Mary Katrantzou, the innovative Greek fashion designer known for her penchant for prints, has a new role. She has been appointed as Bulgari’s creative director of leather goods and accessories—and she’s the first person to ever hold that title, in all of Bulgari’s 140-year history.
At the helm of the Italian luxury brand, Katrantzou will design leather bags, clutches, silks and accessories, including one-off creations for Bulgari’s High Jewellery line. Katrantzou’s debut collection has yet to be revealed; it will launch in Bulgari boutiques around the world in August 2024. But we already have an idea of what to expect, thanks to her previous collaborations with the brand.
Back in 2021, Katrantzou was tapped for Bulgari’s Serpenti Through The Eyes Of project, for which she created a capsule collection of handbags and minaudière inspired by the Roman jeweller’s icons. True to her surrealist aesthetic, the designer blew up the snake head from the Bulgari Serpenti watch and turned it into a clutch. She made Nappa leather bags with top handles that resembled a twisting serpent’s body. Katrantzou’s experimental approach to prints and textiles was also on full display across handbags that were embroidered with a kaleidoscopic pattern of butterflies.
The collaboration was a success—so much so that Katrantzou and Bulgari teamed up again in 2023. This time, the designer adorned Bulgari’s handbags with nature-inspired motifs from the jewellery house’s rich archives. Craft techniques that are typically reserved for haute couture, fashion’s highest form, were used on the bejewelled bags; colourful glass beads and crystals were embroidered by hand to depict vibrant birds and blooming flowers.
We can probably expect such extravagance from Katrantzou’s upcoming Bulgari creations. Like Bulgari, the 41-year-old designer has an appreciation for maximalism. Since the debut of her eponymous fashion brand in 2008, Katrantzou has made her mark on the fashion industry with her use of bold digital prints drawn from surprising inspirations. That includes jewellery: her graduation collection for Spring/Summer 2009 featured dresses decorated with trompe l’oeil prints of giant necklaces.
Katrantzou also feels a special connection with Bulgari. “This appointment feels like a homecoming for me, in part because of the brand’s dual Greco-Roman roots,” says the designer in a statement. “I have so much respect for the founder Sotirio Bulgari, who was born and trained in Greece before he moved to Rome to establish Bulgari.”
“We share roots, we share ideologies and a mutual appreciation for cultural and artistic eclecticism,” she added.
On top of running her London-based fashion brand, Katrantzou will travel to Bulgari’s design ateliers in Florence and offices in Rome for her new role. The brand’s archives in Italy will serve as a starting point for her bag designs.
“I’ve always been inspired by the design codes and syncretism of Bulgari, its mastery of colours and the depth of narrative,” she says. “I’m deeply honoured to be the first creative director of Bulgari leather goods and accessories, leading the creative vision for this new chapter and elevating everyday life into a form of art.”
This story originally appeared on GRAZIA Singapore.