Sandra‘s Closet

Naj Oleari is a beloved Italian brand that garnered extraordinary fame for its original patterned fabrics inspired by nature, which were applied to every kind of accessories. Many of those symbols became iconic especially for young people of the ’80s generation obsessed with designer labels.

This year, Naj Oleari Beauty is ready to come back and tell its new story with the launch of a complete make-up line (50 products – 200 references), packed in rose gold for a modern and refined look. The mythical illustrations of Naj Oleari adorn the details and finishes of every product. Compacts and lipsticks are made with innovative magnetic closures that make them even more practical and elegant.

Furthermore, it is the first time that a make-up line has been made with perfumes created exclusively by Maitre Parfumeur. Lipstick smell like marshmallows for example and nail polishes like fig sorbet.

Tonight, I attended the launch event in Zurich on Bahnhofstrasse at WeSpace. The room was divided into different corners with several activities, from getting your hair braided or a professional make-up look to a photo booth. My favorite part was to make my own lipstick. I wanted to create a perfect nude shade and mixed white, red and brown.

First, I had to melt the wax, then I added some glitter and raspberry extract for an anti-aging effect. The hardest decision was to choose the scent. Vanilla and coconut convinced me the most. After that, I had to go back to the stove to melt everything together. The liquid was filled into a small compartment and put for 20 minuted in the fridge. Et voilà I have the best smelling nude shade.

Thank you for this experience! Naj Olevari is available from end of March at all Müller drugstores in Switzerland.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

I am always on the search for outstanding talent in the fashion industry. Therefore I would like to introduce you to Christos Costarellos. Flowing fabrics, floral prints, delicate embroideries, lace appliqués and an amazing sense for colour are in the DNA of the Athens-based designer. His romantic language tells a story about every dress that is created with moulage and couture techniques inspired by ancient Greek mythology and infused with a youthful, bohemian edge.

«The creative process I follow forms a bridge that connects elements from the past, making them relevant to the present as they project ideas for the future.»
Christos Costarellos

Wearing Costarellos last month in New York (for the outfit post, click here please).

Born in Duesseldorf, Germany, he was introduced to the fashion world at an early age, as his parents both worked in this industry. He studied fashion design at Dimitrelis School of Fashion in Greece and then theater costume design at the London College of Fashion, England before founding his eponymous brand in 1998.

During Paris Fashion Week, I visited Christos in his showroom at the Westin Paris Vendôme and meeting him in person was a true pleasure. He has such an amazing personality and welcomed me with open arms. His passion for craftsmanship, fabrics and colours is contagious. After showing me a video of the quality of his production in Greece and the special creative techniques for the fabric of the dress below, I was really blown me away.

Costarellos F/W 2019

Therefore it is natural that from the beginning, Christos Costarellos has worked with an exclusive clientele, who deeply appreciate his fine tailoring and finishing details. By 2000, his production line was enriched with two new ateliers, which provided the flow for the collections’ development and the unique bespoke creations.

Costarellos Bridal Wear (different seasons)

With a modern approach to timeless, romantic silhouettes, you should definitely check out his bridal wear even if you are not a bride to be. Everyone looks great in a white gown at a black tie event…

Costarellos F/W 2019

Costarellos is on the right path. After many designers struggle to keep haute couture alive, he meets the women’s demand for high-quality clothes at prices way below couture level. His so-called «Nouvelle Couture» is for me a modern way to being sustainable; investing in a beautiful gown that lasts. I would love to declare fast fashion dead!

Costarellos F/W 2019

Many seem to be in accord with me. Meghan Markle is a huge fan! A worldwide distribution network with more than 50 selling points around the globe such as Net-à-Porter, Moda Operandi, Mytheresa, and Harrods are proof of Christos Costarellos’ dignified presence in the fashion industry! In Zurich available at Maison Gassmann.

Below you can enjoy some more photos that I took in the showroom. The beautiful F/W 2019 collection will hit the stores in September 2019 – #costarellosdreamers.

LoL, Sandra

Costarellos F/W 2019 (have a look at the sleeves below – such great craftsmanship)

Photos: Courtesy of Costarellos – Instagram @costarellos
and © Sandra Bauknecht

Welcome to the ​Empathy Suite, a Sky Villa designed by and featuring the works of world-renowned artist Damien Hirst. The artist has collaborated with Bentel & Bentel Architects to design the world’s most expensive hotel room. If you are looking for some for Instagram-worthy moment and you have a spare $100.000 per night, it’s your place to stay at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Sin City has a reputation for excess, and the nearly $690 million renovation of the hotel has also filled it with a huge amount of impressive artwork, including works by Takashi Murakami, KAWS, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and, of course, Hirst.

Once you pass through the gilded doors, you’re met with a 13-foot-long tiger shark that has been trisected into three tanks of formaldehyde, lofted above bottles of top-shelf spirits – Hirst’s first bar project in the United States, featuring the fierce sculpture titled The Unknown (Explored, Explained, Exploded).

The 836-square-meters two-story sky villa sits on top of the Palms and is the first and only of «its kind featuring a collection of contemporary art at this scale.» It’s an eclectic mix of blue-chip and street art that rarely mingles under one roof. With many original pieces from some of Hirst’s most notable series, a custom butterfly-motif mosaic tiled cantilevered pool overlooking the Las Vegas Strip and Venus gray marble featured throughout the villa, it will surely attract lots of celebrities – especially after the announcement that they’ll be holding a three-night festival for the anticipated opening of the KAOS nightclub, featuring the likes of Cardi B, Skrillex, and Travis Scott, with additional performances by Alicia Keys and Hozier at their Pearl Theater.

And if you were wondering where the name Empathy Suite derives from…. , because Hirst wants you «to feel empathy when you’re in it; empathy with all your friends wherever they are and whether you’re with them or not and to feel empathy when you’re spending the night with them in the suite and empathy with the whole world the morning after.»

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Palms Casino Resort

The LOUIS VUITTON TRAVEL BOOK series is an invitation to real and virtual voyages, enriched by intellectual stimulation and poignant moments. In its pages, the illustrations of renowned artists and promising young talents tell the stories of the cities and countries they have visited.
The creative worlds on show are highly diverse: during their travels, these artists from various corners of the world were free to choose their mode of expression and communicated their views of other places through drawing, painting, collage, illustration, cartoons or manga.

This spring, I am very happy that two of my favorite cities will finally be featured:
LOS ANGELES and SEOUL.

LOUIS VUITTON TRAVEL BOOK LOS ANGELES by JAVIER MARISCAL

Javier Mariscal, a graphic designer, illustrator, designer, filmmaker, painter, sculptor
and ceramist, is an artist who loves to challenge and who is fond of California. His love affair with Los Angeles began when he and his friend, film director Fernando Trueba, was nominated for the 2012 Oscars for «Chico and Rita», an animated feature film which won numerous international awards.

This is his fifth trip to Los Angeles. Unaffected and curious about everything, he makes friends, immediately getting their portraits down. He sketches figures and faithfully reproduces shapes and attitudes in seconds. Objects and landscapes get the same treatment, either with a sketch on his notebook, or a painting on the iPad.

Los Angeles reminds him of Valencia. The glaring white light that floods the clear blue sky is just the same as the sky above his native city. But what most excites him in L.A. are the neon lights, slogans, shop signs, billboards and logos that swamp the city. What Mariscal takes away from this is a wealth of astonishing typography. His visual universe is brought to life in the streets of Los Angeles — right before his eyes.

LOUIS VUITTON TRAVEL BOOK SEOUL by ICINORI

Icinori is a studio of designers, visual artists, screen printers and publishers dealing in art books, prints, animated books and concertina books. But first and foremost, Icinori is a truly astonishing pair, one soul with two heads, four hands and twenty fingers, belonging to the French-Spanish-Japanese Mayumi Otero and French Raphaël Urwiller, two graduates from the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Strasbourg, which is where they met. They founded Icinori in 2007 when they were still students.

During their many trips to Seoul — they notched up no less than four long stays between 2014 and 2017 — the Icinori pair had the chance to observe the impressive alertness and brisk energy of its people, simple and determined, disciplined and hard-working, epicurean and creative. The two have cleverly succeeded in capturing the beating heart of the capital, immersing themselves in its customs and performing arts, its layers of history and chinks in everyday life. Icinori draws the many details that make up the life of the city: residents’ rhythms, the movement of the street, traders, shopping as religion in Myeong-dong, cosmetic surgery salons, street food — such as the enticing odeng, mandu, «tornado potato,» gimbap and hotteok cakes. Here we have people dancing to K-pop. In the early morning metro, the air is already heavy with the sour scent of kimchi.

«Seoul is an organic city, with astonishing creative energy and visually very elegant, as seen in the powerful design, the signage, the sophisticated signs and typologies of the shapes — circles, triangles and other geometric figures. Good taste is everywhere, sometimes a bit crazy, but universal. It’s a mix of the baroque and the modern. A miracle of the ephemeral and the elegant.»

In book stores from May 2, 2019 for €45.00 each.
160 pages / hardcover
ISBN: 978-2-36983-179-2 (Los Angeles)
ISBN: 978-2-36983-180-8 (Seoul)

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Louis Vuitton

Since Maria Grazia Chiuri has been at the helmet of DIOR, she has made feminism part of her designs. Last Tuesday she presented her F/W 2019 collection for the French Maison in Paris and the opening look of the show comprised a T-shirt with the title of Robin Morgan‘s classic work «Sisterhood Is Global». The American second-wave feminist activist and author was also present at the runway presentation.

Upcoming Friday, March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day, a good reason for Net-à-Porter to team up with some of their favorite ladies in fashion to create an exclusive capsule that you can explore below. Get ahead of the fashion game and be a woman in power.

Happy Weekend from Paris!

LoL, Sandra

International Women’s Day printed cotton-jersey T-shirt by Isabel Marant

International Women’s Day printed cotton-jersey T-shirt by Victoria Beckham

International Women’s Day flocked cotton-jersey T-shirt by ALEXACHUNG

International Women’s Day binary code printed cotton-jersey T-shirt by Rosie Assoulin

International Women’s Day embroidered cotton-jersey T-shirt by Chloé

International Women’s Day printed cotton-jersey T-shirt by Ellery

International Women’s Day printed cotton-jersey T-shirt by Perfect Moment

Photos: Courtesy of the Brands

With UN JARDIN SUR LA LAGUNE, HERMÈS celebrates dreams, and invites to discover a secret place in Venice, where fragrances come from the sky. In this vibrant and caressing perfume, the scents of magnolias and pittosporums mingle with sprays from the sea to create a singular gentleness.

Blooming in the shadow of dreams… this is the fifth fragrance in the HERMÈS Garden-Perfumes collection, the first in this line created by Christine Nagel, who is the Maison’s in-house perfumer since 2013.

Personally speaking, I like her perfumes a lot, and this one is extremely special, so different and intoxicating. Not as fresh as the previous ones, instead slightly oriental. A warm and sunny fragrance that puts a smile on your face and Venice references in perfumery are always interesting, don’t you think?

The illustration for the beautiful packaging is signed by the famous Bosnian artist Safet Zec.

UN JARDIN SUR LA LAGUNE
Eau de Toilette 30ml (CHF 76.00), 50ml (CHF 108.00) and 100ml (CHF 154.00)
Body Lotion 200ml (75.00) and Shower Gel 200ml (CHF 60.00).

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Hermès

Spring is already in full bloom. Are you ready to be fully repowered? Experience François Nars’ revolution in skin – radiance from every angle. Recharge your complexion with a radiance-boosting lineup designed to reveal your skin at its absolute best with an eye make-up in nude shades that will make others green with envy, especially if they are wearing the wrong foundation :-).

Featuring the new, limited-edition SUPER RADIANCE BOOSTER – available in one universal rose gold shade that flatters all skin tones – that amplifies skin’s illumination with a pearlescent glow and lightweight, layerable texture. You can layer it underneath or mix a drop with foundation to customize an all over, radiant glow. For a subtle highlight, blend onto high points of cheekbones, bridge of nose, cupid’s bow and décolleté.

What I truly like is that you can use it to intensify the radiant effect of NARS’ cult-classic complexion essentials:

– the high coverage, longwearing NATURAL RADIANT LONGWEAR FOUNDATION. NARS’ first 16-hour non-comedogenic liquid foundation that stays turned on by the power of radiance. Now available in 34 shades.

– fan-favourite SHEER GLOW FOUNDATION. The glowing, natural radiant finish foundation provides sheer, buildable coverage and evens skin tone. Now available in 34 shades for more luminosity.

– and the bestselling, multi-purpose RADIANT CREAMY CONCEALER. The award-winning multi-action concealer, contours, highlights, corrects, and perfects with medium-to-buildable coverage and a natural radiant finish. Now available in 30 shades.

To finish off your perfect complexion, I recommend the beautiful new, limited edition SKIN DEEP EYE PALETTE – the ultimate palette of nude shadows created for all skin tones. Go from subtle to smoky with rich mattes, lustrous shimmers, and smoldering metallic shadows, infused with NARS’ Pigment Power Suspension for a high-impact, silky effect. Each shadow can be used in a multitude of ways for a variety of François Nars’ signature looks. Wear it. Bare it. Make it yours.

TO SHOP NARS ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE, or above on the respective highlighted text to be transferred directly to the product you like.

Tested and approved by me!

If you are living in the Zurich area, you can benefit from a free professional make-up consultation at Jelmoli. Just call +41 44 220 43 58 and meet Sophie Thibout, NARS make-up artist, who comes to the NARS Counter exclusively for 3 days: Tuesday 5th, Thursday 7th and Saturday 9th of March, 2019.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © NARS and © Sandra Bauknecht

London Fashion Week has always been my favorite as it is the least pretentious one, with many of my preferred designers showing such as Mary Katrantzou and Natasha Zinko. Over time, we all became friends and it is wonderful to see how everyone attends each other’s runway presentations.

Love them both: With Natasha Zinko (left) at Mary’s show and with Mary Katrantzou (right) backstage after.

Here you see me in one of Mary’s last fur pieces (since S/S 2018 she is only using fake fur) that almost got me killed. There were protesters outside of the show who started attacking me. It got so violent that the police had to escort me inside. Backstage after the spectacle, I waited almost 30 minutes with my fox jacket wrapped in a garment bag to leave the premises.

Hiding from the protesters.

My look: Nausheen fox fur coat, and Faylinn dress, both by Mary Katrantzou, Knife suede over-the-knee boots by Balenciaga, large classic flap bag in caviar leather by Chanel, and butterfly crystal earrings by Miu Miu.

The photos were taken before leaving to the show in front of my hotel, COMO The Halkin, located perfectly in the city’s Belgravia district on Halkin Street.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

I love this beautiful sunny weather that truly feels like spring. The perfect time to wear some equestrian-inspired charm at its best. Chloé’s Creative Director Natacha Ramsay-Levi wrangled a rearing horse from the Maison’s archives to create an embroidery motif that appears playful and polished.

My look: Embroidered cotton-blend velvet blazer, matching embroidered cotton-blend velvet straight-leg pants, snake-print satin-jersey top, Roy mini embroidered leather bucket bag and snake print booties, all by Chloé, Happy Hearts 18-karat white gold diamond ring by Chopard, diamond rose necklace by Piaget, sautoir necklace and round sunglasses with a triple chain by Chanel.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

During London Fashion Week, adidas Originals has unveiled its third collaboration with an emerging female fashion designer. This time, the brand has teamed up with Ji Won Choi for a 17-piece women’s ready-to-wear collection that his inspired by her Korean heritage. She revamped adidas’ classic tracksuit with hues of lavender, blue, red, green and pink. The brand’s three stripes were also used in more parts of the garments, creating a sense of movement.

One to watch: upcoming Korean designer Ji Won Choi

Born in Seoul, raised in the Midwest USA, educated in New York City and Paris, and having worked in Milan, Ji Won Choi’s work revolves around investigating human cultures and using design to promote positive change within societies. Her thesis collection, EXCESSIVISM, was the winner of Kering Empowering Imagination Award and several other contests as well as featured in various international publications such as Forbes, WWD and Vogue. Her work has been displayed at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and at New York Textile Month. In 2017, she was awarded the «Ones to Watch» Award by Fashion Scout.

I am sure we will se a lot more of Ji Won Choi’s talent in the near future…
TO SHOP ADIDAS ORIGINALS BY JI WON CHOI, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of adidas Originals