Isabella Rossellini and Annie Leibovitz: Picture perfect for Bulgari

MANILA, Philippines - Bulgari and Isabella Rossellini — a longstanding and solid relationship further heightened by the new advertising campaign starring the Italian actress, who poses clutching the latest designs from her “Isabella Rossellini” bag collection for Bulgari.

Behind the camera, photography icon Annie Leibovitz, whose set channels the mood and feel of the paintings by British artist Meredith Frampton, known for his highly finished portraits and still-lifes, at times with a surrealist flair. Images that evoke the painter’s hand while referencing the world of art, culture and craftsmanship are revisited and contextualized through the eyes of Leibovitz and permeated with the elegance of Isabella Rossellini.

The photos show the exclusive top-handle bag as an icon within Bulgari’s accessories world, zooming in on this object of desire, photographed in different variants.

The sealing wax-red of the hand-pressed calfskin version with red enamel closure and rock-crystal twist lock recalls the wax monogram seal originally used by company founder Sotirio Bulgari, as well as the more sensual and passionate side of Rossellini.

The version decorated with a red-coral embroidered fan motif, inspired by haute-jewelry pieces, bordered with sand calfskin and featuring a mother-of-pearl-effect enamel closure with amethyst twist lock speaks of the actress’s fascination with the East and is counterpointed by a finely stitched ivory version that recreates the three-dimensional scales of the siren, enriched by white and gray enamel and a white agate twist lock.

In the best Bulgari tradition, the lining of each labor-intensive bag is personalized with the actress’s signature and a playful snail design, an ironic motif that parallels the relationship between a snail and its home to a woman and her bag.

The easy and relaxed atmosphere that permeated the set and the backstage comes as no surprise, given the strong bond between Rossellini and Leibovitz, who have known one another since the Eighties, a relationship underscored by the photographer’s unconventional portrait of Rossellini with former partner, director David Lynch, shot in 1986.

The campaign further seals the union between Bulgari and Rossellini, which was crowned by a successful line of bags that debuted in 2010 during Paris couture week and that over the seasons has broadened with new colors, materials and sizes.

“I’m extremely pleased that after asking me to collaborate with them in designing the ‘Isabella Rossellini’ bag in 2010, Bulgari asked me to interpret this campaign for my handbag,” Rossellini says. “Annie and I had a great time; she researched the project thoroughly and when she brought me into her room I was moved by the amount of images she had collected: photos of painters, of Bulgari, of myself. She had a very clear idea on the message she wanted to express. I’m delighted that Bulgari chose two women with a 40-year experience in fashion to tell the story of the bag that is as precious as a jewel and expresses a very particular concept of timeless beauty, as well as the legacy of Italian elegance and quality in the world.”

The bag, developed in collaboration with Bulgari designers, expresses the essence of Rossellini’s impeccable elegance and mirrors her innate creative flair via simple and essential lines. Eclectic, modern and timeless, the “Isabella Rossellini” bag conveys a natural and easy grace combined with a resolute and determined spirit.

Rossellini, an influential style icon with a multifaceted personality and extraordinary career, is a muse whose less-is-more allure and elegant demeanor have always inspired Bulgari. The daughter of two legends of the golden screen, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, Isabella floats from the front row of the catwalks onto the screen and to social, humanitarian and environmental causes with the same grace and class.