When Yoon Ahn first began dabbling in jewelry design, she did so ever so freely and on her own schedule. “[My husband Verbal] and I weren’t bound by time, we weren’t bound by anything,” she told French Vogue in 2018. “We’d just drop [a collection] when we felt like it.”
Tapped by Kanye West and Dior’s Kim Jones, Yoon has been a fixture on the cult jewelry scene for some years now. But it’s the Korean-American designer’s collab with Bulgari that has people talking today. The capsule collection sees Yoon – who now goes by a singular name like Madonna and has her own label Ambush – take the venerable Italian luxury brand’s iconic snake and reinterpret key pieces through her unique lens; the Serpenti top handle shoulder bag, the Serpenti belt bag and the Serpenti minaudière.
“For this capsule collection I wanted to express the bold and contemporary character of Serpenti,” Yoon explains. “Snakes are wondrous and fascinating creatures of nature but with Bulgari they also became a symbol of glamour in constant evolution. Natural beauty meets human creation, all guided by a contemporary aesthetic.”
Yoon’s iterations of this classic aesthetic unlocks another chapter of the “Serpenti Through The Eyes Of…” series (which launched in 2017). Yoon’s version of Bulgari’s famous snake was inspired by the tree python, a reptile native to the jungles and grassy marshes of South East Asia.
Fashioned in bold colors (read: cobalt blue, amethyst purple and bright green) and made with soft quilted Nappa leather, the snake is playful and fun – an urban approach that Bulgari’s Accessory Unit Managing Director, Mireia Lopez Montoya, describes as an “entirely unexpected result.”
“To collaborate with a young, powerful woman like Yoon is for Bulgari an incredibly inspiring experience,” Lopez Montoya says. “The visionary designer has reimagined our [Serpenti] icon of glamour with her unbridled creative approach…Once more, the Bulgari snake amazes and surprises.”
The coveted limited edition won’t last for long and while the Serpenti top handle shoulder bag and Serpenti belt bag are everyday staples (we’re obsessed with their hardware), it’s the heart-shaped Serpenti minaudière in black Nappa leather or aluminium which will see many evenings at a bar when we indeed inhabit them again.
Incredible artistry that knows no bounds.
The collection – modeled by Bella Hadid – is available now for pre-order at bvlgari.com. shop now.
