Cabinet of Wonders
The Gaston-Louis Vuitton Collection
Edited by Patrick Mauriès With texts by John Banville, Stephen Bayley, Alberto Manguel, Delphine Saurat, Pierre Senges
Such a wonderful coffee table book – a perfect gift for somebody who likes traveling and vintage collector’s items. Over his lifetime, Gaston-Louis Vuitton, grandson of the founder of the House, collected trunks and every kind of article related to travel, invention, craftsmanship and bibliophilia. With more than one thousand objects and documents, this volume pays homage to an ‘unrepentant collector’, his wide interests and voracious curiosity.
In Louis Vuitton stores worldwide July 2017
In bookstores September 2017
Below you can enjoy some of the different sections of the new tome to get an idea of what the book is about. Enjoy and happy weekend! I am off to London…
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Louis Vuitton
As promised yesterday, here are the most amazing photos taken during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The experiences I had were unbelievable and a huge thank you goes to Omega Watches for this amazing trip.
I witnessed history when Usain Bolt ending his Olympic career after his victory in the 4x100m relay which secured his ninth gold medal. That was the only moment it was raining, the rest of the time it was sunny and beautiful. I saw so many amazing winners, enjoyed the beach volleyball finals at night, went to a samba school, did sightseeing and had the best time ever. As pictures sometimes speak more than words, I would like to invite you to indulge in my diary below…
After all these impressions, I am sure you would enjoy this great coffee table book: In The Spirit Of Rio by Bruno Astuto.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Omega Watches and © Sandra Bauknecht
The first ever designer colouring book, perfect for fashion and colouring fans alike. From inspiration to reality, Matthew has selected from his collection of iconic prints and shares the inspiration, research sketches, and behind-the-scenes creation. Follow the journey of his idea, and then colour and create your own version with exclusive versions of Matthew Williamson prints for you to colour yourself.
Prints include the Butterfly Wheel, Peacock Heart and Pineapple Paisley. Matthew is signing the first 100 copies of the book for customers of our online boutique.
Matthew Williamson with me
If you get a chance, check out also Matthew’s first range of gift cards, notebooks and journals using prints from the brand’s 20-year history. To shop, click here please.
Such beautiful notebooks.
I love the wrapping papers. Pictured here the Peacock Heart print.
With Matthew Williamson in his London shop that has the most beautiful interior design.
You can shop the brand’s wallpapers that transform every room into something magical.
From wallpapers to dresses – discover the new fashion collections from Matthew Williamson by clicking HERE
.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Matthew Williamson and © Sandra Bauknecht
If you don’t know the “Louis Vuitton Travel Book” collection illustrated by artists from all around the world yet, be sure to check it out. It’s such a great way to keep your favorite travel moments and they make also a great gift. This May, Louis Vuitton adds the Arctic and Edinburgh to its destinations.
Two very surprising titles, somewhere between the travel journal and the sketch book, it’s now the turn of Floc’h, the most bristish of French illustrators, to capture Edinburgh with his famous style called ligne claire.
While the Irish artist Blaise Drummond recounts his discovery of the Arctic through his own vision of beauty.
Exhibitions of original drawings and book signings in Paris and in Europe will celebrate the launch of these two publications.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Louis Vuitton
I couldn’t be any happier and more excited. I am in a book, a real book that will be launched during Berlin Fashion Week on July 9, 2014 at the high fashion concept store The Corner.
The new coffee-table 208-page tome “Fashion Germany” is published by Prestel in German and English editions and presents the country’s increasingly important role in the world of fashion by telling the inside story of the designers, creative directors, stylists, photographers and journalists, who have placed Germany on the style map. The author Martina Rink (see photo left), who has become famous for her first book in a similar format, “Isabella Blow,” told WWD that “the Germans are way too modest about what they do and there are loads of them out there playing in the top leagues of international fashion.”
Today a label reading “Made in Germany” connotes quality, durability and attention to detail. Although it wasn’t always this way, the past decades have seen an emergence of high fashion coming out of Germany. Designers such as Jil Sander, Markus Lupfer, Dorothee Schumacher and Karl Lagerfeld, photographers such as Peter Lindbergh, Kristian Schuller and Armin Morbach; and models such as Johannes Huebl, Claudia Schiffer and Heidi Klum have become world-famous icons. I am sure that after reading those famous names, you can imagine my excitement to be featured in a book like this. Thank you, Martina!
To celebrate the launch in July, the book will also come with a special MCM cover in the brand’s iconic cognac logo print, embellished by an illustration of Irma, Jasmin Khezri’s famous character.
FASHION GERMANY by Martina Rink (without the MCM cover)
Prestel Verlag / ISBN 978-3-7913-4889-6
€39.59 – $55.00 – £35.00 – Can.$60.00
Europe Launch July 2014 / US Launch September 2014 / UK August 2014
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Martina Rink, MCM and Prestel
Dear Santa, please have a look! My lovely friend Soraya put together a blogger wish list and asked me to be part of it. Here are the items I truly wish for.
1 Appliquéd cotton-jersey and silk sweatshirt by Emma Cook
No designer approaches print and color quite like her.
2 Classic Plonge leather shorts by Saint Laurent
A must for the new season.
3 Stripe leather, suede and canvas sandals by Sophia Webster
Those fabulous heels are perfect for my upcoming trip to a warm weather destination.
4 Cassandre leather shoulder bag by Saint Laurent
No doubt, this summer I will need something yellow in my closet.
5 Multi-coloured backpack by Chanel
The must-have piece of the new season. A wait list voucher is enough for Christmas.
6 Set of two gold-tone arm cuffs by Maison Martin Margiela
Those jewelry pieces vamp up every outfit.
7 Miss Lanvin snow globe by Lanvin
The perfect decoration for my new desk at L’Officiel Switzerland.
8 Story Teller hardcover book by Tim Walker
Coming from my favorite photographer, I couldn’t wish for another coffee table book.
Santa, hurry up, I have just pushed the “add to basket” button… as I cannot wait for those pieces to arrive at my doorstep. I hope that I could inspire you a little.
LoL, Sandra
In 2012, Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld joined forces to curate ‘The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited’, which presented stunning photographs of stylish celebrities boasting their interpretation of Chanel‘s timeless and iconic black jacket. Over the last year, the book and exhibition were celebrated in cities across the globe.
Some of those photos were even the inspiration for Karl Lagerfeld’s artwork Fire Etchings, presented at Galerie Gmurzynska in February 2013 in St. Moritz.
This year, a new expanded edition of the book will go on sale (Steidl, Göttingen, 2013, 280 pages. Available in selected bookstores, €78).
For this occasion, Karl Lagerfeld has once again focused his lens on twenty or so international celebrities and close friends of the House, including Keira Knightley, Diane Kruger, Carla Bruni and Carole Bouquet. The photo shoot took place in Paris in the couturier’s studio in January 2013. Taking time out from their busy schedules, the celebrities all enthusiastically reinterpreted the little black jacket in their own inimitable style. Once more Karl Lagerfeld illustrates the universality of the Chanel jacket, one of fashion’s most legendary and timeless pieces.
Here is a sneak preview of how stunning Diane Kruger looks in it:
The exhibition is at the moment in Milan and opening next in Dubai on April 27, 2013. For more information, please click here.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Chanel
According to an announcement on the company’s official Facebook page, iconic fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer Rousseau died Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 81, surrounded by her family. “Lilly has been a true inspiration to us and we will miss her,” the statement said. “In the days and weeks ahead we will celebrate all that Lilly meant to us. Lilly was a true original who has brought together generations through her bright and happy mark on the world.”
It all started with a juice stand. When 21-year-old Lilly married Peter Pulitzer, they moved soon from NYC to Palm Beach where the newly married wife opened a juice stand next to her husband’s citrus groves. To hide the stains from the juice, she wore a sleeveless dress in colourful printed cotton.
Lilly Pulitzer – the clothing label was born. The “classic shift dress” shot to international fame and demand when Lilly’s old schoolmate Jacqueline Kennedy née Bouvier, now the First Lady, was photographed wearing a “Lilly” while on vacation. “Jackie wore one of my dresses – it was made from kitchen curtain material – and people went crazy. They took off like zingo. Everybody loved them, and I went into the dress business.” (From the book: Essentially Lilly, A Guide to Colorful Entertaining). And the rest is history.
Lilly Pulitzer is not as known in Europe than it is in the US. When I lived in Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, I spotted those colourful prints for the first time. I have to admit that I never really warmed up to them but somehow they always remind me of the great time I had living there and I have a great respect for the company the iconic fashion designer built up. I even mentioned it once in my column.
R.I.P. Lilly! My thoughts are with the Pulitzer Rousseau family.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: Courtesy of Lilly Pulitzer
Monday, I attended during Paris Fashion Week the Roger Vivier Cocktail to celebrate the launch of the book ‘Roger Vivier’, held at the boutique on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The tome will be available from April 2nd in the Roger Vivier boutiques and in fine bookstores.
Among the guests was Inès de la Fressange (see photo with me above), a French model, aristocat, designer of fashion and perfumes, and former muse for Karl Lagerfeld (Inès walked in the Chanel S/S 2011 runway show at the age of 54.). She has a very cute section on the Roger Vivier homepage, called “Ines’ Little Diaries”. Personally speaking, she looked absolutely stunning and was very lovely to talk to.
Inès de la Fressange and Bruno Frisoni
Today, designer Bruno Frisoni is at the helm of Roger Vivier. He’s one of the most charming designers in fashion and his witty humor can be seen perfectly in the picture I took of him at the event. He knows well how to design shoes in which ladies feel elegant.
Roger Vivier himself (1907–1998) was a French fashion designer who specialized in shoes and became famous for his stiletto heel. He was called the “Fragonard of the shoe” and many critics compared his creations to Fabergé. He designed the footwear for Queen Elizabeth II that she wore to her coronation in 1953 and the famous “buckle” shoes, Catherine Deneuve sported in the iconic French movie “Belle de Jour”, together with Yves Saint Laurent clothing.
Blogger girls from left to right: Me, Elisa Nalin, Tamu McPherson and Eleonara Carisi.
When we left the event, every guest got this cute little iPhone cover.
YOU CAN SHOP A LARGE SELECTION OF ROGER VIVIER AT LUISAVIAROMA 
AND MYTHERESA.
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht, Stills: Courtesy of Roger Vivier
Over a year ago, a dear friend of mine handed me “50 Shades of Grey” in English and said: “You have to read it, it is so sexy.” Busy as I was, I put it to the side without being too interested in it. During my summer holidays in the States, I observed that almost every woman at the pool was reading this book and magazines were full of reviews. Most of my girlfriends had already been talking about it. So I was starting to wonder what was this “50 Shades of Grey” thing I kept seeing everywhere? A few weeks ago, when I caught the stomach flu, I refrained from my prejudices and gave it a try. Being honest, I admit that I have become Fifty Shades of Grey crazy and have read the three books extremely fast. Somebody said to me recently in astonishment: “But you are a journalist, you cannot like that book!” Another woman exclaimed while I was reading: “You are so lucky, you still have the third book to finish”. Tastes differ.
The story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele is extremely unrealistic, cheesy and platitudinous but it is so captivating, truly entertaining to read. Personally speaking, E.L. James has summarized what women like to dream about. The story is about an extremely good-looking billionaire (other women start stuttering when they see him) who has only eyes for the woman he loves, who bizzarely enough has all the time in the world to be with his wife (the zillions of dollars just earn themselves), who is the best lover you can imagine (always putting her satisfaction first and is on hand 24/7), who doesn’t want to have a prenup, “as all of his belongings are hers now, too”. Christian, who was adopted and had a horrible childhood, enjoys the BDSM lifestyle in bed but Anastasia is able to change his vision of life (women always like to think that they could change the man of their dreams).
Writing this, I have to smile because it sounds so bad, it is definitely a kind of “mommy porn”, but please give it a try. It is absolutely captivating. At least, you want to know what everybody is gossiping about… and in 2013, the story will hit the cinemas.
LoL, Sandra
Photo: © Sandra Bauknecht
