Sandra‘s Closet

Quiet Luxury Meets Rothko: Loro Piana‘s F/W26 Campaign in Houston

Houston might not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of quiet luxury, yet Loro Piana proves it is exactly the right one. For its F/W 2026 advertising campaign, shot by Mario Sorrenti, the Italian house travels deep into the cultural landscape created by legendary collectors John and Dominique de Menil.

About The Menil Collection
Philanthropists and art patrons John and Dominique de Menil established the Menil Foundation in 1954 to foster greater public understanding and appreciation of art, architecture, culture, religion, and philosophy. In 1987, the Menil Collection’s main building opened to the public. Today, the Menil Collection consists of a group of art buildings and green spaces located within a residential neighborhood in central Houston. The Menil remains committed to its founders’ belief that art is essential to human experience and welcomes all visitors free of charge.

The journey begins at the former de Menil residence, a historic landmark with interiors by couturier Charles James, and continues through the luminous galleries of the Menil Collection, designed by Renzo Piano and opened in 1987. The most moving stop is the Rothko Chapel, home to fourteen canvases by Mark Rothko, a space that is neither museum nor church but pure contemplation in colour and shadow.

About Rothko Chapel
Rothko Chapel in Houston is an iconic non-denominational space dedicated to contemplation, dialogue, and human rights. Housing fourteen monumental murals by Mark Rothko, the Chapel serves as both a meditative environment and a platform for global discourse. It convenes artists, activists, scholars, and community leaders through programs that engage spirituality, social justice, and civic responsibility.

Sorrenti captures an intergenerational cast, including Sigrid de L’Epine and her husband, artist Jean-Charles Blais, wandering through these spaces. The collection speaks the same language as its surroundings: moss green, brick red, stone, deep brown and chalk white echoing velvet sofas, mineral facades and the depth of Rothko’s monochromes. In the campaign film, the clothes live rather than pose, a couple strolling through the streets, a hand resting on a dog’s coat, everything shaped by movement and the incomparable touch of Loro Piana fabrics. Even the soundtrack has history: saxophonist Richard «Dickie» Landry, a close collaborator of the de Menils, weaves his improvised sound through the film.

Beyond the imagery, the house supports the Menil Collection ahead of its 40th anniversary in 2027 and contributes to the preservation of the Rothko Chapel. Fashion as patronage, done with the discretion the brand is famous for.

After Niemeyer’s Casa das Canoas, Cocteau’s Villa Santo Sospir and the Fondation Maeght, Houston is the newest chapter in Loro Piana’s collection of extraordinary places. And honestly, I already want to book a flight to Texas and go back to Houston where I had just recently been. Stay tuned!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Loro Piana, The Menil Collection and The Rothko Chapel, Credits: Photographer: Mario Sorrenti Stylist: Aleksandra Woroniecka Creative Direction: Atelier Franck Durand Video Direction: Luca Werner Hair: Tomo Jidai Make-up: Aaron de Mey Models: Jean-Charles Blais, Robert Forrest, Selena Forrest, Jackson Giles, Jacqui Hooper, Noor Khan, Long Li, Colin Otto, Sigrid de L’Epine DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

Since 2019, Louis Vuitton has cultivated a creative synergy with Alex Israel, an emblematic figure of the contemporary art scene. The Californian artist brings his singular vision of Los Angeles to the Parfums de Cologne collection, where his vibrant palette and the spirit of the West Coast inform every fragrance.

This year, Louis Vuitton and Alex Israel once again join forces to unveil the exceptional Woody Wagon Colognes gift set containing the collection’s six Colognes. An icon of Californian culture, recognizable for its wooden paneling, the Woody Wagon has long occupied a singular place in the mythology of the American West. Reinterpreted with the Maison’s savoir-faire and exacting standards, it becomes a singular creation at the crossroads of design, art and perfume.

«I’m thrilled to continue exploring my favorite landscape, Los Angeles, on this road trip with Jacques Cavallier Belletrud and Louis Vuitton. The Woody Wagon has long embodied a certain Californian freedom: surfboard on the roof, family in the back, and the Pacific just over the next hill. In this case, the family is our six Cologne perfumes.» Alex Israel

The Woody Wagon unfolds as an immersive experience. It functions as a miniature landscape of California – a sculptural object through which the collection’s world comes into focus. An ode to Californian freedom, where luxury, design and fragrance converge in an unforgettable sensory escape. Together, they form a colorful portrait of California, filtered through Alex Israel’s distinctive lens.

Produced in a limited edition of 66 pieces, a nod to the legendary Route 66, this creation was brought to life by 60 artisans and more than 7,000 hours of craftsmanship. Every detail of this miniature masterpiece reveals meticulous workmanship: from its roof to its wooden doors, subtly engraved with the Monogram motif, and wheels decorated with Monogram flowers, each of the 219 elements was conceived and assembled with extraordinary care.
Exceptional materials, including the Maison’s signature semi aged leather in natural beige and mahogany woods recognizable for their rich brown tones and distinctive grain further elevate this creation, a seamless fusion of vintage Californian design and Louis Vuitton’s contemporary codes.

Woody Wagon Colognes, € 9000
Available by pre-order in a limited edition of 66 pieces, starting July 2nd, 2026 (delivery in late September).

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
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Standing in front of Fiori, I almost vanish. My ensemble is a field of blossoms, and against Sofia Cacciapaglia‘s monumental Italian flowers it reads as the gentlest camouflage, woman and canvas folding into one bloom. For a moment I am not in front of the painting at all. I am inside it. Cacciapaglia paints women the way she paints gardens, larger than life and veiled in tenderness, and to stand dressed as one of her flowers is to be quietly initiated into that world.

Fiori
Sofia Cacciapaglia
Italy

The memory it stirred took me back to last November, to Riyadh, where I had the privilege of speaking at the Creative Women Forum Saudi Arabia at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. The theme that gathered us was simple and quietly radical: Empower, Engage, Sustain. Alongside the conversations, I attended a vernissage that presented a room of female artists from every corner of the world whose work I truly loved and wanted to share it with you ever since.

Flora
Olivia D’Aboville
Philippines

I think of Olivia d’Aboville‘s Flora, woven from Philippine abaca and recovered fibre, the fragility of the ocean rendered as something you want to reach out and touch. Of Sally Smith‘s Ghost Fish, the New Zealand sculptor who trained first as an architect and now works in bronze, coaxing presence out of absence, form out of empty space. Of Elisa Insua‘s Verde Alepi and Nero Marquina, the Argentine alchemist who builds the language of marble and gold from what the rest of us discard, beauty assembled out of excess and asking us, gently, how much is enough. Of Catherine Coady‘s Gold Fever Construction, the Australian eye turned with such clarity onto appetite, image, and the things we are sold.

Ghost Fish
Sally Smith
New Zealand

What threads them together is not a subject but a gesture. Each of these women takes the overlooked, the fragile, the thrown away, and makes it luminous. Cacciapaglia paints her gardens on humble cardboard. Insua gilds the cast off. D’Aboville lifts the sea’s distress into something delicate. The discarded becomes the centrepiece. The invisible is made to bloom.

Gold Fever
Construction
Catherine Coady
Australia

And now, months later, Art Basel has only just closed its doors, the great annual exhale of the art world, and I find myself thinking perhaps that is what the camouflage was really about. Not hiding, but belonging. To disappear into Fiori for a heartbeat is to be reminded that the most quietly powerful thing a woman can do is bloom in good company. From Riyadh to Basel, the flowers keep opening.

LoL, Sandra

Verde Alepi
Elisa Insua
Argentina

Nero Marquina
Elisa Insua
Argentina

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Last Thursday felt like the perfect start to Art Weekend in Zurich. With Art Basel about to begin, the city was already buzzing with collectors, artists, curators, and friends arriving from all over the world. There was a special energy in the air, the kind that only comes once a year when the art world gathers in Switzerland.

With General Manager Mandarin Oriental Savoy Dominik G. Reiner and German Artist Paul Schrader

My evening started at the Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich, where I attended an intimate reception for German artist Paul Schrader, whose works are currently on display throughout the hotel. I was particularly impressed by how naturally his pieces fit into the elegant surroundings of the Savoy.

His work has a quiet confidence that immediately draws you in without demanding attention. Just as enjoyable as the exhibition was meeting Paul himself, warm, approachable, and refreshingly down-to-earth.

With Christoph Niemann at Tao’s

Later, I joined Galerie Gmurzynska for a dinner at Tao’s celebrating the opening of Christoph Niemann’s exhibition. Niemann is one of those rare artists whose work manages to be clever, playful, and sophisticated at the same time. His ability to transform everyday ideas into visual stories has earned him international recognition, and the exhibition is a wonderful reflection of that creativity.

What made the evening truly special, however, were the people. The conversations flowed effortlessly, old friendships were renewed, new connections were made, and there was a shared excitement for the week ahead.

Tao’s Zurich

A wonderful evening, a beautiful reminder of why Zurich becomes such a captivating place every June, and the perfect beginning to what promises to be an inspiring Art Basel week.

LoL, Sandra

With wonderful Galerist Isabelle Bscher of Galerie Gmurzynska

Friends for a long time: Marco Diemer 

Handbag designer Peter Nitz with whom I hosted an event for Patek Philippe a few years ago.

Photos: Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Savoy and © Sandra Bauknecht
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Gone too soon.

Still processing this. Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, known to so many of us as @jerrygogosian, was found dead in her hotel room at the Rosewood São Paulo on May 31st. She was 40. The circumstances of her death remain under investigation.

She gave us sharp wit, irreverence, and an insider’s eye on an art world that too often takes itself far too seriously. Her memes circulated like gospel. She said what people only dared to think. And just days before she died, she encouraged us all to «let the rich woman inside fly.»

What many may not have noticed is that in recent months, she had quietly turned to painting, sharing 87 delicate watercolors on her personal Instagram. Mostly flowers. A softer, more private side of a woman the world knew for her sharp edges.

But her passing is a reminder of something we need to keep telling ourselves: we never truly know what someone is carrying behind the version of themselves they choose to show the world. The funniest, the sharpest, the most brilliant voices are not immune to darkness and struggle.

So check in on the people you love. Be a little kinder than necessary. You never know what today looks like for someone else.

Rest, Hilde. 🖤

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht and via @hildehelphenstein
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Now in its 24th edition, Art in the Park returns to the iconic grounds of Baur au Lac this summer with a compelling solo presentation by Norwegian artist Ida Ekblad. Initiated and curated by sixth-generation owner Gigi Kracht, the annual sculpture exhibition has long been a fixture of the Zurich cultural calendar and a highly anticipated prelude to Art Basel.

Having attended many editions over the years, this is one of those Zurich summer highlights I return to time and again, and if you have been following Sandra’s Closet for a while, you will no doubt have seen my coverage before. What Gigi Kracht creates here each year is simply remarkable.

With Gigi Kracht at a previous Art in the Park event.

Running from June 15 to July 21, 2026, and opening in parallel with Zurich Art Weekend, this year’s edition is realised in collaboration with Zurich gallery Karma International. Ekblad, whose work is held in collections including the Kunsthaus Zürich, Centre Pompidou and MOCA Los Angeles, brings a new body of work that extends her sculptural and painterly practice into both the park and the hotel’s interior salons.

Book of Boredom by Ida Ekblad

Two monumental bronze sculptures, THE JINXED PORTRAIT (2026) and BOOK OF BOREDOM (2022), will anchor the outdoor presentation, their hand-painted surfaces entering into dialogue with the park’s remarkable tree canopy.

Joining them is the white bronze bench NATTSYN FOR DAGSYN (2022), adorned with a rose motif and previously shown at the Kunsthaus Zürich. A particular highlight is the world premiere of Ekblad’s Kraken Möbel series, a group of wooden objects that blur the boundary between sculpture and design, inviting visitors to interact with the space in entirely new ways.

Ida Ekblad

Indoors, a new series of paintings and works on paper continues Ekblad’s signature language of gestural abstraction, layered colour and poetic text. The exhibition is free for everyone to visit.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Baur au Lac and Kistefos-Museum, © Sandra Bauknecht
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Spring has arrived at Aliée Istanbul with something truly special. The hotel’s new Art Cycle runs from April through October, turning the entire property into a living art route, from the garden and courtyards to interior spaces and the surrounding urban fabric.

Rather than decorative additions, the works are conceived as genuine artistic interventions that shape space, atmosphere and perception. The program brings together an impressive roster of international artists: Swiss artist Giulio Gallana contributes a land art piece in the Hasbahçe garden that draws from the landscape itself, while British sculptor Tony Cragg brings his signature energy to the courtyard. German artist Gregor Hildebrandt weaves materiality and memory into his installations, and Ghada Amer explores identity and representation in the interior spaces.

Rounding out the cycle are paper animal sculptures by Papier Atelier around the Little House, and a large-scale mural by Mantra appearing on the façade of Mondaine de Pariso Istanbul in early May.

As Aslı Ünal, Director of Art and Culture at Tersane Istanbul, puts it: «the temporary nature of these works only deepens their significance. Each piece exists here for a limited time, and that transience makes every encounter all the more meaningful.»

Nestled in the historic shipyard district of Tersane on the Golden Horn, Aliée Istanbul is the latest addition to the Paris Society Hotel Collection. With 122 rooms and suites, a 4,000 m² wellness spa and a dedicated art program including its own collection and artist residencies, the hotel has established itself as one of Istanbul’s most creatively ambitious addresses.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Aliée Istanbul
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Some artworks fill a space. Others transform it. With New York Apple, Claude Lalanne achieves exactly that, a poetic, monumental gesture now on view at Le Bristol Paris. Presented by Christie’s, the sculpture has already emerged as a standout highlight of the upcoming 20/21 Century Art Evening Sale.

Standing nearly 2.5 meters tall, New York Apple is Lalanne’s most ambitious interpretation of a motif she has explored since the 1960s. What began as an intimate study evolves here into a striking balance of surreal transformation and organic elegance. This edition (7/8, 2008), estimated at €5–7 million, embodies the unique blend of imagination and formal precision that defines her work.

Its placement at Le Bristol is more than curatorial, it’s cultural. Set within the hotel’s refined salons and iconic garden, the sculpture engages in a dialogue with a space synonymous with Parisian art de vivre.

No stranger to prestigious stages, New York Apple has appeared from Park Avenue in New York to the gardens of Versailles. Its current presentation in Paris marks yet another sophisticated chapter in its journey.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Le Bristol Paris / Anna Buklovska © Christie’s Images Limited 2026 
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One of the most important exhibitions ever dedicated to Alexander Calder, «Calder. Rêver en Équilibre» has been conceived in close collaboration with the Calder Foundation, its principal lender. The display also features loans from international institutions and leading private collectors, bringing together nearly 300 works: stabiles and mobiles – to use the Calderian terminology for static and kinetic abstractions – as well as wire portraits, carved wooden figures, paintings, drawings, and even jewelry, designed as unique sculptures.

Apple Monster, 1938. Wood, wire, and paint, 66″ x 55 1/2″ x 32 1/2″. Calder Foundation, New York; Gift of Alexander S. C. Rower in memory of Mary Calder Rower, 2015. Photograph by Tom Powel Imaging © Calder Foundation, New York.

Throughout the chronological journey spanning more than 3,000 m2, the exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton will highlight Calder’s fundamental artistic concerns: movement above all, but also light, reflection, humble materials, sound, the ephemeral, gravity, performance, and the interplay of positive and negative space.

Devil Fish, 1937. Sheet metal, bolts, and paint. 68″ x 64″ x 47″. Photograph by David Heald © Calder Foundation, New York.

The anniversary exhibition is enriched by contributions from Calder’s contemporaries. Works by the artist’s friends Jean Arp, Barbara Hepworth, Jean Hélion, and Piet Mondrian, as well as Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso, will situate Calder’s radical inventiveness within the avant- garde movement. 34 photographs taken by some of the most important photographers of the 20th century – Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész, Gordon Parks, Man Ray, Irving Penn, and Agnès Varda, among others – will show an artist walking a tightrope between art and life. «Calder. Rêver en Équilibre» will also feature focused presentations dedicated to key bodies of Calder’s work, including his beloved Constellation series and his dynamic jewelry.

Calder with Mobile (1941) in his Roxbury studio, 1941. Photograph by Herbert Matter © Calder Foundation, New York.

In line with previous monographic exhibitions dedicated to major 20th and 21st century figures – such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell, Charlotte Perriand, Mark Rothko, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter – the Fondation Louis Vuitton is dedicating all of its exhibition spaces, and for the first time its adjoining lawn, to Calder’s work. In doing so, the exhibition initiates a dialogue between Calder’s volumes, planes and movements and those of Frank Gehry’s architecture.

Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris – from April 15th to August 18th – Calder. Rêver En Equilibre.

LoL, Sandra

La Grande vitesse (1:5 intermediate maquette). 1969. Sheet metal, bolts, and paint, 102″ x 135″ x 93″ (259.1 x 342.9 x 236.2 cm).

The Brass Family. 1929. Brass wire and painted wood. Overall: 67 × 41 1/8 × 8 7/8in. (170.2 × 104.5 × 22.5 cm). Gift of the artist. Inv. N.: 69.255 – Artwork Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA – Permission for usage must be provided in writing from Scala.

Harps and Heart, c. 1937. Brass wire, loop: 40″; element: 6 1/4″ x 4″. Photograph by Maria Robledo © Calder Foundation, New York.

Photos: © Louis Vuitton
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To mark International Women’s Day, Villa Igiea in Palermo presents «We Are All Whatever Singularities,» an exhibition by the conceptual feminist artist collective Claire Fontaine, on view from 7 March to 10 May 2026.

Inspired by philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s idea of the «singularity,» the exhibition reflects on the human condition and our potential to become many different things. Claire Fontaine presents three silkscreens referencing Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe portraits, reinterpreted with varying colours and overlaid phrases that question identity, authorship, and the ways digital networks connect and divide us. The exhibition also includes the sculpture Brickbat, transforming a book on Selinunte into a solid stone block, and the luminous installation Luminous Fountain, symbolizing the continuous cycle of life and memory.

Alongside the exhibition, Villa Igiea introduces the cultural program «Sicilian Matriarchy,» curated by Rocco Forte Hotels. Inspired by the legendary Sicilian icon Donna Franca Florio, the program invites guests to explore Palermo through experiences led by remarkable women.

These encounters include a visit to Claire Fontaine’s studio, a guided exploration of the Norman Palace and Cappella Palatina through the stories of four historical queens named Constance, a meeting with artisan Carolina Guthman dedicated to preserving traditional Sicilian embroidery, and an intimate chamber concert performed by young female musicians in a Liberty-style palazzo.

Through art, history, and craftsmanship, Villa Igiea continues to position itself as a cultural meeting point where contemporary creativity and the spirit of Sicily come together.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Rocco Forte Hotels
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