Sandra‘s Closet

Let’s go and have some fun. Life is too short to wear boring clothes… give me colors, give me style, give me sparkles and I smile…

My look: Asymmetric leather cape by Saint Laurent, Caldes sequined-embellished chiffon and cotton mini dress, Lecce leather belt, and Lakfee studded leather ankle boots, all by Isabel Marant, crystal-embellished leather clutch by Prada, and chain necklace with heart and logo charm by CHANEL.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © David Biedert Photography
Location: Park Hyatt Zurich
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission.

Another fashion blockbuster to add to your diary – the V&A is going off-brand after the must-see exhibitions about Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, Mary Quant and has dedicated an entire show to the ultimate symbol of Japan: the KIMONO, the traditional garment worn by men, women and children.

Fashionable brocade patterns of the Imperial Palace, woodblock print, made by Utagawa Kunisada, 1847-1852, Japan. Museum no. Circ.636 to Circ. 638– 1962. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In kimono it is the pattern on the surface, rather than the cut of the garment, that is significant. Indications of social status, personal identity and cultural sensitivity are expressed through colour and decoration. The kimono worn by women, particularly the young, were the most richly decorated and it is generally these that survive in collections like that of the V&A.

The exhibition entitled ‘Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk’ traces the traditional Japanese garment’s universal appeal, rich history and ever-evolving style. It is the first major exhibition in Europe with such a focus and reaches from 17th-century rarities to 21st-century streetwear.
Tracing its influence across the work of couturiers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Star Wars costume designers, this demonstrates kimono’s evolving story as well as its rich history.

Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk
29 February – 21 June 2020
Gallery 39 and the North Court

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of V&A

Here is my recent interview for GLOBUS Magazine about my beauty favorites, available in German and French. Click here to read it online. My avid readers will know them already… below you find the six products that I cannot live without and why is that…

1 The Treatment Lotion Hydrating Mask x 6 by La Mer
My secret for an immediate glow, especially after a long distance flight.
2 The Moisturizing Soft Cream, 60ml by La Mer
My everyday must for the prefect hydrated skin.
3 Lavender Extrême Eau de Parfum, 50ml by Tom Ford
I have fallen in love with this very special scent as it reminds me of my beautiful trip to the lavender fields in Gordes.
4 So Intense Mascara – 1 Deep Black by Sisley Paris
My favorite mascara of all.
5 Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base – Medium by NARS
The best base to make your eyeshadows last forever.
6 Lip Glow – 006 Berry by Dior
An amazing lip product to look fresh in one second.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Via Globus and © Sandra Bauknecht, © Virgile Guinard for Tom Ford
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission.

Since my teenage years, I had been dreaming about receiving a LOVE bracelet by CARTIER one day. Of course, I could have bought it myself but to be gifted with one and its love message behind is so much more meaningful. Now, I was blessed twice and got a rose gold one with diamonds from my love and a small white gold one from my girlfriends for my birthday.

What makes CARTIER bracelets so special? As some of the most recognizable luxury jewelry items, often stacked up the wrists and sparkling on our favorite celebrities, this is what has made it a luxury staple over the past few years. The LOVE bracelet for example has been apart of the Cartier DNA as one of the brand’s heritage designs for around four decades.

LOVE BRACELET in rose gold with four diamonds

Created in 1969 by Italian jewelry designer Aldo Cipullo in the New York workshops of the French luxury jewelry house, the iconic jewelry piece was modeled after medieval chastity belts, so-to-say «locked into love» and can only be opened or closed with a screwdriver that comes with the bracelet. For the first time, a fine jewelry piece was meant to be worn day and night. At the time of the original release, CARTIER started a kind of influencer marketing and gifted bracelets to a curated list of some of the defining It-couples of the century to publicize the romantic symbolism. Among them were for example Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen. Only in 2017, CARTIER launched the smaller sizes so that it has become easier for the wearer to create the stacked look everybody wants today.

LOVE BRACELET SM in white gold

Aldo Cipullo wearing his iconic creations, the LOVE and JUSTE UN CLOU bracelets.

While the LOVE bracelet was Cipullo’s first design, he went on to design another equally popularized design – JUSTE UN CLOU (just a nail) – only three years later in 1971. Encircling the wrist in a thick nailhead, this creation is actually my favorite, not only because it is easier to remove. By the way, the diamond encrusted versions of the LOVE bracelets come with a clip closure and don’t need to be closed with a screwdriver. Can you imagine that today, most hospital emergency rooms are equipped with the latter to be able to remove the jewelry piece in case of any medical crisis…

CARTIER flagship store at Fifth Avenue in NYC

JUSTE UN CLOU bracelet in rose gold with diamond pavé

In 2012, to commemorate CARTIER’s 165th anniversary, the brand opened an exhibit at the CARTIER Maison on Fifth Avenue to celebrate Cipullo’s work in the 1970s and released an entire collection of earrings, necklaces, rings based on the JUSTE UN CLOU bracelet.

CLASH DE CARTIER SM bracelet in rose gold

Last year, a completely new collection was launched with the name CLASH DE CARTIER, that’s all about duality, and contradictions, celebrating the modern woman. For the previous post, click here please. I feel blessed to wear all three lines at my wrist that make me happy every day…

JUSTE UN CLOU bracelet in rose gold with diamonds, LOVE bracelet SM in white gold, LOVE bracelet in rose gold with 4 diamonds, and CLASH DE CARTIER bracelet SM in rose gold, all by Cartier.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Cartier and © Sandra Bauknecht; Courtesy of Toteone

Today, I received the breaking news that Raf Simons will join Prada starting April 2, 2020. Rumors had been out since quite some time and now it is official. The Belgium designer will join the Italian fashion house as co-creative director alongside Miuccia Prada with equal responsibilities for creative input and decision-making. Their first runway presentation together will be for S/S 2021 in September 2020. «It’s a new wind,» said Miuccia Prada and I have to admit that I agree with Tim Blanks who wrote: «I cannot think of anything like this in the history of fashion.»

In 1978, Miuccia Prada inherited the label that was known for luggage making and transformed it into a global fashion brand with her creative designs. Prada has been a true trendsetter for decades, sometimes too fast thinking for the fashion world, she is often a few steps ahead of the game. Her iconic black nylon backpack launched in 1985 caused a real fashion frenzy and has been popular since then. In 1989 she added ready-to-wear to the offerings. Simons, who will continue to design his namesake menswear label, is the first designer from outside the Prada family to join the house since its inception.

Trendsetting: Prada S/S 2012 ad campaign photographed by Steven Meisel

Today at the Prada press conference, Simons announced: “Prada is a brand that I have been interested in my whole life. I cannot wait to express to all of you the dialogue I will have with Mrs Prada and her team. To be really honest, Mr Bertelli approached me right after my exit from Calvin Klein. Miuccia and I had a conversation about creativity in today’s fashion system. And it brought me to open dialogue with many designers, not just Mrs Prada. We have to re-look at how creativity can evolve in today’s fashion system.»

Power couple: Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada

Simons, who had worked with Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli before, when he was hired as creative director of Jil Sander in 2005. Prada had bought the German label and was looking for someone to fill the shoes of the namesake designer at that time. Simons’ seven-year tenure at the brand was an absolute success, and the Prada Group sold it to a London private equity firm in 2006.
Simons later worked at Dior and his latest venture was at Calvin Klein, where he was chief creative officer, and abruptly excited in December 2018.

Presented in Milan last Thursday: Miuccia Prada’s last single show for F/W 2020

Miuccia Prada has still a very strong view on fashion. Yet, it seems hard for her at the moment to translate this into sales. Rumors had been that the family is planning to sell to one of the big conglomerates. With the appointment of Simons, it seems that the Prada family will keep it a family business that also owns Miu Miu and Church’s.

Good luck, Raf!

They will have all my support – I have been collecting Prada pieces since a very young age and have always been very fond of the brand. Good luck to Raf, I am really excited to see what the two creative masterminds will come up with…

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Prada and © Sandra Bauknecht

Recently, I told you about Katie Holmes‘s cashmere cardigan and bra set that went viral in the fashion world (for the previous post, click here please). Of course, I couldn’t resist neither. Here you see me wearing it on the streets of Milan during Fashion Week yesterday when I went on a little shopping spree in between appointments and shows.

My look: Scarlet cashmere-blend cardigan, Eda cashmere soft-cup bra, and Vivian cropped high-rise bootcut jeans, all by Khaite, leather exaggerated-sole sneakers by Alexander McQueen, printed mulberry silk-twill hair tie, and small TB Monogram print crossbody bag in orange and beige, both by Burberry, plissé sunglasses by Dolce Gabbana, JUSTE UN CLOU bracelet in rose gold with diamonds, LOVE bracelet SM in white gold, LOVE bracelet in rose gold with 4 diamonds, and CLASH DE CARTIER bracelet SM in rose gold, and heart necklace with diamond pavé in yellow gold, all by Cartier, Rose Céleste necklace in 18k yellow and white gold, diamond, onyx and mother-of-pearl, and Astro Dior aquarius necklace, both by Dior Fine Jewellery.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht
Disclosure: I earn a commission when you follow the affiliation links to make a purchase. 

Prada presents images created by Thomas Demand for the new window displays for its stores across the world, a radically beautiful and colourful sequence of blossoming cherry trees that celebrates the arrival of spring.

Hanami – which means ‘flower viewing’ – is the centuries-old Japanese art of enjoying the beauty of flowers. The cherry blossom season, a highpoint in the year, marks the end of winter and represents the youth, zest for life and emotion embodied by spring, a truly universal image and a powerful symbol of energy.

Spread seamlessly across the shop’s windows, Demand’s floral images, entitled Blossom, give rise to a vibrant narrative which, inserted into the real world, creates a new dialogue with passers-by in cities around the world.

This work fits perfectly into the German artist’s oeuvre, which has the concept of photography as a global language at its heart. Demand is known for making photographs of three-dimensional models that look like real images of rooms and other spaces, often sites loaded with social and political meanings. He thus describes himself not as a photographer, but as a conceptual artist for whom photography is an intrinsic part of his creative process. Having studied sculpture under Fritz Schwegler at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alongside Katharina Fritsch and Thomas Schütte, Demand began his career as a sculptor. In 1993, he began to use photography to record his elaborate, life-sized paper-and-cardboard constructions of actually or formerly existing environments and interior spaces, and soon started to create constructions for the sole purpose of photographing them. The photograph he takes of this model with a large-format-camera is the final stage of his work, and it is only this image, most often executed in an edition of six, that is exhibited unframed behind Plexiglas, not the models. On the contrary, Demand destroys his «life-size environments» after he has photographed them.

In this series for Prada, Demand once again rebuilds existing images and replaces them with an artificial version of themselves. In his collaboration with Prada, his work encounters and enters into a fruitful exchange with the world of fashion.

The installations, with a curved or box-shaped illuminated backdrop, are rounded off by steel display stands with a matte pink Perspex surface, or illuminated cylinders with the same floral pattern as the scenery.

Te display can be admired at Prada’s stores in New York, Milan, Paris, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles and other selected cities starting this month.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Prada – © Thomas Demand

Here comes a new must-have for all fashion and art lovers. A Lanvin master piece, the Pencil bag reinterprets Lanvin’s heritage by highlighting difference. Its sculptural handle, shaped as a cat, is inspired by Jeanne Lanvin’s cat andirons, imagined by the artist Armand Rateau in 1920. So beautiful – an object of desire.

TO SHOP LANVIN ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE – to pre-order the new must-have bags, click HERE please.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Lanvin

This spring, all eyes are on CHANEL! The new mascara LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL is definitely something you shouldn’t miss. Why is that?

Two years ago, CHANEL shook up the beauty world with LE VOLUME RÉVOLUTION DE CHANEL mascara, equipped with the first 3D-printed brush marketed on an industrial scale – a first in the mascara world. It was an immediate hit with women worldwide and hasn’t dropped out of the Top 5 bestsellers in Europe since its launch (Presence in the Top 5 in Europe only, in the Top 20 in the UK and the US).

Launched in 2018: LE VOLUME RÉVOLUTION DE CHANEL

Today, CHANEL uses innovation to enhance beauty once again with LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL. It reveals a new brush that visibly extends lash length while offering perfectly controlled volume. With 3D printing by ERPRO 3D Factory, a start-up specialized in this technology, the frontiers of product design are pushed even further. By precisely crafting a unique, tailor-made brush, this was the only approach that could technically translate the creative concept defined by CHANEL in order to respond to new awaited makeup benefits. The mascara brush of LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL is protected by four patent applications.

Launched in 2020: the new LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL

Resulting from a close collaboration between the Packaging Innovation and Research teams, the Makeup Creation Studio and CHANEL Research, the new LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL mascara brush unveils an elegant, streamlined and curved shape that is extremely precise: five branches of two rows of bristles arranged in an elliptical shape with a micro-cavity at the center. This feat was only possible with 3D technology. A simplified approach was taken for a lighter and more flexible brush. With its elastic shape memory, it bends and stretches in all directions before returning to its original form. Ergonomic, it fills with mascara in an instant and delivers it just as intuitively. This brush is as easy to use as it was complex to design. With its perfectly crafted structure, it features an organization of bristles arranged precisely down to the last millimeter. The size of the bristles adapts to the elliptical shape for application in two steps: the longest bristles, at the center, grip and brush each lash by stretching them over their entire length, while the shortest bristles at the tips coat them evenly with the black formula, stroke by stroke. In other words, the work of two brushes in a single tool. This brush was created by printing successive layers of a polyamide powder derived from castor seeds (a bio-sourced material of vegetal origin) and then polymerized with a laser beam.

A mascara with a brush from another world…

The numerous trials carried out to finalize the brush also made it possible to adjust the most important factor: the affinity between the mascara formula and the tool. Thanks to this perfect balance, ensuring an ultra-effective tailor-made result, LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL unites volume and length without compromise. The formula is based on a perfect balance between natural-origin waxes for impeccable glide, stunning curve and a stretch effect. Candelilla wax coats lashes, while carnauba wax ensures magnetic shine. Jojoba esters guarantee the suppleness of the stretch-effect formula and beeswax promises perfect adhesion all day long. Like a latex film, the polymers spread out the lashes in a fan shape. Finally, cellulose coated with ultra-dark «carbon black» pigments envelops lashes and improves their density. Perfectly shaped and covered in black, lashes are extended to the max for eyes that look more wideopen than ever before.
LE VOLUME STRETCH DE CHANEL – CHF 48.00

A perfectly controlled line
New to the eye makeup family, LE LINER DE CHANEL comes in seven shades, including four limited-edition colors. In a simple and understated black tube, this liquid eyeliner hides a soft, extra-thin felt tip. With this flexible tip, this precision advantage helps stylize eyes in a single step with no risk of smudges. It’s never been so simple to show off eyes that look bigger and more wide-open than ever!
Its formula contains a polymer, inspired and derived from latex technology, that sets in the blink of an eye. It guarantees impeccable smudgeproof hold and a waterproof effect that lasts until evening.

Classic shades
512 Noir Profond: a deep black
514 Ultra Brun: a rich brown
516 Rouge Noir: a rich plum

Temporary shades
518 Mauve Métal: a metallic lilac
522 Bronze Doré: an intense caramel bronze
524 Gris Argent: a metallic silver gray
526 Bleu Cobalt: a navy blue
LE LINER DE CHANEL – CHF 48.00

Enhanced structure
It is often said that eyebrows structure the eyes. A good reason to define their shape with LA PALETTE SOURCILS, which unites two textures and four accessories to precisely groom each hair. On the left, a matte wax sculpts and colors the brow line. On the right, a powder softens this result for a more natural finish. Two brushes are included, as well as a spiral brush for more definition and mini tweezers to adjust brow shape hair by hair. It comes in three harmonies for all women, offering a natural makeup result that surpasses perfection.

Shades
01 Light
02 Medium
03 Dark
LA PALETTE SOURCILS – CHF 64.00

In stores in the beginning of March 2020.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL

Fun, iconic, versatile: Louis Vuitton accessories for S/S 2020 play on combinations and Monogram effects, so cute and perfect to elevate every outfit to new heights.

Silk is used in playful new ways and approached from different angles, whether tied around the waist, in the hair, around an arm, or a wrist, worn as a scarf around the neck or simply as a handle for a bag. The collection is punctuated with Louis Vuitton’s signatures and codes: the prints adorning many of the pieces play on the iconic Monogram or showcase the LV Circle signature from the Dauphine bag, referencing the House’s leather goods and know-how.

The Monogram Confidential print (available as a bandeau or a silk square) features chains, clasps and small padlocks on a Monogram background. Available as a shawl or a silk square, the utterly romantic and iconic Tree of Louis takes a look at the history of Louis Vuitton in the form of a Monogram tree blossoming with bags, shoes and accessories that have been designed by the House since its 1854 founding.

So pretty: Louis Vuitton’s Confidential print

More pop and arty inspirations can also be found within the collection, with the ABC bandeau. Spelling out the name Louis Vuitton, each letter is reinvented as a totem, matching an animal or character: the L is for the leopard, a symbol of power; the V is for Vivienne, the House’s mascot. The very contemporary Monogram shawl is reinvented this season in new fluorescent denim colours (pink, yellow or blue/pink).

This contrasting combination of prints, shapes and materials gives each piece unique appeal. A Party Palm Springs calf leather bracelet (my favorite) featuring a miniature version of the Louis Vuitton backpack lives alongside a bandeau that can be worn on the arm, or a look can be customised with two other accessories: the Tie the Knot belt or the Louise smartphone case.

Pilot sunglasses are revisited for the summer with Monogram lenses and fashion jewellery complete this new collection of accessories.

Metal pilot sunglasses

Nanogram brings the Monogram motif to bracelets, earrings and hair jewellery; the LV Planet set, directly inspired by the F/W 2019 show, includes earrings with high graphic impact, composed of two mini-globes linked together and embossed with the LV Circle logo.

LoL, Sandra

Nanogram Sweet Dreams earrings

Photos: © Louis Vuitton