Sandra‘s Closet

Loro Piana just answered a grey sky in the only way it knows how: with cashmere. The house has released an umbrella made entirely from 100% cashmere, water sealed with its signature Storm System® membrane so the fabric stays soft to the eye while doing serious work against the rain.

The details read like everything else Loro Piana touches. A smooth maple wood handle. A generous 65 cm radius, wide enough to actually shelter a coat worth protecting. Manual opening, no branding shouting for attention, and a matching pouch it folds neatly into once the clouds pass. Made in Italy, available in two colorways Navy Blue/Kummel or Chestnut/Kummel, priced at CHF 1420 / $1,750, and worth every cent for what it represents rather than what it says.

Because that is the point. Nobody needs a cashmere umbrella. That is exactly why it exists. No logo, no fuss, no attempt to convince anyone of anything. Just the quiet certainty that the person holding it knows precisely what they are holding.

This is quiet luxury at its best. Not a trend, not a marketing line, just a very good umbrella that happens to be made of cashmere.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht / Loro Piana
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The Mark Hotel and Alessi turn a daily ritual into a limited edition. The black and white stripe is one of the most recognisable patterns in New York hospitality. This fall it arrives somewhere unexpected: on the body of a corkscrew.

The Mark and Alessi have produced a capsule collection, and its centrepiece is a limited edition of the Alessandro M., reinterpreted exclusively for the hotel in its signature stripe. Alessandro Mendini designed the original, one of the Italian design house’s most loved objects, built on the argument that even the most practical things deserve character. Dressed in the codes of The Mark, that argument gains a new setting.

The rest of the capsule follows the same logic. A picnic basket set by Marcel Wanders, a sculptural tray by Nika Zupanc, and Ron Arad‘s Babyboop hors d’oeuvre set, each carrying the hotel’s signature M and each available at Le Shop at The Mark and nowhere else.

Consider it the most elegant answer to the question of what to bring your host, or what to keep for yourself.

THE DETAILS

Alessandro M. corkscrew in black and white thermoplastic resin
Height 8.27 in, diameter 2.36 in
$120
Exclusively at Le Shop, The Mark Hotel, New York

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © The Mark Hotel
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Some souvenirs gather dust. This one gets worn. For summer 2026, Hotel La Palma, Oetker Hotels’ first hotel in Italy, has joined forces with Borsalino, Italy’s most storied hatmaker, to create an exclusive design available only at the hotel itself, and it may just be the chicest thing to come off the island since the Capri pant.

Few accessories capture Italian elegance quite like a Borsalino. Since 1857, the maison has crowned Hollywood legends and Dolce Vita icons alike with its impeccable craftsmanship. Now, the iconic silhouette receives a bespoke hatband in the signature Mediterranean hues of Hotel La Palma, transforming a classic into a wearable memory of Capri and an instant collector’s piece.

The pairing feels destined. Opened in 1822 and reimagined in 2023 by star designer Francis Sultana, Hotel La Palma is one of the island’s most desirable addresses: just 50 rooms and suites, steps from the Piazzetta, with interiors that channel Capri’s glamorous jet set era through a thoroughly modern lens.

More than a product collaboration, the partnership celebrates what makes Capri eternal: artisanal savoir faire, timeless style and that inimitable island spirit where fashion has always been part of the holiday itself. With curated collaborations like this one, Hotel La Palma continues to position itself as the creative meeting point of the island, where design, fashion and hospitality merge into a modern interpretation of la Dolce Vita.

My advice? Pack light and leave room in your Rimowa. This hat is worth the trip.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Hotel La Palma
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The Alpina Gstaad unveils an exclusive capsule collection created in collaboration with Los Angeles–based milliner Nick Fouquet, who might be the most handsome hatmaker I know. The limited-edition project marks the second partnership between the celebrated Swiss alpine hotel and the designer known for his distinctive, handcrafted hats.

Created specifically for The Alpina’s atmosphere and sense of place, the collection reflects the dialogue between the hotel’s refined alpine identity and Fouquet’s artistic approach to craftsmanship. Each hat is individually shaped and numbered, making every piece a true one-of-a-kind object.

The men’s selection features twenty felt hats in two deep tones, Anchor Blue and Dark Moss. Each design is hand-formed with a sculpted brim and finished with a French grosgrain band. Subtle cut-out leaf motifs reference «The Alpina’s emblem», lending the pieces a quiet connection to the landscape surrounding the hotel.

For women, the silhouettes are softer and slightly lower, crafted in delicate shades of Rose and Silverbelly. A central contrast stitch runs through the grosgrain ribbon, while signature Fouquet hardware pins and leather stamps appear along the crown and brim as understated markers of the designer’s craft.

Inside, every hat reveals a bespoke jacquard lining inspired by alpine ski trails, an intimate detail that quietly nods to Switzerland’s mountain heritage and the spirit of Gstaad.

The collection is available exclusively at The Alpina Gstaad, with each hat priced at CHF 1,800, an elegant expression of wearable craftsmanship shaped by place, tradition, and individuality. Phone orders are welcome!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtsy of  The Alpina Gstaad x Nick Fouquet
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Love Wrapped in Luxury: A Louis Vuitton Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is more than a date on the calendar, it’s a celebration of affection, intention, and the little gestures that say «you matter.» This year, why not express your love with a gift that carries both timeless elegance and modern charm? Few names capture the spirit of refined romance quite like Louis Vuitton.

Luxury has always been about storytelling, and every Louis Vuitton piece tells one, of craftsmanship, heritage, and beauty that endures. Whether you’re shopping for a partner, a cherished friend, or even treating yourself (because self-love deserves celebration too), the right accessory can turn an ordinary moment into something unforgettable.

A classic handbag, for instance, is never just a bag. It becomes part of daily life, accompanying coffee dates, weekend escapes, and spontaneous adventures. Choosing one in soft blush tones or rich reds subtly echoes the language of Valentine’s Day without being overly sentimental. It’s romance, elevated.

For those who appreciate understated elegance, small leather goods make deeply personal gifts. A finely crafted wallet or cardholder is something your loved one will reach for every day, a quiet reminder of you woven into their routine. Pair it with a handwritten note, and suddenly the gift becomes a memory.

Jewelry and accessories offer another beautiful way to say «I love you.» Think delicate bracelets, silk scarves that dance in the spring breeze, or signature sunglasses hinting at sunny days ahead together. These are not just objects; they are promises of future moments.

And let’s not forget travel. Louis Vuitton was born from the art of the journey, making it a poetic symbol for relationships themselves. Consider gifting a luxurious weekender bag and planning a surprise getaway. After all, the greatest luxury is often time spent side by side, discovering new places.

This Valentine’s Day, move beyond the expected. Choose something meaningful, lasting, and thoughtfully designed. Because love – like true luxury – should never feel temporary.

Celebrate boldly. Love deeply. And let this be the year your Valentine’s gift becomes part of your shared story.

LoL, Sandra

Photos:  Courtesy of Louis Vuitton #LVGifts
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March 2025 sees the arrival of spring in joyful style, with the launch of Chapter Two of Louis Vuitton × Murakami (for Chapter One click here please). As a poetic celebration of Japan’s cherry blossom season, the 20-year anniversary re-edition of the era-defining original collaboration features Japanese master artist Takashi Murakami’s exquisite Cherry Blossom motif meticulously rendered upon more than 40 of the House’s creations.

From City Bags to silk Carrés, footwear including sneakers and platform sandals, to a spectacular made-to-order Malle Wardrobe, the collection embodies a time of the year when feelings of optimism, renewal and new life are at their peak.

With its cheerful pink flower heads and graceful petals applied using cutting-edge digital printing to a full range of creations, Murakami’s Cherry Blossom is the central motif of the collection: presented upon the iconic Monogram brown canvas of City Bags including The OnTheGo, The Papillon, The Boulogne, and The Speedy 25; a range of Art of Travel luggage including The Rolling Trunk, The Keepall 45, and hard-sided trunks including the spectacular Courrier Lozine 110 Fleurs which features physical Cherry Blossom patches attached to the surface; as well as smaller leather designs including The Nano Bucket bag and The Zippy wallet.

Elsewhere, The Marellini, The Alma BB and one of three different Capucines City Bags are given an all-over, rose-coloured rendering, their joyous surfaces in vibrant ‘cheeky pink’ to match the Cherry Blossom motif.

Finally, Spell on You perfume is given a playful lift as the Cherry Blossom motif is displayed ‘in floral flight’ across the bottle, cylindrical packaging, and travel case, as well as on the glass dome of the Ultimate Flacon.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
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Louis Vuitton and renowned contemporary artist Takashi Murakami celebrate the 20-year anniversary of their era-defining collaboration with the launch of an extensive re-edition collection.

Some of my own Louis Vuitton – Murakami pieces that I have collected over the years.

My avid readers know, that I have kept every single piece I have invested in for over 30 years. I have always believed that they will be back in style and predicted the era of re-editions and the sustainability movement. I still have the Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami items from 20 years ago and now it is time to unpack them again. For a long time, they seemed outdated as they had been copied too much. However keeping fashion items is a smart choice because trends often come full circle, with styles being reintroduced or reimagined over time. What may seem outdated today can become a statement piece tomorrow. By holding onto well-crafted items, you not only save money but also contribute to sustainability by reducing waste. Fashion reeditions give old favorites a new life, proving that timeless pieces never truly go out of style.

Takashi Murakami

Twenty years after Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami first came together for what became an era-defining collaboration, the House and the Japanese artist are proud to announce the arrival of Louis Vuitton × Murakami, a joyful and celebratory re-edition that reimagines and updates the original collection. Consisting of more than 200 uplifting creations, the project acts as a modern-day showcase for an enduring creative bond, defined by artistic vision, remarkable feats of traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology, and the timeless appeal of this seminal moment in early 21st-century pop and collector culture.

Actor and singer Zendaya stars in the campaign for Louis Vuitton x Murakami created by renowned Dutch photographers, Inez and Vinoodh.

For Louis Vuitton × Murakami, the playful, yet profound works that the artist created for the original collaboration, initiated by the House’s then Artistic Director, Marc Jacobs – including a kaleidoscopic reinterpretation of the iconic Louis Vuitton Monogram pattern, the first time in its history that it had been reworked – are now celebrated and featured across a wide-ranging assortment of the House’s most renowned and coveted women’s leather goods and accessories.
The renditions have their own respective label, which I love as it will distinguish the original from the reeditions.

The Louis Vuitton x Murakami reedition will be celebrated within a fully immersive visual landscape, ranging from window displays to pop-ups and pop-ins, as well as innovative in-store activations and a dedicated advertising campaign. Louis Vuitton × Murakami will be available to order worldwide from now. A second chapter will be launched in March 2025 and focus on the artist’s perfect-for-spring Cherry Blossom pattern.

I love when old things feel brand new and the original is always better than the re-edition!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton and © Sandra Bauknecht
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Finely engraved in yellow gold, the Hermès ship’s colourful unfurled sails and emblematic bow glide beneath a star-studded aventurine sky.

Viewed through a telescope, the Hermès flagship – its hull inspired by the historic boutique at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris – steers its way through the starry night with its blend of miniature painting and engraving. Its bow bearing the effigy of the famous firework maker and its billowing sails come to life at the virtuoso hands of Hermès artisans.

Created in 2015 by Philippe Delhotal, the Slim d’Hermès watch vividly expresses the singularity of the house with its blend of understated elegance and visual balance. Modern yet timeless, its pared-down lines highlight Hermès’ inimitably creative, fanciful touch, offering a subtle interpretation of the patterns adorning its iconic silk scarves.

Produced in a limited edition of 12, the Slim d’Hermès Flagship is inspired by Dimitri Rybaltchenko’s eponymous design for a silk scarf. Surging ahead amid a shower of shooting stars, the vessel reflects the artist’s poetic universe navigating between the imaginary and the real.

After a multitude of layers of micro-paint are applied with a brush and then heat-dried in a kiln, the aventurine dial reveals a bronzed decoration featuring unique nuances, volumes and details. The ship evoking the legendary Parisian boutique is carved in relief by the engraver’s burins and chisels, then handpainted and delicately placed on the night sky. A mischievous star at 4 o’clock comes to life in step with wrist movements. Housed in a slim yellow gold case measuring 39.5 mm in diameter, this eloquent expression of horological expertise beats to the rhythm of the Manufacture Hermès H1950 self-winding movement and is fitted with an elegant abyss blue alligator strap matching the maritimeinspired dial tones.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Hermès
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An exciting new collaboration, LV Art Silk Squares sees five artists bring their unique visions to the lustrous blank canvas of the Louis Vuitton silk square – or carré, in French. The creatives – German pixel-art collective, eBoy; Franco-Japanese-Spanish design duo, Icinori; Italian artist and illustrator, Lorenzo Mattotti; French graphic novelist and illustrator, Nicolas de Crécy, and Swiss artist, Thomas Ott – have all previously collaborated with Louis Vuitton, notably on the Maison’s illustrated «Travel Book» series. For LV Art Silk Square, each explores the theme of the flower within the context of Louis Vuitton. By inventively reinterpreting the four-petal bloom that graces the Louis Vuitton Monogram, the artists bring new perspectives to the Maison’s iconic codes and rich heritage.

The artists’ stunning works are then meticulously transferred onto Louis Vuitton silk squares in Como, Italy, a world centre of silk craft and home to centuries of silk-working expertise. Thanks to a continuous dialogue between the artists, the Louis Vuitton studio in Paris, and the Italian artisans with their remarkable mastery of both traditional and cutting-edge techniques, each stunning carré faithfully recreates the original artwork, a process that often requires multiple layers of colours to be printed onto the finest white silk. The squares are then washed and dried, before their edges are hand-sewn using a time-honoured technique known as roulottage. The rich, lustrous colours of the finished silk squares – designed to be worn in versatile ways or indeed framed – are alive with creative energy, and pay testament to Louis Vuitton’s longstanding commitment to blending art and savoir-faire.

Indeed, the silk square collection is the latest in a rich history of collaborative projects that have seen celebrated artists creating work for Louis Vuitton’s silk squares. Beginning in 1987, leading artists Arman, Sandro Chia, Arata Isozaki, Sol LeWitt, and James Rosenquist were invited to express their talent on a carré for a project entitled The Silk Road. Over the following years, silk squares were designed by, among others, Andrée Putman, César Baldaccini, and Philippe Starck. A new vision for Louis Vuitton silk squares was launched in 2013 with Foulards d’Artistes, two collections of work by famous names in street art, including Os Gemeos and Retna. Today, the full collection of artist-designed silk squares from across the decades is on show in LV Dream, the exhibition at Louis Vuitton’s headquarters in Paris.

Maze of Precious by eBoy
Founded in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital, eBoy’s pixel-art aesthetic has become instantly recognizable thanks to its widely acclaimed Pixorama cityscape series. In «Maze of Precious», its Louis Vuitton carré, an LV logo is set in the centre of a labyrinth whose borders represent different fabric weaves, from twill to satin, and which is filled with elements from the Louis Vuitton Monogram pattern, including the rounded flower and quatrefoil, as well as brightly coloured pixellated vegetation, and playful, geometric insects.

Malles Monde by Icinori
The work of Icinori’s Mayumi Otero and Raphaël Urwiller, which blends traditional artistic techniques and modern storytelling, has been published in international newspapers, including Le Monde and the New York Times, and shown in galleries and museums such as the Pompidou Centre Metz. For Louis Vuitton, the duo’s intensely coloured and visually rich «Malles Monde» silk square celebrates the Maison’s trunkmaking heritage and its Art of Travel with malles that blossom with plant life and Monogram symbols to embody the perpetual renewal and ongoing journey of life.

Iris Spring by Lorenzo Mattotti
Artist Lorenzo Mattotti uses coloured pencils and pastels to create dreamlike visions for celebrated comic books, such as Fires and Murmur, and in illustrations published by, among others, the New Yorker and Süddeutsche Zeitung. «Iris Spring», his Louis Vuitton carré, is a tribute to a flower found in the beautiful Art Nouveaustained glass at the Vuitton family’s historic home, which sits within the Maison’s Asnières ateliers. Perfectly framed by multihued trees and a waterfall, the iris’s fluid forms become the centrepiece of a stunning, kaleidoscopic fantasy.

Parfums de Méditerranée by Nicolas de Crécy
For «Parfums de Méditerranée», French graphic novelist and illustrator Nicolas de Crécy – known for his pioneering and narratively surreal works Foligatto and Salvatore – travels to the olfactory paradise of Provence. Inspired by the gardens in Grasse where Louis Vuitton scents are born and blended, his Louis Vuitton carré is an enchanting panorama in his signature whimsical style that combines majestic mountains, intricate representations of scent-filled flowers, and playful inventions based upon the Monogram pattern.

Urban Flowers by Thomas Ott
In his dark and striking graphic novels, such as The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8, Swiss artist Thomas Ott uses scratchboards to fashion stark black-and-white, purely visual narratives. «Urban Flowers», his Louis Vuitton carré, employs this labour-intensive artistic method for a delicately surreal, chiaroscuro image that illustrates nature’s ability to transform our urban existences, transfiguring flowers into symbols of the unquenchable human spirit.

Each limited-edition design from the LV Art Silk Squares collection will be available in Louis Vuitton stores and online from 30 August 2024.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
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No sweet tooth goes unsatisfied with this crazy collaboration. FENDI x Chupa Chups® is all about carrying your favorite lollipop in a fancy leather holder around your neck as a necklace or thanks to the adjustable strap attached to a bag.

Presented by Kim Jones at his Fendi F/W 2024 ready-to-wear show in Milan, the innovative and amusing design was created to enclose the exclusive FENDI x Chupa Chups® lollipop. Made of soft leather with details that recall the iconic Selleria technique and embellished with a metal FF logo, a magnetic closure, the adjustable, knotted strap allows you to attach the charm to any accessory, to customize every outfit with a special touch.
The charm includes an exclusive FENDI x Chupa Chups® box that contains five limited edition Cacao-Vanilla lollipops, a symbolic tribute to the five Fendi sisters.

This bag charm must-have will surely be seen among many fashion lovers. Treat yourself here!

The necklace is available here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Fendi
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