Sandra‘s Closet

Knowing – Knowledge is everything. Knowledge sets you free. Knowledge is sexy. Knowledge is power. And so is the perfect scent. Just as knowledge can be enticing and powerful, so too can a fragrance leave a memorable impression. It speaks to how certain qualities – whether intellectual or sensory – have the ability to command attention, evoke emotion, and convey a sense of confidence or charisma. I have fallen in love with Knowing Legacy from the first spritz. Created by Frédéric Malle for the self-assured woman who knows who she is and what she wants, it is a sophisticated, luxurious and confident scent.

«Knowing Legacy is all about skin, fire and a long night.» – Frédéric Malle

Knowing Legacy expands the original rich and luxurious essence of smouldering amber and sandalwood, while notes of black currant and lavish orris push the sensual fragrance even further. It is seductive, full of feminine energy, for the «Eve» within you!

My look: Eve belted crystal-embellished crepe jumpsuit, and matching Eve embellished velvet tote, both by Clio Peppiatt, Angel leather platform sandals by Gucci, and crystal-embellished snake necklace by Alessandra Rich.

My scent: KNOWING LEGACY by Estée Lauder

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht / Felicia Sewerinsson @feliciasewerinsson
DISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored. We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.
@esteelauderswitzerland #esteelauderlegacy #fredericmalle #luxuryfragrance

Let me introduce you to THE LEGACY COLLECTION that reimagines five of Estée Lauder’s iconic original scents through a contemporary lens by another extraordinary scent artist, Frédéric Malle.

KNOWING LEGACY

Knowing Legacy expands the original rich and luxurious essence of smouldering amber and sandalwood, while notes of black currant and lavish orris push the sensual fragrance even further.

CHYPRE FLORAL
Top Notes: Raspberry, Blackcurrant
Middle Notes: Rose damascena, Orris concrete
Base Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Amber (labdanum), Styrax

WHITE LINEN LEGACY

The crisp, clean scent of freshly laundered linen is among the most enticing the fragrance world has to offer, and one that Mrs. Estée Lauder captured with the White Linen eau de parfum. White Linen Legacy is an evolution of the original masterpiece, with keeping its breathtaking richness with notes of lush jasmine and rose on a base of amber and vetiver and evolving it for the 21st century.

FLORAL ALDEHYDE
Top Notes: Aldehyde
Middle Notes: Rose, Jasmine
Base Notes: Amber (mainly labdanum), Musk, Vetiver, Cedarwood

AZURÉE LEGACY

The original Azurée fragrance was inspired by the Mediterranean warmth of Mrs. Estée Lauder’s vacation home on the French Riviera. Like all five of the Legacy fragrances, Frédéric Malle maintains the essence of the original but brings it into the contemporary realm. In the case of Azurée Legacy, expect the warmth of the French Riviera sun with the heat of sandalwood, leather and fragrant herbs, while the addition of cumin adds modern sensual appeal. «Azure Legacy is really a second skin perfume.. It will accompany a sensuous woman day and night,» says Frédéric Malle.

WOODY AROMATIC
Top Notes: Cardamon, Basil, Tarragon
Middle Notes: Jasmine, Clove, Clary sage
Base Notes: Patchouli, Oak moss vetiver, Sandalwood, Cumin, Leather

ESTÉE LEGACY

«Sleek, cool, sophisticated. Think of velvety voices. Think of light in champagne.» – Mrs. Estée Lauder once said on her original masterpiece. Estée Legacy maintains the essence of the original – the second fragrance created by Mrs. Estée Lauder – with a quiet sensuality achieved by sweetly floral notes of jasmine and rose on a base of musk.

FLORAL MUSK
Top Notes: Carnation accord (Clove, Jasmine, Rose)
Middle Notes: Ylang ylang
Base Notes: Sandalwood, Amber accord, Musk, Honey

PRIVATE COLLECTION LEGACY

The signature green of the original Private Collection eau de parfum shines through in the Private Collection Legacy fragrance, with bold notes of green accord that are reinforced with rose and jasmine to create a lush bouquet.

FLORAL GREEN
Top Notes: Green accord (Basil, Tarragon, Galbanum)
Middle Notes: Jasmine sambac, Rose
Base Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Oakmoss, Musk

TO SHOP THE ESTÉE LAUDER THE LEGACY COLLECTION ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.
In Switzerland the fragrances are available for CHF 290 (100ml) here.

Which one do you think is my favorite? I will reveal it in my next post! Stay tuned!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Estée Lauder
DISCLOSURE: Paid content. We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise. @esteelauderswitzerland #esteelauderlegacy #fredericmalle #luxuryfragrance

Rose scents are trending at the moment. According to Frédéric Malle, «Roses is to perfumery what the nude is to drawing». Whether pure, futuristic, sophisticated or even synthetic: each perfumer has his, or her, own interpretation of this flower, perfumery’s most conceptual theme. This is the opportunity for Frédéric Malle to showcase the wealth of styles of the artists he publishes and to propose 4 roses with strong personalities:

ROSE TONNERRE: The Darkest of Roses

Iconic and cult, Une Rose has joined the great classics of the Éditions de Parfums. Today, the Maison signs a grand premiere in the world of perfumery: Une Rose is changing to become Rose Tonnerre and continues its worldwide success story and the conquest of the Asian continent. A new name, carefully chosen, for a formula that remains precisely the same and reflects the strength of this earthy and truly unique rose.

Frédéric Malle‘s beloved classic, Rose Tonnerre is part of an exotic garden of exquisite rose scents at night: in the foreground, intoxicating, sparkling, sweet and fresh all at once, it reveals deep and warm facets. Dark and enigmatic, subtly gothic.

Within the context of this personal work, Édouard Fléchier showed Frédéric Malle a new base, a kind of olfactive sketch, reproducing the smell of a «Perigord’s truffle». This assemblage of dark notes, for the most part woody and animal, was destined to masculine perfumery, but the two friends had the idea – a priori paradoxical- to marry it to the feminine scent par excellence: the rose.
The idea was to take advantage of the semi earthly, semi animal truffle’s aspect to reinforce the «garden» side of the flower, and by doing that creating a link between the petal and the skin scent. All in all, this composition obeys to the precept that a flower alone is only a scent and that a perfume should emanates from the person who wears it.
Taking advantage of the release of an Absolue Rose Turque by molecular distillation, stemming from the laboratories Manes research, Edouard Fléchier created his perfume with a great amount of this unique raw material which he matched, with his usual virtuosity, to this unexpected bottom note. He had then to find the ideal concentration and, faithful to the compromising spirit which governs the Éditions de Parfums, the two friends did not hesitate to fix this last one on 25% weight/vol, in order to show this magisterial composition’s worth.

In the hands of the master perfumer, the classic rose aroma becomes dark and sensual.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY: Rose Overdose

Once upon a time was a woman. Inimitable. Portrait of a Lady.

The original sketch was ambitious: to reinvent the genus of amber perfume. From the heart of a flamboyant masculine perfume, Géranium pour Monsieur, is extracted the basis of a sumptuous feminine perfume, like a flash of heat across the skin.

In the foreground, Dominique Ropion proposes an orgy that defies the limits of reasonableness, daring excess and covering the formula of opulence with an indecent and endless number of petals of Turkish roses – about 10%, the equivalent of 400 flowers per bottle of 100 ml.
The most classic of ingredients, which, in such proportions suddenly takes on unimaginable dimension, strength and character. Striking in its abundance of roses, the fragrance expresses its dramatic power through the contrasts of incense and sandalwood. A clove, blackcurrant and raspberry accord binds the whole together to give this great perfume its final touch. It took Dominique Ropion and Frédéric Malle months to create this fragrance. Months of sketches to finally compose this Portrait.

Mystery and refinement, Portrait of a Lady is an ode, a song to universal beauty, the one shared indistinctly by all women and in which each expresses her own ideal.

ROSE & CUIR: The Chimera Rose

The calm before the storm. Inspired by the storied Mistral wind that blows through the South of France and embodies the irresistible elegance of a silent storm, Jean-Claude Ellena signs with Rose & Cuir a purified perfume to the extreme, built around very selected ingredients.

The fragrance opens with a crystalline rose: pure, streamlined, modern and uncompromisingly.
A brilliant blackcurrant, followed by Timut Pepper and Geranium Bourbon extractions, creates the illusion. The airy and solar first feeling gradually reveals a leather in its raw state, both elegant and mysterious.

This base is built around IsoButyl Quinoline, a forgotten molecule discovered at the turn of the 20th century and then popularized by the very daring perfumery of the 1950s.

This nearly whisper, takes on a new, more assertive tone, that of a tumultuous but disarmingly sober drama.

LIPSTICK ROSE: The Glamourous & Pop Art Rose

Lipstick Rose expresses an exacerbated vision of femininity. That lipstick’s smell reminds the intimate moment when a star, in the hushed comfort of her dressing room, slides her stick over her upper lip.

Grapefruit and violet enhance the fragrance’s rose note, while iris, raspberry and rose combine with vanilla and white musk to create a glamorized femininity in technicolor.

Ralf Schwieger, a young perfumer whose architectural writing and desire to create extraordinary products have seduced Frédéric Malle, has composed a fragrance that is somewhere between Hollywood Glamour and Pop Art. My favorite!

TO SHOP Éditions de Parfums Frédéric Malle ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Éditions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

At Editions de Frédéric Malle, matching a person to the right perfume – whether in person or virtually – has always been a crucial part of the brand’s mission. «From the get-go – twenty years ago – I thought that, while a face-to-face session with one of our specialists was always going to be the ultimate, you shouldn’t have to go to a store to get a great experience or find the right match,» says Frédéric Malle today. «Not everyone was able to visit our stores, but we had a perfume for almost everyone. That’s why we were the first perfumers to launch a website, which at the time seemed to many people counterintuitive. I always knew that a virtual experience could eventually be just as fun and accurate – a similar type of exchange, but in a way, more intimate, and quite extraordinary.»

With Frédéric Malle

The original e-commerce site contained the first attempt, an almost Proustian questionnaire that – seemingly by magic, or intuition – produced amazingly accurate recommendations. At first, Malle answered each one personally. It was so good it’s still there, 20 years later.

This acuity was a triumph of study and observation of people’s visual language, individual style choices, and aesthetic preferences. In the early years, Malle had made a point of personally working the floor at the rue de Grenelle boutique, getting to know the clientele, learning the art of pairing customer and scent, and training his perfume consultants to be expert matchmakers. This felt crucial: the combination of rationality and instinct, meticulous refinement and fantasy, was to Malle the ethos of the company embodied. «By simply observing and really listening to people, we learn so much,» he says, «and as a result, we can give really precise advice. And this made-to-measure, very careful way of looking at people, helps them to find the freedom they really want – the freedom to be themselves. And they, in turn, because they are so varied and multifaceted, allow us the freedom of incredible creativity and the desire to generate an even-more eclectic perfume collection.»

Enter Kakanias. The Athens-born, LA-based artist, known for the whimsy and theatrical drama of his illustration, would seem at first glance an unlikely match for the painstaking Malle. «When I work with him, I try to get into his skin,» says Kakanias. «He’s so precise – and I’m not.» And yet, the two are not only longtime collaborators, but have become dear friends. Their skill-sets are in fact complementary and both share a fascination with observing and capturing the world in all its fabulous, glamorous, complex dimensions. Together, they combined their different landscapes, experiences, and intuitions to create a series of deft visual character sketches.

The Find your Match quiz combines both: at first glance a beautiful collage of images, of characters, the questionnaire will, in fact, result in the perfect perfume. What’s your ideal setting?  What shoes do you wear – what coat – and what underwear? What do you drive? This self representation is reflected by an algorithm, based on Malle’s years of observation, that he calls «a true representation of my brain,» translated into images with Kakanias‘s inimitable whimsical grace («It wasn’t easy – there were so many objects!») and leads to a result of uncanny accuracy.

What starts as a delightful escape from your day can become so much more. How do you want to use perfume – as weapon, as seduction, as discretion, as disguise? Will you want to sparkle, dominate, charm? What are the important moments in life, when you want to shine? Do you see yourself running a board meeting in Louboutins? Trysting in the woods with abandoned hair? Meeting in-laws while carrying a Birkin? Riding a Vespa across the Bridge of Sighs at midnight, en route to a highly exclusive and vaguely sinister after-hours club, with Dante in your pocket? Maybe all four at once!

It’s almost like going to a psychologist, a meeting of the minds in your telephone – but at the end, you’ll have the perfect scent. Who are you? Who do you want to be? What was your childhood like? (OK, maybe not that – but who knows? This stuff is powerful.) You’ll gradually hone in on a reflection of how you see yourself, and how you wish to be seen: your perfect match. And it will change your life.

Here are my results. Musc Ravageur is one of my favorite scents. So the quiz truly works… have fun! YOU CAN START THE QUIZ HERE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Frédéric Malle and © Sandra Bauknecht
#fredericmalle – #whoareyou? – #findyourperfume
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

Graceful, fluid, En Passant is a luminous, mobile and charming perfume. It was born of Frédéric Malle’s collaboration with Olivia Giacobetti, who, in 2000, was the first woman to enter the exclusive circle of the world’s best perfumers chosen by the Perfume Publisher to compose the classics of tomorrow. Frédéric Malle chose her for the qualities of her perfume writing: a modern writing style that doesn’t follow fashions. A feminine, youthful, free and very personal writing. According to Malle, «Olivia has that rare ability to create an ambiance, to capture an atmosphere, like a great photographer.»

In the collection of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, En Passant is one of the soliflores, perfumes built around a single flower—here, lilac. But an idealized, reworked lilac, cleansed of its dusty, slightly honeyed notes. A purified, aerated lilac, as if it had transcended itself. Evocative of spring, the fleeting moments of childhood, youth and innocence, the lilac of En Passant naturally leads us into the green gardens of the Île de France region.

With En Passant, Frédéric Malle chose to add to his perfume collection a fresh, pure, transparent feminine composition, as light and elusive as a breeze. But a persistent breeze, bursting with the scent of lilac beneath the soft rays of the spring sun. A breeze that caresses although signaling its presence. A breeze that passes through at the same time as its trace renders it indelible.

Photo: Henri Cartier-Bresson

En Passant is a vegetal perfume both airy and architectural. Imagine the implacable lines of a minimalist sculpture by Donald Judd, or a repetitive musical loop by Philip Glass.
When Frédéric Malle speaks of En Passant, he first refers to the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Which is to say that, beneath the lightness of the breeze, in this apparently weightless air that can only be that of spring, is concealed the idea of the passage of time and the decisive moment that immortalizes the instant.

«Olivia Giacobetti possesses the special ability to create an ambiance, to capture an atmosphere, like a great photographer.»
Publisher & Founder, Frédéric Malle

Olivia Giacobetti has an uncanny ability to create an atmosphere. Having completed her training at Robertet, she founded her own perfume laboratory, Iskia, and dedicated her career to doing precisely that. She is the brains and the nose behind the fig accords that have been present in home scents for years. The perfumes that move her most are «echoes of everyday life and nature: fleeting emotions, moods, details, attitudes… the many small fragments of life that bear new images». Her compositions capture the authenticity of a single moment. They are, in other words, odes to transience.

Perfume 100ml: 210€, $290, £175 – Perfume 50ml: 140€, $205, £123
Perfume 30ml: 115€, $145, £88 – Perfume 10ml: 42€, $57, £35
Body Wash 200ml: 50€, $65, £40

TO SHOP EN PASSANT ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.
And to all my Swiss readers, Happy 1st of August!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Frédéric Malle and © Sandra Bauknecht
© Henri Cartier-Bresson

Let’s celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle. Born in the year 2000, as the result of Frédéric Malle’s mission to restore the dignity of haute parfumerie. A desire to return to the fundamentals of the craft: its authors, the perfumers, their expertise, exceptional ingredients, and an artistic approach to perfumery. Born into the world of perfume (his grandfather was the founder of Parfums Christian Dior) and with more than thirty years of experience behind him, Frédéric Malle is the world’s greatest perfumery expert. The greatest perfumers in the world have placed their confidence in him, joining forces with him in this venture, delighted at the opportunity to exercise total creative freedom, and to be able to sign their work with their own name. No marketing brief. The freedom to compose: no restriction on either quantity or quality of ingredients. Freedom from time constraints: no schedule; all that counts is the excellence of the result.

Why «Editions de Parfums»? Because Frédéric Malle works with perfumers the same way a literary editor works with his authors. Since they speak the same language and share technical expertise, Frédéric Malle is able to push perfumers to give their very best. They interact on a technical and an artistic level—no brief, no images, no following trends or targeting consumers.

Frédéric Malle’s design for the bottles.

Once finished, the perfumes are presented in a neutral flask, in elegant packaging reminiscent of the book covers of Gallimard—the most celebrated French publishing house—bearing evocative names such as Portrait of a Lady, Carnal Flower, Musc Ravageur, En Passant, Vétiver Extraordinaire, French Lover, Dans Tes Bras…. All signed by the greatest perfumers in the profession, including Dominique Ropion, Jean-Claude Ellena, Pierre Bourdon, Carlos Benaïm, Maurice Roucel and Edmond Roudnitska.

Frédéric Malle and his famous noses

For Frédéric Malle, perfumes are far more than a fashion accessory or a way to promote a brand image. Beyond ensuring the excellence of every juice, his ambition is to enable everyone to find the perfume or perfumes that perfectly suit their personality. To aid in this discovery, the advisors who staff the boutiques are Perfume Experts, qualified to give personalized consultations. Their goal is to help customers find the perfume in the collection that suits them best. Because these perfumes are all different, each one unique, they offer the greatest freedom of choice and expression for everyone, depending on their current desires, the season, their way of life, or even their next rendezvous. An invisible but powerful way to express one’s style and singularity.

Inside Frédéric Malle’s first boutique at 37 rue de Grenelle in Paris.

On June 6, 2000, Frédéric Malle opened his first Paris boutique at 37 rue de Grenelle. At a time when the self-service sale of perfumes was on the rise, Malle chose to open a boutique that would provide a luxurious setting for the perfumes he «publishes,» and to make sure to offer each visitor a personal experience. This pioneering boutique, conceived by architect Andrée Putman and Frédéric Malle, is a hybrid space combining the aesthetics and intimate comfort of a Parisian interior with the expertise of a perfume laboratory.

«Smelling columns» 

The boutiques of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, each with its own distinctive architecture, offer a series of interpretations of this overarching idea—at once a welcoming apartment and a perfume laboratory, where you will find the same iconic features of the house: portraits of perfumers in the style of the photos of authors found in bookstores, refrigerated cabinets in which the flasks of perfumes are kept at just the right temperature (as in a laboratory), consultation spaces, and the famous and unique «smelling columns.» A patented design by Frédéric Malle himself, the smelling columns are like olfactive mirrors, allowing one to experience the complete tableau of a perfume, its entire sillage. Each in their own way, the boutiques express their founder’s quest for aesthetics, functionality, and an avant-garde approach.
As a designer, renowned expert, and art lover, Frédéric Malle heads up the design of each boutique personally, working with carefully chosen architects.

Jakob + MacFarlane and Frédéric Malle joined forces to defy the laws of nature with a sea of floating islands, suspended in time and space inside their Paris store, 13 Rue des Francs Bourgeois.

2020 marks a historic date for the house: Twenty years of audacity and creativity. Twenty years of shifting paradigms in the exacting world of perfumery. From today, and for the rest of the year, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle will share a series of events to celebrate this anniversary.

This week marks a new step for the house with the opening of its first boutique in China, at Shanghai’s luxurious IFC Mall, as well as a counter to open soon afterwards at SKP in Beijing. These two sales outlets see the debut of a new concept, with resolutely modern architecture, redesigned «smelling columns» with enhanced functionality, and an interactive tool to help customers select their perfume. EDPFM’s powerful fusion of ideas brought together in a new experiential space, to be rolled out internationally over the coming months.

Special Instagram Live streams will take place @fredericmalle, a window into the artistic, cinematic, and cultural influences of the founder. The perfumers of Editions de Parfums will be honored and will freely share their knowledge and their thoughts in live conversations. From September, you can also flick through the Editions online, with the launch of its new digital magazine.

Returning from the summer vacation, the house will present an entirely new Limited Edition of its iconic flasks and perfumes, restyled in anniversary colors. Seven of the most popular perfumes from the collection will be presented in new flasks, their cases elegantly clad with a frieze that tells the story of twenty years of creation.

She is languid in the bath, as on a chaise longue, as though she is taking in the sun, as though taking in Bizet, a glint with water and steam, maybe with a book in her hands, surrounded by billowing clouds of foam. Alone, of course—this is a private pleasure. She sinks into the voluptuous waters: a generous measure of rose and a mixture of amber, patchouli, and sandalwood, one might think the scent was carved in her likeness. She abandons herself to it, and it to her. She loves the intimate resonance of its perfume, dream-distilled. Perhaps it is she who is scenting the waters.

And she steps out reborn from the spume, trailing the note of this suspended moment.

The newest product you shouldn’t miss is this new addition to Editions de Parfum Frédéric Malle’s bestseller created by Dominique Ropion and Frédéric Malle:

Portrait of a Lady – The Foam Bath
Available now for €110.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY

Top Note: Rose
Middle Notes: Blackcurrant, Raspberry, Clove
Base Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Frankincense

TO SHOP LES EDITIONS de PARFUMS FREDERIC MALLE ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht and Les Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission.

Are you good at gifting? Come in! Frédéric Malle grew up immersed in the world of perfumery, and has a deep knowledge of raw materials, fragrance structure and accords. His ‘Editions’ collection includes scents by distinguished noses including Dominique Ropion, Jean-Claude Ellena and Pierre Bourdon.

This holiday season, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle offers a truly kaleidoscopic range from which to select the perfect gift. The gift that says I was thinking of you, I care, I remember…, or perhaps just, I hope this brings you joy.

Find a gift that is as unique as its owner, a gift that is a perfect match, a gift that will wrap him, or her in luxury, and will be the perfect reflection of the person wearing it. So many original perfumes, but also home scents: candles, rubber incense, perfume guns, linen sprays, hand creams and soaps…. As well as many other items that will dazzle and enchant you.

Perfume is a powerful thing. Whether it’s your signature scent as you kiss someone good bye, your exquisite trail as you leave a room, or the particular mood that evaporates throughout your home to change its atmosphere, or even the lingering whiff of perfume on sheets.

Choosing a perfume for oneself is a deeply personal experience. But choosing one for someone else can be a way to say what is often left unsaid. It needs care and attention. Taking the time to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to imagine their desires, is an intimate act. An attention that requires empathy and often affection.

In addition to a curated selection of perfumes, scented objects, and other gifts, this year’s holiday season is wrapped with the homely design of Konstantin Kakanias.
The L.A based artist, and friend of Frédéric Malle is not only a celebrated artist holding shows regularly in the US and Europe. He is also the author of the Mrs Tependris albums, and collaborated with T Magazine, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Yves Saint Laurent, and Christian Lacroix.

TO SHOP FREDERIC MALLE ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

Luxurious, happy, mistake-free gifting.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Frédéric Malle

Great news for the fashion world: luxury conglomerate Richemont is teaming up with former Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz for a new venture at a time when luxury goods groups are vying to make star hires.

«I am very happy to partner with Richemont and to establish my ‘dream factory,’ which will focus on developing solutions for women of our times,» Elbaz said in a statement.

Me with Alber Elbaz in 2015

Elbaz was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1961 to a Moroccan Jewish family. He immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of ten and grew up in Holon. After his studies at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, he had jobs at Geoffrey Beene, Guy Laroche, Yves Saint Laurent where he designed the Rive Gauche collection under Saint Laurent himself, and Krizia.

Lanvin F/W 2012 campaign

He then began designing for Lanvin, France’s oldest fashion house, in 2001 and transformed the Maison from a small label with only 15 wholesale accounts to a global fashion house known for feminine, comfortable and clever ready-to-wear that earned the approval of celebrities, critics and customers alike. Elbaz’s simple, feminine clothing, which has been compared to Lanvin’s 1920s outfits, has been lauded by the fashion press. Suzy Menkes wrote: «Elbaz is every woman’s darling. And that includes Nicole, Kate, Chloë Sevigny, Sofia Coppola and a slew of rising movie names.» In 2010, Elbaz launched for Lanvin a mass-market collection with H&M, and proved to be one of the retailer’s most popular annual runway collaboration series. In 2013, he created a much anticipated make-up collection for Lancôme.

Therefore the shock was huge when the announcement came that Elbaz had been let go from the fashion house due to major disagreements on strategy and targeted investment in 2015 with major shareholder Taiwanese businesswoman Shaw-Lan Wang. The house has since changed hands and failed to find its footing.

Shaw-Lan Wang and Alber Elbaz in happier times. Photo: BFA / The Cut

After Elbaz was abruptly fired from Lanvin, the industry has wondered when and how he might return to design full-time. Between then and now, he has turned his hand to designing accessories for LeSportsac, collaborated on a fragrance with luxury perfumer Frédéric Malle, and mentored at prestigious design schools. Recently, the star designer had his comeback For Elbaz, after having skipped several years of shows, watching the fashion industry shift from the sidelines. He designed a capsule collection of bags and shoes for luxury Italian brand Tod’s, called «Happy Moments.» Known for his charming and emotional personality, it couldn’t be a better match.

Alber Elbaz lives it up at Tod’s Happy Moments launch. Photo: Tod’s / Getty

«I like fashion, I like fashion people. But after Lanvin, I did not like fashion,» he told Elle Magazine in September 2019, «I needed to fall in love with fashion again.» To fall back in love with fashion took a lot of time. «Because you have to take a few years distance,» Elbaz continues earnestly.

A shoe from Tod’s Happy Moments collection created by Elbaz.

Now Elbaz has a partner for his next chapter. Today, Richemont  announced an agreement to form a joint venture with the designer, calling it AZfashion, which the Swiss luxury conglomerate described as «an innovative and dynamic start-up, meant to turn dreams into reality.»

As much as the fashion industry has anticipated Elbaz’s return, he and Richemont have their work cut out for them. The announcement about the new brand indicates a completely different approach in this new brand, which the designer told the New York Times will be project-based.

Feminine and dreamy designs: Lanvin F/W 2011 by Alber Elbaz

«Upon hearing Alber Elbaz describe his vision for fashion and the projects it inspires in him, I was again struck by his creativity and insight,» Richemont Chairman Johann Rupert said in a statement. «His talent and inventiveness, with his sensitivity towards women and their wellbeing, will be of great value to our group and its maisons.»

We will all be watching how Elbaz’ vision will transform… I am sure he will let us dream again… something that is desperately needed in today’s fashion world. Fashion should be fun and Elbaz will teach us!

LoL, Sandra

Me in a Lanvin by Alber Elbaz dress, click here for the post.

 Photo: © David Biedert Photography
Photos: Courtesy of the Brands, or otherwise mentioned

If you are in NYC or planning a spontaneous trip, I absolutely recommend to surprise your loved one with a stay at The Mark Hotel and indulge at their special Valentine’s Day Menu.

The boutique hotel located in New York’s Upper East Side at the corner of Madison Avenue and 77th Street spreads «Love» with a Sensuous Special Room Service Menu not only for Valentine’s Day but the whole upcoming weekend! Romance is in the air…. and in your suite.

The offering includes  love potion cocktails paired with natural aphrodisiac bites prepared by Michelin-star Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Optional add-ons include a Sexual Satisfaction Grade Card, a pair of Agent Provocateur Panties, and The Mark Eye Mask.

Moreover, you can enjoy 24/7 shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and have access to The Mark Sailboat, a 70-foot vessel available to guests to sail around the New York Harbor. I also recommend getting a special treatment by hairstylist Frederic Fekkai and perfumer Frederic Malle.

Warning: This menu may cause too much passion and lust.
Pure luxury, pure satisfaction, this is what #LifeAtTheMark is all about!
There is a reason it is New York’s most boldly lavish hotel…

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of The Mark Hotel

Mother’s Day is around the corner, so why not getting prepared on time to give a little unexpected surprise to your beloved mum. Here are some of my favorite new beauty products for Spring 2018. To shop, click on the highlighted text to be transferred directly.

ALAÏA PARIS Eau de Parfum Nude, 30ml
also available as 100ml
After black and white was nude the third important color for the late designer. He took the art of fragrance even a step further by saying: «the foundation of beauty is the body,» and your fragrance is the first step. Alaïa’s new Nude Eau de Parfum is an evocative, exotic scent that’s layered with orange blossom. It has warm tonka bean, cardamom and suede at the base, while woody top notes of cedar and sandalwood give it a luxurious finish. Just wonderful for a warm summer night.

TOM FORD Soleil Eye and Cheek Palette – Soleil D’Ambre
Perfect for traveling as everything you need is housed in a sleek compact that comes with a mirror for touch-ups on the go. This limited edition «Soleil D’Ambre» palette contains a coral-pink blush and antique-rose highlighter to give your cheeks a pop of color, with four shimmering eyeshadows ranging from cream to an aubergine chocolate. Time to get your subtle sun-kissed glow.

BY TERRY Baume de Rose Body Scrub, 180g
A gift your mum will surely love. Adding this scrub into the daily regime will keep the skin smooth, soft and radiant (also a prefect preparation for applying self tanning products). Infused with multiple elements of precious rose including butter, oil and extracts, this rich formula hydrates, repairs and protects dry and fragile skin. The naturally moisturizing sugar crystals will gently remove dead cells.

LA MER The Moisturizing Cool Gel Cream, 60ml
As a huge La Mer fan, I can only recommend this new texture of the famous cream which is so lightweight that it is just perfect for the warmer summer months. It is also infused with the brand’s signature Miracle Broth™ formula that works to heal skin down to its core, while soothing irritation and leaving you feel refreshed.

NURSE JAMIE Neck & Décolleté Wrap – Skin Perfecting Silicone Treatment
When you mum thought there might be no help, you will surprise her hugely with this new «Neck & Décolleté Wrap» that helps minimize the signs of aging caused by sun damage, gravity and sleeping on your side tremendously. Something we will all experience when we get older. Inspired by scar treatments that have been used in the medical field for years, it works by blanketing the chosen area and amplifying the effects of your favorite moisturizer – for best results, the brand recommends leaving it on for at least 20 minutes. Great news is that it is reusable for up to 20 treatments.

TOM FORD Eau de Parfum – ******* Fabulous, 50ml
This is highly exclusive and you better order it fast as this bottle is something really special. After Tom Ford had sent out 300 of those bottles of its new fragrance «F***ing Fabulous» with the invites to his S/S 2018 show, fashionistas started craving for it after the first pictures appeared on Instagram of some of the lucky guests. The name was created the second Tom smelled the scent during a business meeting and proclaimed those very words and after that no other name could compete. It is an alluring leathery Eau de Parfum infused with spicy and bold notes of bitter almond oil, tonka resinoid and cashmeran, but there are also hints of lavender and vanilla for freshness, too. What a lovely way of telling your mum that she is f***ing fabulous!

FREDERIC MALLE Essentials Collection, 5 x 7ml
If your mum is a fragrance lover, she will adore this curated selection of Frederic Malle’s most-loved scents. Each bottle is perfectly sized for travel and bears the name of the perfumer who created the fragrance. Included are Carnal Flower, Magnolia, Iris Poudre, Musc Ravageur (my favorite) and Portrait of a Lady.

ANYA HINDMARCH Baby Powder scented candle, 700g
Evoke some of your mum’s happiest times with this candle that smells reminiscent of newborn babies and the memories they create. Set in a black glass vessel with hand-poured wax, this «Baby Powder» version blends notes of bergamot, Italian mandarin and rose petal with a base of vanilla, tonka bean and musk – reminding your mum of sleepless nights and first smiles… and that it was all worth it!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of the Brands