The Rodeo Drive Committee and the City of Beverly Hills have announced that they will induct legendary jeweler Bulgari into the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style® on December 5, 2012 on Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive. Bulgari Vice Chairman and third generation family member Nicola Bulgari will accept the award on behalf of the Bulgari family.

Bulgari will be the twentieth recipient of the coveted award and will also be recognized with a bronze plaque featuring Nicola Bulgari’s signature and a famous quote permanently embedded into the sidewalk of the famous street. The on-going award, inaugurated in 2003, honors style legends for their contributions to the worlds of fashion and entertainment.

“We are honored to celebrate the House of Bulgari with the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style® Award,” says Beverly Hills Mayor William W. Brien. “Since the 1940’s, Bulgari has had a long and remarkable history of joining the worlds of fashion and entertainment through on-screen and red carpet appearances as well as being a favorite of many celebrity clients.”

“Bulgari has dazzled red carpets around the globe since 1966 when Elizabeth Taylor wore Bulgari when she won the Academy Award for her performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, says Rodeo Drive Walk of Style® Selection Committee Chairman Wanda McDaniel. “In the world of jewelry, Bulgari is the quintessential brand when it comes to combining the worlds of fashion with film, red carpet and Hollywood history.”

“From Sharon Stone in Casino to Sophia Loren in Pret-a-Porter and Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada to Madonna in Evita, Bulgari has made an indelible mark on the entertainment and fashion industries,” says Peri Ellen Berne, Chairman of the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style®.

The House of Bulgari has a rich and storied history with the entertainment industry dating back to the 1946 Italian film Il Bandito starring Anna Magnani. Since then, Bulgari has starred in more than 40 films and graced red carpets from major awards programs, such as the Academy Awards® and Golden Globes, to international film festivals from Cannes to Venice. In the 1960’s Elizabeth Taylor wore classic Bulgari suites in The VIP’s and BOOM!, while Ingrid Bergman personally selected her jewelry at the Via Condotti store in Rome for The Visit. In the last decade, Bulgari has also appeared in such films as Mission Impossible II, The Holiday, Ironman, and Woody Allen’s latest To Rome With Love, to name a few.

Bulgari has lit up red carpets around the world appearing on stars such as Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Cameron Diaz and Charlize Theron. Other leading ladies who have dazzled the red carpet in Bulgari include Jessica Alba, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Garner, Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Keira Knightly, Julianne Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rachel Weisz.

Nicola Bulgari is the grandson of Sotirio, a talented silversmith who founded Bulgari after emigrating from his native country, Greece. Together with his brother Paolo, Mr. Bulgari was introduced to the family business by his father Giorgio in the 1960’s.

A keen coin collector, Mr. Bulgari gave a substantial contribution to one of the company’s major and most successful aesthetic trends of those years– the creation of jewels including such ancient coins. He thus continued a well-established classical tradition while obtaining completely modern and original results. He played a crucial role in the development of modular jewelry, or jewels that are wearable, flexible and recognizable – jewels that can be a part of everyday life. This revolutionized the jewelry industry in the 1970s and 1980s, and made Bulgari’s modular designs some of the most copied jewels in the world. These days Nicola spends an extraordinary amount of time choosing the magnificent colorful gemstones that make up the Bulgari High Jewelry collection.

Bulgari joins previous Rodeo Drive Walk of Style® honorees Diana Vreeland, Missoni, Iman, Fred Hayman, Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco, Cartier, Valentino Garavani, Manolo Blahnik, James Galanos, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Edith Head, James Acheson, Milena Canonero, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino and Tom Ford. Giorgio Armani was the first recipient in 2003. Honorees are selected by an independent committee comprised of media, celebrities, past honorees and academics in the worlds of fashion and entertainment.

Source: Bulgari & Getty Images