Sandra‘s Closet

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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Fun fact: I love watching football, and I love dressing for it even more. Football outfits are a category of their own in my closet, and just wait, I will show you.

My Look: Soccer

But first things first. Congratulations, Murat Yakin. The best Swiss World Cup run in years, ended by a refereeing decision nobody will defend. What a tournament, what a team, and the whole country stood behind them. Switzerland already has the best chocolate, the best watches and the best mountains.

Murat Yakin with me

Now the internet has decided we also have the best looking coach. To all the girls worldwide suddenly interested in Swiss football: hands off, he is very much taken, and his wife is wonderful. Proud of this team. Hopp Schwiiz.

My Look: Let’s Eat Cake

And if you are wondering how this photo happened: pure coincidence, he walked in while I was celebrating my birthday with my girls, and since we know each other, of course he stopped to say hello.

Moments like these remind me why I am so proud to be Swiss. A small country with a big heart, and right now, with a team that gave us every reason to celebrate.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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Summer holidays are in full swing, and yet CHANEL almost makes me wish for the first day of school. The house has turned the humble geometry set into the chicest collector’s piece of the season, complete with ruler, compass and protractor, all dressed in its unmistakable codes. I was always rather good at geometry, but with this set, my circles would have come out nothing short of couture. No one draws the line quite as elegantly as Chanel, quite literally. Available for € 1,200. Class dismissed!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL
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Flying High: My First Impressions of SWISS Senses on the A350

There are people who view flying as a necessary evil. I am not one of them. For me, stepping onto a plane is pure joy, a ritual I look forward to the moment I book a ticket. So when I flew the brand-new SWISS A350 to Boston and back to Zurich, I was already smiling before I reached the gate.

The SWISS Senses cabin concept is the airline’s most significant product investment in its history, part of a broader 2.5 billion Euro overhaul across the Lufthansa Group. And Boston holds a special place in this story: it was the very first intercontinental destination the A350 ever served, with flights launching in November 2025. So in a way, flying this route felt like being part of something historic.

The experience begins long before you board. One of the things I genuinely love about flying First Class with SWISS is the ritual of it: dedicated check-in, your own security lane, being driven to the aircraft. It sets a tone. It signals that the next several hours belong entirely to you.

The First Class cabin on the A350 is intimate by design. Just three suites, each a private sanctuary with walls nearly six feet high and sliding doors that close the world away. The bathroom is spacious and offers great amenities.

On my outbound flight I sat in 1K, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The aisle beside that seat sees almost no traffic, which means the privacy feels absolute.

On the return I was in 1A, which sits across from the middle suite. If you are travelling as a couple, 1A paired with the booked middle suite is actually a lovely configuration: you face each other across a natural divide and can keep your doors open to create your own little world within the world.

I would, however, caution anyone against booking the middle suite as a pair without thinking it through carefully. Sharing it means one person must essentially climb over the other to exit. There is only a single screen, so agreeing on what to watch becomes non-negotiable. And the absence of a window makes it feel surprisingly enclosed, almost claustrophobic. Given that it commands a premium over the already premium First Class fare, I struggle to justify the cost unless you are truly content to be in your own cocoon together.

The suite itself is beautiful. Thoughtfully designed, genuinely luxurious in feel. The iPad-based control system is a real improvement over what came before: intuitive, elegant, effortless.

The personal wardrobe with its proper coat hanger is a small touch that makes an outsized difference when you board with a longer jacket and simply do not want to fold it into an overhead bin.

Speaking of which: storage. This is where I must be honest. For a First Class passenger, especially one who travels as I do with a carry-on trolley and a weekend bag, the space is simply not generous enough. The under-seat compartment fits one; the other must find a home elsewhere. On both flights the crew was wonderful and accommodated my trolley in their own storage, but this should not be necessary at such a price point. In Business Class, the situation is even more pronounced because the central overhead bins were removed in the new configuration, creating a genuine shortage of overhead space throughout the cabin. Coats, too, must be managed independently in Business, where there is no equivalent of the First Class wardrobe.

The Business Class cabin is worth a visit, even if only to look. The SWISS Senses concept offers five distinct seat types: the Business Suite, Privacy Seat, Extra Space Seat, Classic Seat and Extra Long Bed Seat, all with direct aisle access. My personal favourite configuration from what I observed is the centre pair with a table on each side. For a solo traveller or a couple who enjoy their own space, it is genuinely excellent. However, if you are travelling as a family or with young children, the layout becomes challenging. Many seat pairings face away from each other into the aisle rather than toward one another, which makes the physical closeness of family travel oddly disconnected. It is one of those things the design did not fully account for.

I also took a brief look at the Premium Economy, and it genuinely impressed me. The value proposition there is real, and I can imagine recommending it without hesitation to someone who wants a step up without the full investment.

The food, as always with SWISS, was outstanding. I will never tire of eating at 35,000 feet. There is something eternally civilised about a beautifully set tray and a glass of wine above the clouds.

Now for two honest caveats. On my return flight, the iPad system failed entirely, which was frustrating in a way that would have been unthinkable in a more established product. We also had overhead lighting that could not be switched off and ultimately had to be covered with tape, which is not quite the first impression this extraordinary aircraft deserves. And the Starlink Wi-Fi, though very much a selling point, dropped in and out on both legs rather than delivering the seamless connectivity promised. These are early days for the aircraft on this route, and I fully expect the teething troubles to be resolved quickly. SWISS is too detail-oriented an airline to let these things linger.

What stays with me is the feeling. SWISS is an airline that genuinely cares about the experience it creates. My SWISS Senator status means I can access better seats without a surcharge and even use miles toward First Class, and I am reminded every time I travel with them why loyalty to a single airline is worthwhile.

The new SWISS Senses on the A350 is not a perfect product yet, but it is a magnificent one. If you have the opportunity to experience it, take it.

And if Boston is the destination, even better: you will be flying one of the most storied new routes in recent European aviation history. Bon voyage.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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DRESSED FOR THE TOP: What «Ladies First» Gets Brilliantly Right

Sometimes the most important things happen when you slow down. Over the Whitsun weekend in the English countryside, I made a conscious decision to step away from the noise of social media and work obligations and simply breathe. I read, I rested, and I watched a film that has been dividing audiences since it landed on Netflix: «Ladies First«, starring Rosamund Pike and Sacha Baron Cohen, directed by Thea Sharrock.

Let me say this clearly: I loved it.

I loved Rosamunde Pike’s performance in «Ladies First».

Yes, the critics have been ruthless. The reviews have been unkind. But I found myself completely charmed, not despite the film’s unapologetic playfulness, but because of it. «Ladies First» reminds me of the romantic comedies of the nineties and early two-thousands, films that dared to be funny and warm and utterly unashamed of themselves. In a landscape of relentlessly self-serious cinema, there is something genuinely refreshing about a film that winks at you and then makes you think.

The premise is deceptively simple: a swaggering male chauvinist, played with wonderfully committed physicality by Baron Cohen, wakes up in a parallel world where women hold all the power, and men occupy every diminished, overlooked, and underestimated role that women have quietly endured for centuries. It sounds like a comedy setup. And it is. But beneath the laughs lies something that is, when you sit with it, genuinely sobering.

Because the joke only lands if we recognise the truth it is built on.

The film earns those laughs honestly. When the men are womensplained to in board meetings, when someone is called testerical, when the power lunch happens at Burger Queen, when he has to shop at Cockette, and when, in perhaps the film’s most quotable moment, someone declares «he got us by the ovaries.» I laughed out loud. Genuinely. The kind of laugh that reminds you why great comedy, however cheesy, is never a small thing.

The reality is that women remain startlingly underrepresented at the top of almost every major industry. What «Ladies First» does, wrapped in all its glorious cheesiness, is hold a mirror up to a dynamic most of us encounter on a regular basis and simply accept. The question the film poses, the one that stayed with me long after the credits rolled, is whether women would behave differently if we truly held that power. My honest answer: yes, I believe we would. And I think that is something worth celebrating.

But there is another conversation the film opens up, and it is one I find especially compelling as someone who lives and breathes fashion. In this reimagined world, the visual language of power shifts entirely. Clothes become a different kind of currency, and the film understands, perhaps more than it is given credit for, that what you wear is never simply what you wear.

The power of a good jacket: Power Shoulders

Fashion has always been a form of communication that requires no words. Research has consistently reinforced what those of us who dress with intention already know instinctively. A 2019 Harvard Business Review study found that 85 percent of professionals perceive well-dressed individuals as more competent, regardless of gender. Psychologists describe this through the concept of «enclothed cognition,» the idea that clothing does not merely reflect our state of mind but actively shapes it. When you dress with authority, you think and move with authority. The two are inseparable.

Nothing beats a well cut suit in a great hue: Never Seen Together 

This does not mean we need to borrow from a masculine wardrobe. That conversation belongs to another era. True power dressing today is about intention. It is a sharp, beautifully cut blazer worn with a silk slip skirt. It is a confident colour when the room expects beige. It is structure and precision and the quiet, undeniable statement of a woman who knows exactly what she is doing before she has said a single word. And let us not forget: we also look incredible in a men’s suit. That is our advantage, and it always has been. We can wear everything. Femininity is not the opposite of power. It is, when wielded deliberately, one of its most potent expressions.

One of my favorite suits in my closet that is inspired by menswear: Istanbul Memories

Ladies First may not be the film the critics wanted. But it might just be the film we needed. It is funny, it is generous, and hidden inside its warm, crowd-pleasing exterior is a question that is anything but trivial.

It is powerful to mix female and male elements: Dream More

What would the world look like if we dressed, and led, on our own terms?

I think we already know the answer.

LoL, Sandra

An unexpected combination of color and cut: Oversized Cool

Changing your appearance is a powerful thing to do: Bang

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht and Netflix
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London is having a moment. Galleries are unveiling new exhibitions, restaurant terraces are buzzing with an international crowd, and the city’s royal parks are drawing the global it-set like nowhere else this season. At the centre of it all sits The Lanesborough Summer Picnic, a collaboration with Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé that turns an afternoon in Hyde Park into a masterclass in effortless luxury.

Forget the beach. The most stylish escape this summer comes in a picnic basket from one of London’s most storied addresses. Perched at the edge of Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, The Lanesborough has long been synonymous with Regency grandeur and impeccable service. Its 93 rooms, 48 suites, and signature butler service set the tone before you even step outside.

Executive Chef Shay Cooper has designed a menu that feels as considered as a couture look: smoked London Cure salmon with blinis and capers, burrata with Marinda tomatoes and pomegranate, wild mushroom and truffle filo parcels, and a Sutton Hoo chicken terrine. Scones with clotted cream and fresh English strawberries with vanilla Chantilly cream bring things to a deliciously classic close. Every course finds its match in a perfectly chilled bottle of Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé.

Available daily until 6 September 2026, priced at £295 for two with champagne included. Summer in London, done right.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of The Lanesborough
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Ralph Lauren and the USPS Just Made Stamps Worth Collecting
For nearly six decades, Ralph Lauren has been synonymous with American style. Now he is leaving his mark on something even more quintessentially American: the postage stamp.

To celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the U.S. Postal Service invited the designer, and 2025 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, to curate «American Icons,» a 13-stamp commemorative pane. It is the first time in USPS history that a single individual has been handed the creative reins over an entire official stamp issuance, and the result feels exactly as considered and layered as you would expect from Lauren.

The pane draws from his personal archives and the visual touchstones that have shaped his career over the decades. Twelve stamps line the outer edges, each one a quiet portrait of American life: Jackie Robinson’s worn baseball glove, a Diné blanket woven by Naiomi Glasses, a pickup truck, the Empire State Building. At the centre sits a 13th stamp, larger and anchoring the entire composition, featuring Lauren’s own knit flag design framed in blue denim and marked simply «1776 to 2026.»

Separately, the USPS is also releasing a 2026 U.S. Flag Mail Use Stamp, its design pulled directly from the distinctive knit texture of Lauren’s iconic Flag Sweater.

A Ralph Lauren project without a wearable counterpart would be incomplete, and so a limited edition capsule collection launches globally on June 9, the day of the official dedication ceremony. The lineup brings back a reimagined American Flag Sweater alongside a classic Polo Shirt and a tailored Ball Cap, each piece rooted in the same heritage the stamps celebrate.

The stamps are available now for pre-order through USPS locations and online. The apparel drops June 9 at select Ralph Lauren stores and on ralphlauren.com.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Ralph Lauren #AmericanIconsStamps
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The Best Gift You Can Give a Mother? This.
There are days that ask nothing of you. No deadlines, no decisions, no notifications. Just the quiet luxury of being somewhere beautiful with someone you love.

On one of our recent days in Boston, Anouk and I did exactly that. We gave ourselves over to a full day at the Guerlain Spa at the Raffles Boston, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

The Raffles Boston has become my favorite hotel in the city, and for good reason. There is a level of care here that is hard to articulate but impossible to miss. Everything feels considered, generous, and effortlessly refined. It is the kind of place that makes you want to stay longer than planned.

The spa occupies the entire fourth floor, and it shows. Three private treatment suites with hydrotherapy baths and showers, a dedicated couples suite, separate saunas for women and men, a steam room, invigorating experience showers, a 20 meter vitality pool, and a fitness center equipped with Technogym. It is a world unto itself.

You sink into the spa the moment you arrive. The duvets are impossibly soft, the light is warm, the whole space has that rare quality of feeling genuinely unhurried. We had a couples massage, side by side in the same room, and were offered a choice between two oils: one with a gardenia note, the other a deeper, warmer blend of patchouli, tonka bean and vanilla.

We chose the latter. Both of us, without hesitation. The massage was exceptional, the therapists precise and intuitive, and the Guerlain products throughout were simply extraordinary. The scents alone are worth the trip.

Afterwards we swam, sat in the sauna, let the steam room do its work. One of those days you want to press pause on.

On a day like today, it feels worth saying: if you are still looking for a way to celebrate the mother in your life, an experience like this is the answer. Not a thing. Time, beautifully held.

And for those of us in Switzerland: Guerlain Spas are closer than you think. In Geneva at The Woodward, in Lausanne at the Beau-Rivage Palace. Both are destinations in their own right.

Happy Mother’s Day!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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A Retreat for the Overwhelmed Soul: Four Seasons The Nam Hai Brings Back Its «Inner Peace & Wisdom Programme»

If you have ever felt like the noise of modern life simply will not let up, a small stretch of coastline in central Vietnam might be exactly what your nervous system is asking for.

From 7 to 9 August 2026, Four Seasons The Nam Hai returns with its «Inner Peace & Wisdom» Retreat, held within the celebrated Heart of the Earth Spa on the pristine shores of Ha My Beach. The programme is co-led by guest expert Judy Xu, founder of Balance Health Hong Kong and co-founder of Manifest Co-Pilot, alongside Sudha Nair, the resort’s own wellness manager and resident healer, who brings over two decades of experience in naturopathy and yoga across India, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam.

The retreat is built around three interlocking ideas: returning the nervous system to calm, cultivating emotional resilience in the face of difficulty, and accessing a deeper state of stillness where clarity and inspired action naturally arise. Over three days, guests move through a layered programme of breathwork, somatic practices, energy healing, yoga and meditation, each session designed to build on the last.

What makes this edition particularly compelling is the collaboration between Judy and Sudha, who will co-facilitate every session rather than dividing the programme between them. General Manager Marcel Oostenbrink describes the guest response to last year’s programme as remarkable, with participants reporting shifts that continued long after they returned home.

The spa itself sets a fitting stage. Rooted in the teachings of Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, the Heart of the Earth Spa weaves crystal singing bowls, overwater treatment villas and tropical lotus lagoons into a philosophy that moves with the rhythms of nature rather than against them. The retreat is further supported by the resort’s Balance Menu, a mindful eating programme centred on fresh, unprocessed ingredients that encourages guests to reconnect with the body’s own natural signals.

For anyone ready to trade overstimulation for genuine stillness, Ha My Beach in August is a quietly compelling invitation.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Four Season The Nam Hai
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A Proud Parent’s Letter to the World
She Did It – A Master’s Degree from Northeastern
Bouvé College of Health Sciences · Boston, Massachusetts

There are moments in a parent’s life that stop time. Not dramatically, no fanfare, no slow motion, just a quiet, overwhelming wave of pride that rises from somewhere deep and settles over everything. This week, I had one of those moments. More than once, actually.

My daughter has earned her Master’s degree from Northeastern University in Boston. And if you’ve never had the privilege of witnessing a Northeastern graduation ceremony, let me tell you: it is something else entirely. Northeastern doesn’t just hand you a diploma. They celebrate you, with performances, powerful speeches, and a sense of ceremony that makes the whole thing feel genuinely historic.

Tuesday: The Moment Her Name Was Called
The college-specific ceremony at Bouvé was held outside by the water. The sky was blue and clear, beautiful, if brutally cold. We sat bundled up, scanning the rows of graduates, waiting. And then it happened: her name, read aloud, ringing out across the crowd. She walked up, accepted her diploma, and that was it. Everything all those years of work had been building toward, right there in thirty seconds of pure joy. I won’t pretend I kept it together.

There’s something uniquely powerful about the smaller college ceremony. It’s intimate. Personal. Every single graduate is called by name, acknowledged as an individual, not just one face in a sea of thousands.

Wednesday: Fenway Park and a Storm That Didn’t Stop Anyone
The big ceremony, the full university convocation, was held the following day at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. All Master’s students, all doctoral candidates, the entire Northeastern family gathered in one iconic stadium.
It rained. Of course it rained, because apparently this is now our tradition. At her undergraduate graduation, we also sat in the cold and the wet and laughed through it.

Wednesday was no different. The clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped, and not a single person left. Nobody even flinched. A stadium full of graduates, families, faculty – all of them choosing to be exactly where they were, rain and all. There’s something quietly magnificent about that.

«Whatever you envision, remember the three lessons you taught me. Luck is a skill. Imagination beats computation and humanity is your superpower.» – Joseph E. Aoun, President of Northeastern University

Global superstar Hilary Duff, who was Northeastern’s undergraduate commencement speaker with Joseph E. Aoun. Photo via @presidentaoun.

The performances were exceptional. The speeches were sharp, funny, and genuinely moving. The energy inside Fenway gave the whole event a gravitas that a conventional auditorium simply cannot manufacture.

What It Means
Studying in the United States, earning an American university degree, it demands so much more than academic ability. It demands courage, adaptability, resilience. A different language, a different culture, an ocean between you and home. She navigated all of it and came out the other side holding a Master’s diploma from one of the country’s most respected institutions.

I am incredibly proud. Not just of the degree, but of the person she has become through the pursuit of it. Whatever comes next, this is a foundation she will carry forever. And I cannot wait to see where she goes.

Congratulations, to my daughter, the Master. May every chapter ahead be as bold as this one.
Written with love, pride, and slightly frozen fingers somewhere outside Fenway.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

LoL, Sandra

Even Cooper, the campus dog, dressed up for the occasion.

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
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