Figure Eight Chandelier, Serpentine Decor
Having closed for renovations last month, this week Bulgari opened the doors of its all-new Plaza 66 flagship in Shanghai with a blowout attended by a bevy of local celebrities and featuring a distinctly serpentine theme. Centered around the lighting of a massive snake feature (identical to those seen at Bulgari flagships in New York, Tokyo and Rome) commemorating the Serpenti collection and coming just in time for the upcoming Year of the Snake, Bulgari pulled out all the stops for its grand re-opening.Among the changes made to the flagship are a completely redesigned jewelry and watch section and separate areas for men’s and women’s collections, as well as a new layout that combines European and Chinese design cues. Indicating a keen understanding of the particularities of male shoppers in particular, discretion is the name of the game in the men’s section, offering more privacy to shoppers in the jewelry and watches section. This greater focus on the men’s section is very timely, since, as Jing Daily recently noted, the male consumer in China accounts for a larger percentage of luxury purchases by the year.