Jetset Jewels

From Rome to New York, Bulgari dazzles on Fifth Avenue, writes Clare Press

- Clare Press

Lily Aldridge pushes past the paparazzi and somehow manages to sit, despite the epic tightness of her Alex Perry gown. A rose-gold collar of pavé-set diamond stars gleams around her neck. We are having a quick chat before she makes her entrance to the Bulgari party celebrating the reopening of its iconic New York flagship.

Mario Testino appears. “Oh, you are interviewing!” says the photographer. “I not wait! I want to go in.”

Aldridge gives him a little wave as he disappears.

“This is so major,” she says. “Mario is my date tonight.” It’s a platonic one; the Victoria’s Secret Angel and face of Bulgari is married to Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill. “I’m pretty lucky, right? It feels like a dream to be in the new store with all the beautiful lights and windows and jewels. It’s a magical night.”

A new store is a new store, right? Not in this case.

The Italians (Bulgari was born in Rome) joined forces with rockstar architect Peter Marino to give 730 Fifth Avenue an extreme makeover. Marino is a Lagerfeld-like figure, a leather-clad eccentric genius, who filled the Dior store in Beijing with contemporary art and turns Chanel boutiques into halls of mirrors.