Sandra‘s Closet

Needing little introduction, Diego Dolcini is a purveyor and creator of some of the finest shoes in the world. Having worked with Emilio Pucci, Bulgari, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana to name just a few, Dolcini knows the beauty of high-quality, high-fashion shoes.

Launched in 1994, the company currently operates out of Italy and references art, cinema and architecture as design influences. The end result no matter what, is always strikingly beautiful.

To shop Diego Dolcini’s beautiful S/S 2012 collection, click here.

LoL, Sandra

Diego Dolcini with me

Enjoy some of Diego Dolcinci’s best S/S 2012 pieces below:

Photos: Courtesy of Diego Dolcini and © Sandra Bauknecht

According to the New York Times today, it is confirmed that Raf Simons, 44, will take over immediately as artistic director at Christian Dior. Supposedly, the Paris fashion house will announce the news on Wednesday officially. Simons will be replacing John Galliano, who was fired from Dior last year after he made anti-Semitic remarks.

His first collection is planned for July at the fall haute couture shows. The Belgian designer, who worked for the house of Jil Sander before, will be in charge of haute couture, women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, while keeping his eponymous men’s line.

“I feel fantastic,” Mr. Simons said by telephone from his studio in Antwerp to Suzy Menkes. “It is one of the ultimate challenges, and a dream to go to a place like Dior, which stands for absolute elegance, incredible femininity and utter luxury.”

So my guess in February was right… click here for the previous post.

LoL, Sandra

While being in London at net-à-porter, I had also the chance to meet the lovely London-based jewelry designer Diane Kordas who says: “I believe a piece of jewelry should be both casual and classic – but above all, timeless”.

Her eponymous creations are an elegant hybrid of simple design and intricate artistry, elevated with a glamorous dusting of diamonds. Each piece is unique, and fans include everyone from Madonna to the Rolling Stones. I adore her filigree designs, too.

Upgrade your style with her arabesque rings, diamond stud earrings and skull rose gold bangles.

Please click here to shop a large selection of Diane Kordas jewelry.

LoL, Sandra

Diane Kordas with me

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

At the moment I am in London where I met the lovely dynamic designer duo Kaufmanfranco at the net-à-porter offices yesterday. The New York label’s signature is dazzling evening wear that’s delicately embellished, plus modern day wear with an urban twist.

Isaac Franco to the left and Ken Kaufman to the right with me

Their sleek American style have landed them a stockpile of fans in every age group, spanning Taylor Swift to Jennifer Aniston. Calling themselves “the New Sensualists”, their designs are pure sophistication.

Taylor Swift and Jennifer Aniston in Kaufmanfranco (Photos: Getty Images)

It was lovely talking to the charismatic designer duo who answered openly my questions.

Ken Kaufman and Isaac Franco met over 25 years ago. FIT-alumni Ken offered Isaac his first job who at that time had just finished his studies at Parsons School of Design. Since then, the two have been working constantly together for the likes of Valentino or Emanuel Ungaro, just to name a few. In 2004, they decided to launch their own label.

You two seem like yin and yang, same vision, different approach but complementing each other perfectly. Who designs which part of the collection?

Me, Isaac, I take care in general of the day wear styles and Ken is more into eveningwear.

How can I imagine your creative process?

Each of us designs and does sketches that we present each other. We then sometimes change what the other came up with which makes our designs better and special.

Whom would you like to dress? This could be also a person in history.

I think Madonna. But I have recently been asked whom I would like to invite for dinner and I thought Moses and Madonna would make a great combination at the dinner table.

Why don’t you do a runway show?

We are still a small label and prefer putting all the money into the clothes.

Last night, I got a wonderful preview of the Kaufmanfranco F/W 2012 collection that is full of sophisticated cocktail looks and all the fall coats and dresses you need. The colours are dark, from black to silver and rust. The materials are luxurious with lots of embellished pieces, Kaufmanfranco’s signature style. Enjoy the photos that I took for you:

If I have whetted your appetite for some Kaufmanfranco shopping, I would like to invite you to explore their S/S 2012 collection which is in stores now by clicking here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Kaufmanfranco and © Sandra Bauknecht

For Talbot Runhof‘s  F/W 2012 collection, the designer duo seeked inspiration from the 1998 movie Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Bancroft, the latter of whom, impressed the most with her masterful performance of Nora Dinsmoor.

“Deserted on her wedding day as a young woman. Her garden still decorated and waiting in vain, in anticipation of a celebration. Covered in a verdant mélange of foliage, a daily affirmation of her life, her sadness, her passion, swirling through the decaying rooms of her home to her hymn of hope: Bésame mucho. She (Anne Bancroft as Nora Dinsmoor) was the inspiration for our F/W 2012 collection!“

Talbot Runhof is the German red carpet label worn by A-listers all over the world. Famous celebrities such as Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry have been spotted in their elegant and feminine designs. Today, their creations are sold in the best stores worldwide, among them Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

The success story started in 1991 when Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof met in Munich. Discovering their mutual passion for fashion they decided to join forces and began designing collections together under the label All about Eve. In the year 2000 the brand was renamed Talbot Runhof. They both share interesting and unusual backgrounds:

Johnny with me backstage before the show

Johnny Talbot, born 1964 in Nashville Tennessee, USA, studied electrical engineering and worked as systems manager for the U.S. government before he decided to become a fashion designer.

Adrian giving an interview before the show

Adrian Runhof, born 1963 in Mainz, Germany, studied business administration after growing up in a family of fashion producers and retailers and worked every since in the fashion business.

Before the show, I went backstage, so please enjoy the photos.

The collection is all about green: From ivy to oak, from acorn to gingko, birch to maple. Colour nuances of chartreuse to olive, emerald to evergreen, turquoise to jade, moss to bronze.

Famous MAC makeup artist Romero Jennings at work creating the feminine, elegant makeup look in a gorgeous green colour palette.

Me front row at the show

Among my favourites are the stretch suede skin tight leggings and the evening gowns of net lace, hologram sequins combined with layers of chiffon. Leaf applications adorn necklines, tops and dresses. Tweed appears soft and luxurious.

Accessories include booties, booty sandals, platform pumps, or peep-toes of tweed and of printed satin. Matching baguette clutches of velvet, tweed, printed satin embroidered with metallic borders, leaf motives, patchwork belts of matt shiny nappa.

And now enjoy the show! Talbot Runhof have fulfilled the great expectations, haven’t they?!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht

Here are more interesting fashion news!
Yves Saint Laurent‘s press office announced earlier: “Today we announce the departure of Creative Director Stefano Pilati, who since 2004 has stood at the creative helm of the house. Please join us in saluting him for his extraordinary work and his determination in forwarding the awe-inspiring heritage of Monsieur Saint Laurent.
Stefano’s final fashion show – F/W 2012 womenswear – will take place next Monday, March 5, 2012 in Paris.”

Raf Simons, who showed his final collection for Jil Sander in Milan, was rumored to have been Pilati’s replacement. While French newswire AFP and French magazine L’Express both had reported Hedi Slimane, who designed menswear at YSL in the late 1990s before taking over Dior Homme, will replace Pilati. Let’s see you will make it!

The fashion carrousel is turning fast at the moment…

LoL, Sandra

It is Milan Fashion Week but the buzz is all about something else. As you know, I am in Florence with Gucci at the moment and during the day all those twitter messages came in that Raf Simons, Creative Director of Jil Sander since 2005, has confirmed he will be stepping down following the F/W 2012 show this Saturday. This is breaking fashion news!

Rumours are out and huge that the avant-garde Belgian designer will take over Dior succeeding Galliano who left last year after his anti-Semitic comments. Looking closely at Raf’s S/S 2012 collection for Jil Sander, you could totally see some Dior references (see above), so let’s see if the speculations are true or not… At the moment, Dior collections are created under the supervision of Bill Gaytten, Galliano’s former studio head.

But it gets better: It is looking more and more like Jil Sander, herself at age 68, will return to the eponymous label that she founded in 1968. All good things go in threes: The German designer, who sold in 1999 75 percent of her company to the Prada Group, left the label in 2000 after a falling out with the owner, Prada’s Patrizio Bertelli. Later, following a brief return in 2003, she departed again and began working on other projects, such as the very popular high street collaboration with Uniqlo. If she comes back now, it will hopefully be for good!

This will be a very interesting week…

LoL, Sandra

You cannot be everywhere… The same day I flew to Paris for the amazing shoot with Dior, I was also invited to London for another special event.

La Mania – the Polish fashion house under the Honorary Patronage of Karl Lagerfeld – and Galerie Gmurzynska hosted a multimedia event, so-called “Fairy Tale Mania”, presenting La Mania’s F/W 2012 collection and exhibiting the new work of artist Marco Perego. You might recognize Perego’s work from last year’s post when I met him in Zurich.

In case you haven’t heard of La Mania before, here are some facts. The label is the brainchild of Joanna Przetakiewicz, launched in 2010 with the one-of-a-kind blessing by her friend Karl Lagerfeld who has been offering guidance and inspiration to the Polish designer. Joanna is not only wearing her designs, she is also one of the rare Haute Couture clients in the world. The last time I saw her, was at the Stéphane Rolland show in Paris.

The exhibition “Fairy Tale Mania” is open to the public until the end of February at the Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, 5b Pall Mall, London SW1 (free entry). It represents Poland in the International Fashion Showcase project, organized by British Council and British Fashion Council as part of London Fashion Week.

Below you can see some photos of the event in London.

LoL, Sandra

Marco Perego
MY SOUL: Don’t leave me empty…
Painted metal, resin
2011

Isabelle Bscher, daughter of Krystyna Gmurzynska, and artist Marco Perego

Lapo Elkann, Zaha Hadid and Marco Perego

Joanna Przetakiewicz with models in her F/W 2012 collection

Joanna Przetakiewicz with her partner Jan Kulczyk, a prominent Polish business oligarch

Mathias Rastorfer, Zaha Hadid, Isabelle Bscher and Krystyna Gmurzynska
Photos: © Brauer

Finally I can reveal the exciting news: I am flying to New York tomorrow morning to walk the runway myself during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

Polyvore and Covergirl have teamed up for an amazing fashion show to present the collections of four up and coming FIT graduates. “Prominent fashion bloggers” will walk the catwalk and I am so excited to be among them. The Polyvore Live runway show also will stream live on Polyvore.com, offering virtual access to more than 13 million people across the globe.

Here are the four FIT alumni designers that were selected by Polyvore and FIT’s Alumni Affairs:

1 – Lauren Bagliore received a BS in Fashion Merchandising Management in 2005, after which she worked at Vivienne Westwood, Zac Posen, Libertine, Tod’s, and Paul Hardy. Bagliore recently established her own clothing line, Lauren Bagliore Design House. Her designs are noted for their draping and unique combination of edgy yet wearable sensibilities.

2 – Vengsarkar Budhu received a BFA in Fashion Design in 2006. Specializing in eveningwear, he was selected by Reem Acra as the critic award winner for special occasion wear in FIT’s annual BFA Fashion Show. Budhu has started his own eveningwear label, GAVASKAR.

3 – Sergio Guadarrama received a BFA in Fashion Design in 2008. While still a student, he launched his label, Celestino. In 2008, he won “The Best in Class – Execution” in the FIT Supima Design Competition. In 2010, he served as a critic for the annual FIT BFA Fashion Show, along with a group of designers that included Calvin Klein and Carolina Herrera.
Sergio is known for his uncanny ability to create season-less eveningwear and has crafted gowns for the Metropolitan Opera.

4 –Dana-Maxx Pomerantz received a BFA in Fashion Design in 2005. After working for Betsey Johnson and Marc Jacobs, she established her eponymous clothing line, Dana-Maxx. She was selected as one of Women’s Wear Daily’s “Hot New Designers” and was featured on ELLE Magazine Creative Director Joe Zee’s hit television show, All on the Line.

Stay tuned for many exciting posts from New York Fashion Week!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Polyvore

A formal statement has been released by net-à-porter.com: Karl Lagerfeld’s exclusive new collection will be revealed on January 25, 2011. To sign up for Karl’s Kult, please click here.

LoL, Sandra