Naomi Campbell, Dakota Johnson Kick Off NYFW With Bulgari

Photo: Sansho Scott/BFA.com

Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones once spoke of “the glitterati” flocking to Brooklyn for a star-studded affair, and last night they did just that. To kick off New York Fashion Week, Bvlgari hosted a sparkling soirée across the Brooklyn Bridge at Skylight at The Refinery in celebration of the jeweler’s new Bvlgari Tubogas collection. The sunset cocktail event, featuring sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline, was also a celebration of artsy. The Tubogas collection — a bold line of yellow-gold designs such as Serpenti-style necklaces and chunky gem-set collars — was on display in an exhibition style against the glowing backdrop of “The Wave,” a large-scale kinetic light installation by Christopher Bauder. The luminous sculpture, designed to mimic the gold spirals of the Tubogas collection, swept along the Skylight’s ceiling with the citrus hue matching the event’s orange carpet, where celebrity guests such as Dakota Johnson, Paris Jackson, Damson Idris, and more posed for photos in their Tubogas pieces.

And what is a Fashion Week party without a fashionable entrance from Naomi Campbell? The model strutted into the event, ripping off a pair of shades before hitting the orange carpet for photos and joining guests under the Bauder lights. Inside the event, Campbell shared a photo op with Jackson and Johnson, while Nicky Hilton mingled with Bvlgari’s Friend of the House Olivia Culpo, who was later spotted snapping few mirror pics in a bathroom adorned with Bvlgari hand soaps and lotion. In addition to the dynamic art display, Bvlgari’s guests enjoyed performances by futuristic musician Masego and principal ballerina Isabella Boylston, as well as a late-night DJ session from Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem and Myles Hendrik.

Bvlgari’s deputy CEO, Laura Burdese, called the venue, founded the same year as the Roman jewelry house, a “one-of-a-kind location” for the skyline soirée.

“Recently renovated and brought back to life, it carries a deep connection to the past that is projected into the future,” Burdese said of the historic Brooklyn location. “So what better place to tell a story of a technique that combines past, present and future, inviting contemporary artists to co-create and experiment by unleashing the brand’s deepest values: curiosity, creativity, experimentation and audacity.”