What if a handbag didn’t just hold your essentials, but your beliefs, your heritage, your story? With the BVLGARI ICONS Minaudière Collection, Bvlgari proposes exactly that! An accessory as a vessel for culture.
Conceived by Mary Katrantzou, Creative Director of Leather Goods and Accessories, the collection is a poetic dialogue between jewelry and object, past and present. Drawing on more than 140 years of Roman high jewelry savoir-faire, each minaudière is crafted as a miniature objet d’art, blurring the line between precious jewel and functional accessory.
The collection reimagines five of the House’s most enduring symbols: Serpenti, Monete, Tubogas, Divas’ Dream and BVLGARI BVLGARI, translated into sculptural metal minaudières made using high jewelry techniques. Lost-wax casting, hand-enameling, pavé settings and gemstone inlays elevate each piece into something tactile yet symbolic. Inspired by historic minaudières preserved in the Bvlgari archives, every design is offered in two sizes, including a miniature vanity that explores new territory between adornment and utility.
At the heart of the campaign, titled Carrying Culture, are five extraordinary women: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Linda Evangelista, Kim Ji-won, Isabella Rossellini and Sumayya Vally. Each embodies one Icon, and authors a miniature book designed to fit inside the minaudière itself. These micro-volumes, featuring original reflections on culture, tradition, calm, nature and home, turn the bag into a literal carrier of wisdom.
Photographed by Ethan James Green and creatively directed by Ferdinando Verderi, the campaign reframes luxury as storytelling. Here, the smallest bag makes the boldest statement: that culture, like beauty, is something to be carried forward.
