In Conversation with Bulgari’s CEO Jean-Christophe Babin
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
In an exclusive interview with Luxury Society, Jean-Christophe Babin, the CEO of Bulgari, shares his thoughts on building a digital culture, leveraging e-commerce in China, and the brand’s approach to millennials, amongst other topics.
Strategist, Luxury Society
Genna is a Strategist at Digital Luxury Group, specializing in digital content, influencer marketing and social communications. Prior to working at Digital Luxury Group, Genna worked in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, Account Management at Saatchi & Saatchi X, and as Assistant Director of Communications at Enterprise UK.