see all the people reflected in the Serpenti—it was really beautiful,” she told Vogue. The booked-and-busy star had fallen hard for the Polychroma necklace she’d been wearing all evening. “I have such a Cinderella relationship with all of these pieces,” she said, fitting for an actress that counts roles in The Princess Diaries and Ocean’s 8 in her oeuvre. “I get to wear them for a few hours and then they go off and they live in someone else’s life.” For the time they are hers, she added, “I always try to feel their energy and connect to them.”

The evening later moved a stone’s throw over to Boom at The Standard, where Lisa did an outfit change—jewelry included—and signature gin cocktails and glasses of Veuve Clicquot abounded.
“Boom is the most beautiful place in New York City,” Ivy Getty noted. She had a point: the gilded, sinuous canopy at the room’s center felt right at home in the Bvlgari universe. Also in attendance was Hudson Williams, in a crisp white suit to compliment his eye-catching bling.

In classic Boom fashion, dancing was obligatory, with everything from 50 Cent to Charli xcx keeping the crowd bumping throughout the night. For those in need of a breather, a petite terrace just off the VIP section became a starry hangout of its own—one that Lipa herself indulged in. There, away from the commotion inside, guests could take in Manhattan’s glittering skyline and enjoy a new vantage point on the Serpenti installation they’d gathered beneath earlier that evening.

As the night began to wind down, singer Andra Day surprised the crowd with a performance, briefly lowering the tempo after hours of revelry. Then came one final surprise, this one of the edible variety. Guests had their choice of pizza or panini from All’Antico Vinaio—a fitting nightcap for an evening thrown by an Italian house. When in Rome, after all.