Sandra‘s Closet

Last week, on a sunlit day in Henley-on-Thames, I wore this knitted ensemble by Loewe for the first time. The 13th century market town is considered one of the most beautiful towns in England, and I couldn’t agree more, the river, the light, the ambiance are special. Henley is known for the Henley Royal Regatta, when style becomes bold, competitive, and visually charged. Even outside of that spectacle, the town carries a sense of quiet elegance, a perfect counterpoint to a look that commands attention.

And speaking of which, the Loewe knit was anything but understated. Heavy, sculptural, and unapologetically luxurious, the kind of craftsmanship that doesn’t blend in, it asserts itself. I wore this ensemble straight through the day and onto my flight to Boston. A reminder that true luxury doesn’t need to be toned down to travel, it carries its presence wherever it goes.

My look: Ribbed wool-blend cardigan in green, and ribbed wool wide-leg pants in green, both by Loewe, Nama suede-trimmed leather platform sneakers by Chloé, Multi Pochette Accessories in monogram canvas by Louis Vuitton, pearl necklace by CHANEL, Couvertures et Tenues de Jour Forever Scarf 90 in Crème / Rouge H / Bleu / Multicolore, and scarf ring 90 Régate, both by Hermès, Aquanaut Luce in khaki green by Patek Philippe, and oval frame burgundy sunglasses by Gucci.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Today, Italian fashion legend Valentino Garavani has passed away at age 93. We will never forget his elegant evening gowns that were favored for decades by some of the world’s most glamorous women. He «peacefully passed away today at his residence in Rome, surrounded by the love of his family,» a statement posted to Instagram said.

I am deeply grateful that I had the honor of knowing him, a truly great designer, defined by class, elegance, and timeless vision. He was one of the true giants of fashion, and he will be profoundly missed.

From founding his maison in Rome to shaping decades of haute couture, his legacy changed fashion forever.

Born in Voghera, Italy on May 11, 1932, he discovered his passion for fashion at a young age. He moved to Paris to study couture and trained in the ateliers of Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche, mastering the discipline and elegance of French haute couture before returning to Italy.

In 1959-60, he founded Maison Valentino in Rome together with Giancarlo Giammetti. Rome became the heart of the house, a place where Italian craftsmanship met timeless glamour. Valentino quickly gained international recognition after presenting his couture collection in Florence in the early 1960s, marking the beginning of his global success.

VOGUE Italia will launch a collectible cover edition to honor Valentino, launching on Feb 27, 2026.

His work became synonymous with absolute elegance, refined femininity, and meticulous craftsmanship. Over the decades, Valentino dressed some of the most iconic women in history, shaping red-carpet culture and defining an unmistakable aesthetic, forever associated with sophistication and the legendary Valentino Red.

«I think that a woman dressed in red is always magnificent.» – Valentino Garavani

In 2008, Valentino retired after a final haute couture show in Rome, closing a historic chapter while leaving behind a legacy that continues to define luxury fashion. Today, Valentino lives on as a house owned by Mayhoola, with Alessandro Michele carrying its creative vision forward.

You will be missed, Maestro, one of the true giants of fashion.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Valentino and © Sandra Bauknecht
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Continuing this beautiful intersection of design and everyday rituals, there’s yet another collaboration that truly caught my eye: Christofle × Saint Laurent, this time at the table.

I’ve always loved the idea that style doesn’t stop at fashion or interiors, but extends into the smallest daily gestures. Cutlery is something we use without thinking, yet in this collaboration it becomes intentional, bold, and unmistakably chic. Christofle’s craftsmanship meets Saint Laurent’s sharp, modern edge, turning something functional into a true design statement.

It’s elegant, slightly rebellious, and effortlessly cool, proof that even the act of eating can feel curated. A reminder that luxury isn’t always about excess, but about elevating the ordinary into something special. Style, after all, is in the details.

Available to order for € 5000 for a set of 24 pieces (6 knives, 6 forks, 6 large spoons, 6 coffee spoons in 30mm silver-plated nickel silver, 100% stainless steel steel) online here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Saint Laurent
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It’s truly board game season … Balenciaga created a limited-edition Monopoly game with fashion-themed tokens (like scissors, mannequins) and properties, as an exclusive gift for VIP clients, part of a luxury trend where brands sell culture and nostalgia through unique experiences, not standard retail products, focusing on brand exclusivity and high-value storytelling.

The goal is to generate buzz, reinforce brand exclusivity, and offer a unique, desirable experience rather than a mass-market product.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Balenciaga
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After the playful take from Miu Miu, there’s another game collaboration that truly stands out—this time in a much quieter, more architectural way: Bottega Veneta × Jenga.

As a genuine game lover, I’m fascinated by how Bottega Veneta turns Jenga into an almost sculptural design object. The familiar tension and balance remain, but everything feels calmer, more intentional, and undeniably refined. It’s less about winning fast and more about the experience, the weight, the focus, the shared moment.

That said, this elevated take on play definitely comes at a price. At € 5,200, it’s a number that genuinely made me pause (and yes, I find it pretty wild). Still, it perfectly shows how far luxury can push even the simplest game, transforming it into a statement piece where design, craftsmanship, and play collide.

Available online for pre-order here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Bottega Veneta
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As a lifelong card-game enthusiast, honestly, a game lover in every sense, I get genuinely excited when play meets creativity. That’s why the UNO × Miu Miu collaboration instantly won me over.

UNO has always been about color, speed, and a little chaos at the table. Seeing it reimagined through Miu Miu’s fashion lens turns a classic game night into a style statement. It’s playful, nostalgic, and unapologetically chic, proof that fun doesn’t have to check its style at the door. This limited-edition UNO® X Miu Miu set includes a deck of cards with special graphic art, a soft leather case with a contrasting logo, and special packaging. This iconic piece is designed for collectors.

For someone who loves shuffling cards and flipping through fashion, this feels like the best of both worlds. Game on, now in fashion mode.  Available at MIU MIU stores for CHF 470.00.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Miu Miu
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Following the recent Instagram trend, I decided to dive back into 2016, when fashion went full volume. Before quiet luxury, before restraint became aspirational, 2016 was about impact.

This was the era of Vetements energy, Balenciaga proportions, and Gucci maximalism. Oversized silhouettes pushed to excess, hoodies and bombers worn like armor, chokers framing the neck with intention, distressed denim taken to extremes, thigh-high boots paired without hesitation. Logos weren’t whispered, they were declared.

Streetwear and high fashion didn’t just meet. They collided.

The current return to 2016 isn’t accidental. It follows a widely discussed ten-year cultural cycle, a moment when fashion and internet culture begin to reject hyper-curation and visual restraint. As the polished, controlled aesthetics of the early 2020s lose momentum, there is a renewed appetite for excess, imperfection, and emotional immediacy. What resurfaces isn’t a replica of the past, but the attitude of it: fashion that allows scale, provocation, and unapologetic presence.

For me, 2016 wasn’t a reinvention. It was a moment of alignment, when the dominant fashion language finally mirrored an intensity I had always embraced. Gucci’s eclectic maximalism, Vetements’ provocation, Balenciaga’s scale: the visual vocabulary of that year allowed fashion to be excessive, expressive, and unapologetically styled.

What followed didn’t soften. It intensified.

My style didn’t pivot after 2016, it escalated. Proportions became sharper, contrasts more extreme, statements more deliberate. Not in response to trends, but through a long-standing instinct to push silhouettes further rather than edit them down.

This post is a curated edit of my favorite looks from 2016, a year defined by volume, attitude, and fashion without restraint. If you like to see all the details of the respective looks, I invite you to visit the previous post MY FAVORITE OUTFITS OF 2016.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Massachusetts Avenue was photographed at a train stop in a Bostonian neighborhood that isn’t known for being safe or beautiful in a conventional way. It’s rough, tense, and unsettling, and exactly that contrast is what drew me in. I combined different vintage pieces with more recent ones, letting time layers collide. The mix of black and pink reflects this tension: darkness and vulnerability, danger and softness existing side by side. This post isn’t about romanticizing the place, but about capturing the uneasy beauty that can appear where you least expect it.

My look: Reversible hot pink fake fur vest, wool hat in black and pink with ties, and long sleeve logo shirt, (all from Coco Neige 2023/24 collection) and shearling bag (from F/W 2014 supermarket collection), all by CHANEL, checked mini skirt (S/S 1998) by D&G, and platform fake fur boots by Prada Sport.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Hublot and legendary brand Yohji Yamamoto unite once again to redefine the art of black. For the fourth time since their first collaboration in 2020, they elevate black from a color to the Classic Fusion Yohji Yamamoto All Black Camo. A limited edition of 300 pieces where every texture and contrast are intentional. Matte black ceramic sculpts the 42mm case into light and depth, a monochrome camouflage pattern adds rhythm and motion while fabric and rubber fuse seamlessly on the strap.

This collaboration is more than fashion or watchmaking. It’s about vision. About how far you can strip something down to its essence. Both Hublot and Yohji Yamamoto have built their legacies on the same foundation: questioning the meaning of luxury. Both create through deconstruction. Hublot first broke Swiss tradition in 1980 with its Art of Fusion, blending gold with rubber, innovation with heritage. Since its debut at the Paris Fashion Week in 1981, Yohji Yamamoto redefined the conventions of fashion, using black as a response against excess and fashion’s norms.

For both creators, black is not absence, it is essence. Hublot pioneered the All Black concept in 2006, where light is defined by volume and texture, beyond its color. When Yohji Yamamoto first presented the collection in Paris in 1981, the black silhouettes were seen as revolutionary, an anti-fashion statement that freed creation from decoration. At Hublot, black is sculpted through material: matte ceramics, smoked sapphire, surfaces that play with shadow. For Yohji Yamamoto, black is woven through fabric: wool, silk, cotton layered to breathe and shift. Both treat black as visible and invisible.

Camouflage, reimagined in Yohji Yamamoto’s language, becomes a study in movement and material. On the Classic Fusion Yohji Yamamoto All Black Camo, the pattern appears as monochrome relief, black on black, dynamic under changing light.

« Black is modest and arrogant at the same time » affirmed Yohji Yamamoto.

The 42mm matte black ceramic case absorbs light and sculpts shadow. The black-on-black camouflage dial shifts subtly with movement, alive with contrast. The smoked sapphire caseback unveils the MHUB1110 Hublot automatic calibre and its skeletonized rotor while preserving a monochrome mystery. The strap, crafted from fabric and rubber, echoes the Japanese designer’s tactile couture and Hublot’s technical precision. The signature of Yohji Yamamoto is incorporated into the design of each of the 300 custom All Black boxes.

The new Classic Fusion Yohji Yamamoto All Black Camo is available at a selection of Hublot points of sale and online at hublot.com.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Hublot 
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On my way to La Padrona, inside the new Raffles Boston.
Boston feels crisp, elegant, quietly confident, exactly my kind of energy.

Setting the mood before the first course: my guitar-shaped bag by Balmain. Sculptural, playful, and just the right amount of attitude. Some evenings start long before dinner.

My look: Two-tone silk-satin blouse, and asymmetric ruffled silk-chiffon wide-leg pants, both by Valentino, Torchon gold-tone crystal clip earrings by Alessandra Rich, Anthem leather belt, and guitar shoulder bag, both by Balmain, and Jeanne embellished glossed-leather slingback pumps by Saint Laurent.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht 
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