Bulgari

This is fine jewelry as an art form. The legendary Italian jewelry house is patronized by local grande dames like Dede Wilsey and Denise Hale—following the lead of past icons like Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Elizabeth Taylor. The palatial, 13,000-square-foot Union Square boutique is more akin to a museum than a shop, showcasing dazzling colored gemstones, turquoise collars and snaking gold chains behind framed panes of glass. Fittingly, the de Young Museum presented a Bulgari retrospective of 145 eye-popping historic pieces in 2013, some of which were on loan from San Francisco collectors.