It’s a plaid, plaid world out there this winter. The pattern that somehow manages to handle the difficult line between preppy and punk has suddenly proven itself as this season’s iconic and must-have print and I just cannot get enough of it.
My look: Duffle coat, embellished plaid wool dress and studded boots, all by Saint Laurent, Boy bag with chains by Chanel and Limelight Gala watch by Piaget.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
Inspired by the innovation and seductive glamour of 1940s haute jewelry, PRADA presents a collection of cuffs, bangles, bracelets and earrings with a contemporary point of view. Each piece is finely crafted using artisanal haute jewelry techniques and exquisite detailing but is made with unexpected materials in daring colours and forms. The collection brings together PRADA’s signature Saffiano textured leather in rich shades of orange, emerald green and turquoise with bold formations of geometric crystals, inspired by the art deco era and the natural world.
A hibiscus flower motif taken from the S/S 2014 men’s and women’s collections appears in Saffiano leather on bracelets and in crystal on drop earrings. Exotic crocodile skin appears in different colours: jade green and ruby red amongst the others. Luxurious plated gold or palladium finishes the pieces, each a unique interpretation of a new modern decadence.
I love those pieces!
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Prada
I always love those days when the new makeup collections for the festive season are hitting the shelves. Extremely beautiful is Girgio Armani Beauty’s limited edition HOLIDAY COLLECTION 2013 ECCENTRICO for Christmas. An unexpected mix of colorful and glamorous hues, this winter Giorgio Armani Beauty is shaking up the conventional.
To create this exceptional palette of explosive shades, Linda Cantello, International Make-up Artist Giorgio Armani, took her inspiration from Giorgio Armani’s travelling fashion exhibition Eccentrico, which reveals a collection of 51 equally bold and extravagant dresses designed by the Maestro. The result is an unprecedented palette of fresh and luminous tones that breaks away from the House of Armani’s traditional codes.
ECCENTRICO BLUSH PALETTE (CHF 117.00)
In its red lacquered case, it reveals a harmony of four blushes multi-compacted with micronised powders. Their light texture melts over the skin. With a sweep of the brush, the four Eccentrico shades blend together to create a fresh and sophisticated universal blush, illuminating the complexion.
LIP MAESTRO (CHF 51.00) and NAIL LACQUER (CHF 39.00)
302 Clash – 303 Dazzling – 505 Eccentrico
The lips and nails display matching dazzling shades, while offering contrasting matte and shiny textures.
EYES TO KILL QUADS PALETTE (CHF 83.00)
The eyes are ethereal, almost bare, adorning the eyelids in flamboyant shades, such as pink, coral, Parma violet and pearly white.
In stores now.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Giorgio Armani
In Paris I was shot by my favorite street style photographer Melanie Galea from The Street Muse for a project with Tank Magazine and Silhouette. She was so sweet to take my camera for more pics of my outfit that was all about Dolce & Gabbana‘s Byzantine moment for F/W 2013.
My look: Blazer by Balmain, lace top and mosaic-print wool and silk-blend skirt, all by Dolce & Gabbana, pointed leather Mary-Jane pumps
by Saint Laurent, Stephanie gold-tone necklace by Lanvin, rose diamond ring by Piaget and My Own Code clutch by Valentino and Futura sunglasses by Silhouette.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Melanie Galea – The Street Muse, © Sandra Bauknecht
Recently, I hosted an event with Patrizia Pepe in Zurich to celebrate the brand’s new amazing capsule collection GOLDENIZED for the festive season. In line with the name, all the looks are dedicated to golden hues and fabrics, teamed with black for a nice contrast.
The day before, I had styled the looks the models were presenting on the runway in the store, combining the must-haves from the GOLDENIZED collection along with some of the iconic pieces the Italian brand is known for. The makeup was all about smokey eyes created with products by Lancôme. During the evening, I explained my ideas behind each outfit and revealed some of my personal styling tips. While enjoying the yummy Lillet cocktails, the fashionable crowd indulged in late night shopping after the show. Enjoy the photos of the night!
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of tillate.ch, © Sandra Bauknecht
“I create so that each and every woman is the most beautiful“. Christian Dior
Christian Dior was a visionary. Beginning with his first collection in 1947 he rewrote the rules of modern elegance and imposed his style on the entire world. He brought women his vision of beauty and happiness. He showed unprecedented creative originality.
In a dress embroidered with thousands of flowers designed by Raf Simons, Natalie Portman reveals a new facette of Miss Dior – Le Parfum, which I was able to explore in detail before the grand opening of the exhibition at the Grand Palais dedicated to this iconic scent.
Me in my beloved Bambi print neoprene sweatshirt by Givenchy, belt by Bottega Veneta and stretch-leather skinny pants
by Gucci.
François Demachy with me
Miss Dior is a green chypre, the world’s first. When it appeared in 1947, its construction was unique, a masterful balancing act of notes: the citric from a citrus fruit, the floral drawn straight from the garden, and then the woody notes of patchouli and oak moss.
“When Miss Dior was created in 1947, it was a perfume unlike any other. The green chypre was known at the time, but no one had succeeded in developing the green note in the chypre in a way that produced an harmonious result,” explains François Demachy, Dior’s perfumer-creator.
Miss Dior is a family and its various accords depend on the compositions, on the different raw materials with which they’re made. Thus, the citrus is expressed by a neroli (in the Eau de Toilette), a Sicilian mandarin (Eau de Parfum and the Parfum) or a Calabrian bergamot (Eau Fraîche); then jasmine, ylang-ylang and rose alternately form the fragrance’s floral bouquet; with oak moss, sandalwood, vetiver or patchouli writing the woody notes.
” Miss Dior is a highly codified succession of materials that in themselves have nothing in common. But it’s when these materials are mixed together that the fabled Miss Dior harmony is formed, the one that every woman recognizes,” François Demachy states.
Regarding the name, there is a sweet anecdote. Catherine, the little sister of Christian Dior, walked down the stairs when the designer’s muse Mitza Bricard exclaimed “Miss Dior” in her unique way that made him think of the ultimate chic.
Very interesting to know is that in the beginning when the perfume was launched, you could only get it if you bought a dress at Dior. Isn’t it funny how the world has changed. Today, you mostly buy into the world of Dior via a fragrance… but as Christian Dior put it: “Perfume is the finishing touch to a dress.” And again, I couldn’t agree more and Miss Dior Le Parfum definitely belongs to my favorites.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
Happy first Sunday in Advent! Now, the merry season is starting and I have some fun surprises and contests for you until Christmas Eve. Let’s get started with a kit that promises perfect luminous skin and I can tell you that it holds its word.
3 of my Swiss readers have the chance to win this amazing kit consisting of the new Olaz Regenerist Complexion Corrector CC Cream along with the new Olaz 3 Point Super Cleansing System for CHF 91.50 per set (RRP). If you don’t live in Switzerland, no worries, those products are available worldwide, in most countries the brand name is Olay. Have a look at their website for further information.
Olaz Regenerist Complexion Corrector CC Cream
Every woman is dreaming of an even, glowing complexion which is the final step for a gorgeous head-to-toe look. To fulfill this wish, Olaz presents the new Olaz Regenerist Complexion Corrector CC Cream, an all-in-one formula, blending a sheer foundation, an SPF 15 moisturiser and a serum to give you instantly perfected and younger looking skin over time. After two weeks, fine lines and wrinkles are reduced significantly and after 8 weeks the appearance of dark spots and skin redness is less up to 78%.
Olaz 3 Point Super Cleansing System
Especially after a night full of partying, deep cleansing your face is indispensable. It’s important to free the skin from its scales and makeup to give it the possibility to regenerate. The newest addition to the market is the innovative Olaz Regenerist 3 Point Cleansing System together with the Olaz Regenerist cleansing cream – which should be a fix component in everyone’s bathroom. Its rotary brush is proven to cleanse up to 4x more effectively than manual cleansing alone. It massages and really activates the blood circulation of your skin. As most of you know, I am a big fan of Clarisonic, but the Olaz 3 Point Super Cleansing System is the perfect less expensive alternative.
To participate in the contest, please send me an e-mail with your postal address and the header “Olaz” to . All entries must be received until December 10, 2013. No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win this contest. By entering this contest, entrants accept and agree to be bound by these official rules.
The winner has to have a Swiss address.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Olaz
Forget dress to impress, it is time to dress to cook with this capsule collection of aprons created by major designers and artists for yoox.com. With €88.00 per piece, it is the perfect gift idea for your someone who likes to prepare dinner in style. Great news is that part of the proceeds will go to the Slow Food Foundation.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of yoox.com
I have been in love with this floral dress the minute I saw it on the Saint Laurent F/W 2013 runway and Anna dello Russo obviously had the same moment. Here, she shows how the punk and grunge trend works in perfection this season without loosing femininity.
Get her look: Silk-chiffon printed dress, plaid wool shirt and studded leather boots, all by Saint Laurent.
LoL, Sandra
During the last two weeks, the Grand Palais hosted the flagship exhibition dedicated to the spirit of Miss Dior, the house’s famous and first fragrance. To celebrate the opening night, celebrities such as Natalie Portman, the face of Dior, Sophie Marceau, Karl Lagerfeld and many more came to see the exhibition themselves, followed by an amazing after party also hosted at the Grand Palais. I felt very honored to be invited to such an exclusive event.
Arriving with Mary Ma, international model and Chinese fashion designer.
Christian Dior himself, a creative and visionary genius, managed to unite couture and perfumes. During my visit to the exhibition, I enjoyed exploring the designer’s life and work plus his artistic influences.
To illustrate his passion for art, it also presented the works of fifteen contemporary women artists, who were inspired by the iconic scent Miss Dior. Below you can see my favorite artworks.
ALYSON SHOTZ
” I love that idea of there being no surface, no inside or outside. Surface is structure, and vice versa. These shapes are created by assembling a large whole, piece by piece. The observer visually combines all the little parts and when he walks around the sculpture, his eyes and brain assemble these shapes in different ways.”
For New Yorker Alyson Shotz, the rose theme, a flower dear to Christian Dior, also inspired her sculpture Infinite Rose with its reflections of steel and dichroic film, which changes color and shape depending on the movement of light, and that of the observer.
MARIA NEPOMUCENO
“I decided to bring the bottle of Miss Dior perfume, which for me is an object related to elegance and delicacy, to my own universe. I transformed the shape of the bottle into an object made of clay, from which tentacles and roots protrude, but also crevices with emerging organic elements.”
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, Maria transcends the Miss Dior bottle to create an organic and sensual installation using different material. Spirals of nylon, rope, straw and woven pearls are rolled up in an endless process, like a living sculpture, moving matter that bonds everyday life, cosmology and genetics.
JOANA VASCONCELOS
“I enjoyed being able to merge with the Miss Dior spirit, and its combination of extremes, that engage the world of couture and playfulness, architectural rigor and cotton candy lightness.”
My avid readers might recognize Joana Vasconcelos from her current solo exhibition at the Gucci Museo in Florence. For Dior, she has imagined a carbon fiber bow some 3 meters wide adorned with almost 1.665 perfume bottles and LED lights. This is probably the most impressive installation of the exhibition.
NIKA ZUPANG
“Starting out with a vision of the idealized and somewhat conservative Dior woman, I wanted to shake up her image. I didn’t want to distort it, I just set out to highlight the strengths of her unique, singular character.”
Recognized the world over for her objects midway between fantasy and narration, the Slovenian designer explores femininity from every angle with a series of pieces and collaborations, highlighting sensuality and seduction. Here, she created a fairy-tale pavilion dedicated to women and their aspirations. This was one of my favorite artworks of the exhibition.
KAREN KILIMNIK
“When seeing this piece, I would like visitors to the exhibition to want to take a look through the archives of Dior.”
Born in Philadelphia, Karen Kilimnik dramatizes today’s consumer society and the world of images through her paintings and lyrical installations, with a profound sense of romanticism. Inspired by the 18th century Drottingholm Theater in Sweden and the design sets for Alexei Ratmansky’s production of Psyche, but also fascinated by the Dior archives and first models, she has taken a new look at the follies and gloryfiers.
CAROLE BENZAKEN
“In Miss Dior, I don’t see a woman, I see colors and landscapes. It is a relationship between skin and veins, heart and heartbeat, music, life.”
With Carole Benzaken, media – drawing, painting, photography, video -, intertwine and overlap each other. She designed a majestic but fragile opalescent glass sculpture spanning one meter, surrounded by seven back-lit vats decorated with wooded landscaped drawings, like the idea of a liquid and immaterial fragrance that takes up and appropriates space.
POLLY APFELBAUM
” I decided to create a work that reflected Dior’s audacity and the brand’s tradition of allying the new with the classical.”
It was the houndstooth pattern that inspired the American artist’s large-scale installation, hand-woven in Mexico using the traditional weaving techniques of Oaxaca.
LEE BUL
“Smell is the most closely related sense to memory. A sense that appeals to emotions more than a reason.”
An unmissable figure from the Asian artistic scene, she created a dozen monumental sculptures in crystal and aluminum. For this exhibition, she has taken a new look at the olfactive memory of Miss Dior, its light and modernity at the center of an installation designed as a manifesto, standing 5 meters high and weighing almost 500 kg.
I stepped inside this suspended cocoon for a private journey on self-reflection.
CARLA MATTI
“I chose to interpret the theme of Dior’s beloved rose in my own poetical way.”
Under a venomous hybrid appearance, the works of Carla Matti are about nature and reality, the world and its virtual dimension. This young Italian artist scanned then recomposed and computer printed in 3-D the legendary Miss Dior rose which is transformed into a sculpted rose garden full of original flowers taken from a bend of five different floral varieties.
At the after party: Having fun with the fabulous Montasar Dumas.
It was such a fabulous event and I truly had a blast. If you like my look, here are all the details: Black strapless dress by Prada, pointed leather Mary-Jane pumps by Saint Laurent, skirt belt, feather stole, handbag and pearl necklace, all by Dior.
Thank you Vanity Fair for featuring me among the most amazing celebrities!
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Dior, Vanity Fair and © Sandra Bauknecht
