At the Kenzo x H&M Launch Party in NYC

kenzo_x_hm_launch_parfty_nyc-sandra_bauknecht

One word: amazing! This is what describes Kenzo x H&M best. Last week, I was in NYC to attend the party of the year with a fashion show directed by fashion legend Jean-Paul Goude at Pier 36 that was as spectacular as the collection itself.

jean-paul-goude_sandra_bauknechtWith Jean-Paul Goude at the after party.

To the rhythm of a customized remix of «Express Yourself» by Sam Spiegel, we were able to watch the vibrant and playful energy of the pieces that were designed by Kenzo’s Creative Directors, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon on models, that were actually dancers, beatboxers, whistlers and musicians.

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1-5

Front row? Chloë Sevigny, Iman, Lupita Nyong’o, Sienna Miller, Elizabeth Olsen and many more…

Elizabeth Olsen, Lupita Nyong’o, both wearing Kenzo x H&M.

Bethann Hardison, Jean-Paul Goude, Iman, Chloë Sevigny, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim.

Joe Jonas and Charli XCX looking great in the new collection.

Front row power: Charli XCX, Chance the Rapper, Halsey, Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson and Suboi.

Sienna Miller

sandra_bauknecht_chloe_sevignyWith Chloë Sevigny at the show.

kenzo_hm_party_nyc

The choreography was created by Kenzo collaborator, Ryan Heffington and transformed us into something very special, not a stiff runway presentation but an energized dance show that Carol Lim and Humberto Leon described as «a celebration of everything we love about Kenzo x H&M – it was a fun, vibrant and unexpected celebratory mix of different worlds coming together. It was a show we will never forget.»

sandra_bauknecht_kerstin_fridayWith my dear colleague Kerstin Netsch, Editor in Chief Friday Magazine waiting for the show to begin!

kenzo_hm_party_nyc-2

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1-3

kenzo_hm_party_nyc-4

KENZO x H&M launch event : directed by Jean-Paul Goude - FRONT ROW 

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1

Happy about their show: Jean-Paul Goude and Carol Lim.

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1_z

As the show finished the fun continued and the models came to ask us to join them on the runway which became immediately a dance floor. I didn’t wait a second to jump up and move to the sound as the whole performance had transported me already in such a fun state of mind.

kenzo_hm_nyc_sandra_bauknecht_party

Chance the Rapper and Iman dance at the show finale…

… that also made Lupita Nyong’o move her body with a full smile.

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1_b

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1popup

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_1_a

Ice Cube performs at Kenzo x H&M after party.

Later, after we went shopping in the pop-up store next door, a surprise performance by rapper and surprise guest Ice Cube took place and we partied late. I am very thankful that I was able to experience this inferno of playfulness.

kenzo_hm_show_nyc_sandra_bauknecht_caroline_picchcin_ren_ziboldHaving always the best time with those guys: Caroline Piccinin, Le Matin and René Zibold, PR and Communication Manager at H&M Switzerland (@monsieurené). Isn’t her skirt the best? The fabric is from Ikea and she tailored it herself. René was also very creative. His collar embellishments are divine and I will reveal his secret to you soon!

The Kenzo x H&M collection will be available in over 250 H&M stores worldwide, as well as online, from November 3. Stay tuned for an amazing interview with Carol Lim and Humberto Leon as well as a close-up look on the collection coming up shortly.

LoL, Sandra

Photos by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for H&M, Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for H&M and © Sandra Bauknecht

Kenzo x H&M – First Campaign Pictures

kenzohmimg_4470_2ce767b00ec44b73aa456df00a133eb1

What I love about H&M’s designer collaborations is that each of them really puts the emphasize on the brand’s identity and comes up with something unexpected. This week, the first campaign pictures of the upcoming KENZO x H&M collection were revealed starring seven globally celebrated personalities from fashion, music, arts and activism, with Suboi, Chance and Iman as the first ambassadors revealing the new pieces, all shot by no other than Jean-Paul Goude.

hm-x-kenzo_jean-paul-goudeJean-Paul Goude at work with Kenzo’s Humberto Leon.

Even if his name doesn’t ring a bell, you probably know his work. After all, he is responsible for some of the most influential fashion and music imagery of the past five decades. His creative partnership with Grace Jones resulted in what is perhaps his most well-known legacy – more recently he was breaking the internet together with Kim Kardashian, as he shot her for her famous Paper Magazine cover (2014).

kim-kardashian-cover-paper-magazineGouge’s famous Paper Magazine cover featuring Kim Kardashian from 2014

hm-x-kenzo_jean-paul-goude-2The team at work.

For the campaign, Goude has used his signature hand-made cut-up style, slicing and reassembling the prints to express the exuberance and character of the collection.

Find out more about the campaign and the stars featured in it below:

kenzo_hm_2

CHANCE THE RAPPERMusician
Chicago-based hip hop artist Chance the Rapper is one of the most celebrated rappers right now. His mixtape Coloring Book will undoubtedly make several ”Best of 2016” lists. Chance the Rapper has also worked with fellow Chicago artist Kanye West.

kenzo_hm3

SUBOIMusician
Vietnamese rap queen Suboi first learned how to rap by listening to Eminem and Mos Def. She is one of Vietnam’s most successful hip hop artists, and also one of the first internationally successful female rappers to emerge from the country.

kenzo-x-hm

IMANSupermodel, activist and founder of Iman Cosmetics
Somali-born Iman was discovered by photographer Peter Beard while she was still in university in Kenya. Only a year later she landed a Vogue shoot. Iman went on to become one of fashion history’s most influential models. In 1994, she founded Iman cosmetics. Iman is also celebrated for her charitable work in Somalia.

The full KENZO x H&M campaign will debut from October 17, starring the complete campaign cast with Rosario Dawson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Chloë Sevigny and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

kenzo-x-hm_save-the-date_new-york-event

Stay also tuned for another gorgeous launch event coming up in NYC on October 19, 2016 where I will be flying to and couldn’t be more exciting about it.

The KENZO x H&M collection will be available in over 250 H&M stores worldwide, as well as online, from November 3, 2016.

Cannot wait…

LoL, Sandra

Photos and Video: Courtesy of H&M/Kenzo

Met Gala 2015

MET_GALA_2015_Cover

The Met Gala is an annual fundraising event for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Institute in New York City and marks the grand opening of its annual fashion exhibit. Celebrating this year’s theme “China, Through The Looking Glass”, it seems to be one of the most challenging yet. See below who honored China’s heritage and its present culture on the red carpet best.

This year’s award to best dressed of the night goes to:

Rihanna Makeup RihannaRihanna_Met new-met-gala-red-carpet-banner

Rihanna wearing Chinese designer Guo Pei

Butts-Met_gala_2015

The butt girls:

Jay Z and Beyoncé
Jay Z and Beyoncé in Givenchy

_AG13352

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West in Roberto Cavalli

_AG13317

Donatella Versace and Jennifer Lopez, both in Atelier Versace.

Best Chinese inspirations:

_AG13682

Zendaya Coleman in Fausto Puglisi

_AG12588

Karolina Kurkova in Tommy Hilfiger

_AG11683

I am always looking forward to seeing Sarah Jessica Parker‘s outfit because she has never let us down in pulling off the best looks. And let’s just say the headpiece combined with her H&M dress is divine.

_AG12109

Georgia May Jagger in Gucci and Alessandro Michele

_AG12619

Chloë Sevigny in J.W. Anderson

_AG13630

Very sophisticated: Tom Ford and Rita Ora in his design.

_AG13074

Alexa Chung in Erdem

_AG12987

George Clooney and Amal Clooney in Maison Margiela

Not so inspired by the Chinese theme… but great to watch:

Moschino_Jeremy_Scott_Kate_perry_Met_Gala_AG13618

Jeremy Scott kissing Kate Perry‘s hand who is wearing Moschino.

Met_Gala_Kate_Perry_Madonna_AG13564

Also Madonna wore Moschino.

_AG13806

Stella McCartney framed by Cara Delevingne, Sofia Richie, and Zhu Zhu, all dressed in her designs.

_AG13853

Alexander Wang kissed by Lady Gaga in Balenciaga

_AG13770

Miley Cyrus and Zoë Kravitz dressed in Alexander Wang.

_AG13174

Kendall Jenner in Calvin Klein Collection

_AG13761

Robert Pattinson and FKA twigs in Christopher Kane (definitely not my favorite gown of the night).

_AG13411

Supermodel Joan Smalls arrived at the Met Gala in a black tulle and purple silk one-sleeved Roberto Cavalli gown with cutouts and sheer paneling. Her date was the newly appointed designer of the Italian fashion house Peter Dundas. Isn’t this gown to die for?!

_AG11261

Anna Wintour in Chanel

LoL, Sandra

Photos via: Alessandro Garofalo / Indigitalimages.com, Moschino, Vogue and Style.com

At the Miu Miu S/S 2013 Show

Miu Miu S:S 2013 Cover

“It’s about elegance, not elegance. Couture, not couture. Tailoring, not tailoring,” Miuccia Prada told WWD.

Her S/S 2013 Miu Miu collection was all about contrasts, the Italian designer let herself be inspired by the silhouettes of the ’50s and ’60s, to which she offered her own iconic twist.

Miu_Miu_SS2013_4

Flats worn to glamourous embellished outfits, rich luxurious fabrics downgraded through tie-dye and crushing and fur all over for summer walked down the runway to the sounds of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” which almost seemed macabre in a good way. Think Mad Men meets Hitchcock in a contemporary way.

Splendid yet effortless, and with ease, she changes her style without never loosing her signature. The ideas and inspirations may be complicated, but this is her intelligent approach to fashion. And amazingly as it seems, she always makes it look easy.

Miu_Miu_Sandra_Bauknecht

Miuccia Prada had converted the Palais d’Iéna into a wooden maze designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, with thick velvet curtains changing the ambiance  of the venue, that is usually bathed in natural light, into something mysterious right before the show .

Invite_Miu_Miu_Sandra Bauknecht

Miu_Miu_Sandra_Bauknecht_2

Miu_Miu_SS2013-5

MiuMiu_SS2013-5

Miu_Miu_SS2013_6

Miu_Miu_SS2013-3

MiuMiuSS13_FRONT ROW_01

Miucca Prada always packs the best front row. This season it was Emma Stone, Amanda Seyfried, Chloë Sevigny, Dianna Agron and Bérénice Bejo among others, all dressed head to toe in Miu Miu.

Celebrities_SS2013

Amanda_MiuMiu2Amanda Seyfried with me after the show

Miu_MIu_SS2013_emma_StoneEmma Stone giving an interview

Stay tuned for a detailed post about my outfit and of course, my runway reviews of Chanel, Louis Vuitton and so on.

LoL, Sandra

Miu_MIu_Front_Row_SS2013Photos: Courtesy of Miu Miu and © Sandra Bauknecht

Miu Miu F/W 2012 Ad Campaign

Miu Miu_FW12_Adv Campaign

The new Miu Miu F/W 2012 campaign, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, is a gallery of portraits with a seductive, provocative attitude. Actress Chloë Sevigny, who previously starred in the S/S 1996 campaign, impersonates a well-defined character, who vaguely yet perceptibly hints at psychedelic hedonism scenarios. A thread of subtle irony runs through all the images.

Naive, or maybe just apparently so, basically impenetrable, Chloë Sevigny raises the viewers’ curiosity, and plays with them. Clothing, with its sharp, masculine lines and the psychedelic repetition of prints, becomes the leading character in a kaleidoscopic visual collage, where masculine and feminine blur in a dandy-like fantasy conveying a refreshing eccentricity.

Miu Miu Ad F:W 2012

The setting is a series of stylised interiors: thick carpeting, a modernist chair and a butter-coloured hue set the context for a twist on the 1970s without defining it in any graphic detail. The emphasis placed on the character’s personality – engaging in an ambiguous exchange of glances with the observers, with whom she seems to share some kind of intimacy – is highlighted by repetitions in the frames and props enhancing the direct yet nonchalent poses.

LoL, Sandra

Photo: Courtesy of Miu Miu