Sandra‘s Closet

It is a Monday evening and I am at home when my phone rings. It is Katy Perry from Rio de Janeiro where she is currently on her Prismatic World Tour 2015. A lovely chat about fashion, style and her collaboration with H&M for Christmas!

Katy Perry is one of the highest paid celebrities in the world and was the first artist to surpass 75 million digital downloads, and the only female singer to have five Billboards no1s from the same album (California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T. and Last Friday Night). The 31-year-old has the most Twitter followers as a single person with over 78 million and 33 million Instagram fans. This holiday season, the pop sensation, who writes most of her songs herself, has teamed up with H&M for a collection that offers all you can dream of for the Christmas season.

How were you involved in the creative process of the collaboration with H&M?
Cozy and cool are the key words. H&M approached me to be the face and represent the holidays for them. I wasn’t involved in the design process but I put the actual looks together.
For me it was an easy decision as I am so into all of the fall holidays, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

It felt also very authentic to me because at the age of 13/14/15 I was starting my own style and I was always mixing H&M with my vintage clothes.

What is your favourite piece of the collection and why?
I actually have three. First I love the «elfie selfie» sweater, it is a funny, great piece with lots of embellishments and shows the outline of an elf.
Then there is a beautiful well-fitted black suit jacket that has sleeves like a kimono and the red dress that I wore for one of the shots with black dangling earrings. I have this latin flair in the photo which I like.

You are definitely no wallflower when it comes to fashion and trends. It seems like you truly enjoy dressing up. You are always catching eyes. Was your style always that eccentric? How did it evolve?
For me it is either dressing all the way up or a black and white tracksuit. It is never inbetween. It is a hundred percent or zero percent. In my teenage years or even in my twenties, I had always been very colourful and looked like in a cartoon. I never wore black as this is very boring to me. Lately, I started to wear a little black like black leather pants.

How do you dress when you are at home?
At home, I like being casual. I wear a tracksuit or my Calvin Klein top and bottom. But I always wear a lot of different stuff when I go out. I take a lot of chances not to be nominated for the best dressed lists but I like to have fun.

What does fashion mean to you?
It is just another way to express my creativity and how I feel about myself. So many times, I am out in public to do something but I don’t get to meet people. I don’t get to shake everybody’s hand, but fashion is a way to present myself. What I wear gives everyone a feeling of how I feel that day. Sometimes it is fun, sometimes it is flirty but ninety percent of the time my outfit has a sense of humour.

What is favourite piece of clothing in your closet and why?
Not a favourite piece but I find that really nice jewellery never goes out of style. I have a big wardrobe and I go through it maybe twice a year and pull out all the stuff that doesn’t make sense to me anymore but I my jewellery tends to stand the test of time.

Three pieces of clothes or accessories every woman should own?
A nice pair of diamond earrings and they don’t have to be real. A little sparkle close to your face always highlights your face. A nice corset underwear. One of those pieces with a bra and undies that shapes your waist and a timeless black jacket that can go on for ten years.

Do you have a style icon? Somebody whom you admire for her or his looks? If yes, who and why.
Yes, I do. Two people come to my mind. I like Chloë Sevigny, the American actress, she can go in between, very chic and very hipster. Grunge, a little bit of 70s, she tries a lot of different things.
And my friend Rihanna. It is so fun to see her walk out of her hotel room in something that you never thought it could be wearable and she pulls it of so well without trying too hard.

You have changed your hair colour so many times. How do you keep your hair looking healthy despite all the colour treatments?
Whenever I die it, I will take a long time to get to the new colour. I would never go overnight! I play with a lot of a wigs that make it look like I am dying my hair all the time. I also trim my hair a lot along the way and luckily I am able to work a lot with super professionals.

Do you have a personal stylist? If yes, how do you work together. If not, how do you choose and get your looks?
I work with a couple different stylists for different themes. For the H&M campaign for example together with B. Åkerlund, Jonas Åkerlund’s wife, who shot the commercial. They are a team. She helped style it and was extremely creative. She is very costumy and knows how to put an outfit together. She is larger than life and works with the likes of Beyoncé and Madonna.

How would you describe your personal style?
It is all about having fun and expressing myself, not about playing a political fashion game. I don’t play by the rules, I don’t care if I make it to the best dressed list. If I feel my best, that is the list I want to make!

Thank you, Katy, for this very refreshing interview!

I still cannot believe that Katy Perry called me at home on a Monday night… this is just too cool!
The Katy Perry x H&M Christmas collection is in stores now.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of H&M
This interview is now also available in German and French in the recent L’Officiel Switzerland issues!

Ready, steady, GO! … straight to the newsstand to get your December issue of L’Officiel Switzerland packed full of interviews, glitzy jewellery and, of course, fantastic fashion for the holiday season, such as this amazing CHANEL Haute Couture ensemble that our cover girl Yulia Terenti is wearing in combination with a Cartier bracelet.

Me at work while interviewing Katy Perry

I am extremely proud of this issue that features some of my most amazing interviews I did recently with Nicole Kidman, Elton John, Ron Arad and Katy Perry. Of course they will be coming up soon here on Sandra’s Closet as well. So stay tuned and have a great week!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Via L’Officiel Switzerland December 2015
Cover Photo: © Oli Kearon Photography and Styling by Fleur Huynh Evans

Two weeks ago, I attended Switzerland’s first «Amour de Vie – a fabulous night for a good cause“» charity event at the Park Hyatt in Zurich. A special benefit auction in collaboration with Sandra Nedvetskaia and top live entertainment ( The Bourbon Street Band from Manchester and DJ Young Bugs) guaranteed a unique, young fest to gather fundings for RIGHT TO PLAY. 100 % of all auction and Tombola proceeds raised CHF 27.450 that night.

A great cause and a fun party! We at L’Officiel Switzerland knew immediately we had to be part of it and became media partner ofd this fab event!

LoL, Sandra

The two masterminds: event organisator Sophia Marti (SVM Events) and auctioneer Sandra Nedvetskaia.

Park Hyatt’s famous chef Frank Widmer was “auctioned” off himself…

Great conversation with golf pro Roger Furrer, ambassador for Right to Play, during the dinner.

 The beautiful crowd…

Our newly wed Livia Zafirou, Managing Editor at L’Officiel Switzerland.

Photos: Courtesy of SVM Events and © Sandra Bauknecht

First of all, let me tell you, I hate sun creams. For me, it is something I have to apply to protect my skin but cannot be bothered too much with. So my ideal solution is to use it once and be protected the whole day.

La Roche-Posay ANTHELIOS XL CREAM SPF 50 (50ml, CHF 30.00) has become my favorite. It is perfect for sensitive and sun intolerant skin, very water-resistant and its UVA protection twice stricter than the European recommendation (for sun care) thanks to its patented and photostable filtering system Mexoplex®. Its moisturising velvety texture leaves no white marks and works for the body as well as for the face! The range includes also a BB (50ml, CHF 30.00) and a Blur cream (40ml, CHF 30.00), both with SPF 50.

Like this, you can enjoy the sun to the fullest and read our big summer issue of L’Officiel Switzerland that is now at the newsstands nationwide.

Happy Weekend!

LoL, Sandra

Photo: © Sandra Bauknecht

On Monday morning, I boarded Etihad Airways flight EY47 to Abu Dhabi. When I left, I enjoyed a spectacular view over Zurich. The time flew, due to strong winds, we arrived one hour ahead of time. The service on board was great and I can absolutely recommend this luxurious airline.

As my avid readers know, the reason why I am here is the amazing contest that all of you were able to enter in the beginning of February (for the previous post click here please).

I would like to thank everyone who participated. It was really tough for the Etihad team to choose the winner.

Here she is, congrats to Nadya Toncheva from Hamburg, who posted this beautiful entry. I am looking forward to meeting you today and to taking you for a serious shopping spree!

We are staying at the Yas Viceroy hotel that I can absolutely recommend. The rooms are big, the interior of the hotel is stylish and its seven restaurants offer everything a gourmet’s heart would ask for.

Yesterday, I met my friend Catherine Sarr who lives between London and Abu Dhabi. She has just launched her jewelry collection Almasika Fine Jewellery (the golden bangles at my wrist) that can be found already at Colette and soon in Zurich at Meister.

Catherine took me to the Saddiyat Beach Club, a great place to chill when you are in the area.

I am wishing you a lovely day! I am off shopping at the Galleria at Mariyah Island in Abu Dhabi… Nadya, get ready to get a new closet with Sandra’s Closet! It will also be featured in L’Officiel Switzerland.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht, Etihad Airways, Nadya Toncheva

While you are reading this, I am on my way to the SIHH, Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, in Geneva. I love this watch fair where this year 16 brands exhibit their new creations in an outstanding and extremely luxury environment. IWC Schaffhausen is one of them and I know that their booth as well as their party will once more make history.

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the brand’s iconic Portugieser watch line and launching a new collection at this year’s SIHH, I will of course keep you posted with some essential information.

To raise your enthusiasm, I would like to show you some very exclusive photos (some of you might have seen some in the October issue of L’Officiel Switzerland) of the amazing Ladies Lunch “Timeless Portofino” during the 10th Zurich Film Festival Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Watches (co-partner of the ZFF), and my humble self hosted at the Widder Hotel in Zurich to celebrate the new IWC Portofino midsize watches.

IWC CEO Georges Kern framed by Karolina Kurkova to the right and myself to the left

You have seen my new beautiful watch in many outfit posts. Thanks a lot to those who sent me your lovely comments about this new beauty in my closet.

Special guest of the event was Karolina Kurkova, the charming blonde chatted over lunch about her life with my girlfriends and took a souvenir photo with each guest. As an additional gift, there was a handwritten card with a personal dedication of the famous top model. Karolina is truly an amazing woman!

Enjoy all the pictures below and stay tuned for more…

LoL, Sandra

Karolina was checking on the photos (a true pro) to make sure all of them were immaculate.

Karolina framed by Monika Kern to the left and Margarita Forster to the right.

Having fun with David Biedert backstage taking some pics.

Photos: Courtesy of IWC, © David Biedert and © Sandra Bauknecht

Dear Swiss readers, great news! The sparkling December issue of L’Officiel Switzerland, packed with the very best of fashion and style for the upcoming holiday season is at newsstands nationwide from now (available in German and French)!

Are you desperately looking for present ideas for your loved ones? Fear not, the new December issue features an amazing Christmas Wish List 2014, packed with extravagant ideas that come in poster size to be taken on your next shopping trip!

And in case you are curious to find out what I am doing in Bangkok right now, I recommend reading the article about the Cabinet of Curiosities by Thomas Erber. 
More to be coming up soon on Sandra’s Closet!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of L’Officiel Switzerland, © Karen Rosetzski – Style: Equiline van Dooren

Joy is a state of mind, where everything seems possible and nothing is too daunting. When I met Miranda Kerr in Zurich to interview her at the Dolder Grand hotel for the September issue of L’Officiel Switzerland, I was immediately taken by her effusive positivity and joie de vivre. She was in the Swiss city as the face for ESCADA‘s newest scent Joyful.

Smile at the world, and the world smiles back. Miranda’s outlook on life and blend of natural sophistication, confidence and spontaneity make her the perfect ambassador for the fragrance. She approaches life with positivity, spontaneity and confidence.

Born and raised in Australia (click here for her travel insider about her home country), Miranda studied nutrition and health psychology after her high school graduation. Before her fourteenth birthday, she entered a magazine contest and began modeling for various clothing brands, runways, and print advertisements. The Victoria Secret model who’s famous for her feline eyes and cute dimples relocated to New York City in 2004. She was married to actor Orlando Bloom from 2010- 2013, the father of her three-year-old son Flynn.

I met her in the evening after a long day of shooting on the lake of Zurich. She was still full of energy and answered my questions always with a smile.

Many successful and extremely beautiful women come from Australia. Tell us a little how it was to grow up there?
I had an incredible experience growing up on my grandparent’s farm where I raced motorbikes and rode horses. My grandmother had a very big wippping willow tree,  in which we were playing flying fox and constructing houses. My grandpa used to collect gemstones and he placed them around the bottom of this tree. Still today, I have this admiration for cut amethysts and raw stones.

Do you go back often?
Yes, I go back a lot, the next time in three weeks.

You are an inspiring woman, a mother, a business woman and a famous model. How do you manage both parts of your life successfully? What is your secret to success?
I am prioritizing my time and I am having a good team around me which is very important as you would know with your job as well. You need to be surrounded by people who support your ideas and help you along the way, who know for what you stand for, who know your values, and who know if they have to bring something to the table to you or not. But of course you have to have the final sign off.

Regarding my son, it is hard. I make sure that for instance that when I come back home after crazy travels times, I book myself out so that I have five days of ‘one on one’ with him, that I am able to dedicate my time completely to him. During this quality time, I turn off the phone, we have playdates, we paint, we draw, we go to the park or play in the garden in the back of my home.

How would a perfect day for you look like? What would you do?
I would be at the beach with my son, swimming in the ocean, building a sand castle with him and laughing. I love to take my shoes off and enjoy nature and my kid.

You have your own organic skin care line KORA. What is your philosophy behind?
I have been looking for a certified organic skin care line. I have been in the industry for such a long time and I wasn’t able to find one that I liked that would deliver the desired results. So I spoke to a chemist and said this is what I would like to achieve. Can you help me with this? She has a really great lab in Australia. So she started sending me samples. The key ingredients I insisted on including were my favourites. First of all noni, which has over 170 vitamins and minerals. I used to drink it every day so why not putting it in my skin care line. The others ones are green tea extract and rose hip oil.

What are your bestselling products?
Our bestselling products are the Luxurious Rosehip Oil and the Enriched Body Lotion. We have products for different skin types, for example a three-step process for acne, dermatitis or dry skin. We keep it very simple. It is very important to cleanse, tone and moisturize morning and night. And then if people can afford it, there are other products you can add on, like the exfoliator two, three times a week, the eye gel cream which is very soothing as well as the lip balm.
(TO SHOP KORA Organics by Miranda Kerr, PLEASE CLICK HERE.)

What is your secret for your great skin?
Yes, I have a daily beauty routine (cleanse, tone, moisturize) that I always follow, no matter how tired I am. Consistency is the key when it comes to your skin.

How did you get your amazing body back after your pregnancy?
Find what exercise it is you really enjoy doing. For me, it is yoga, pilates, resistance training, things, that I can do easily at home while my son is right there with me. Even a little trampoline rebounder is a great way to get your lymphatic system going. Sometimes I just put the music on and dance around the house. Or I even do plank position and stay for the duration of one song. There are so many great exercises that you can do at home or while travelling. Go for a walk, a stroll through the park.

I don’t go to a studio, but sometimes I have a personal trainer come or watch a DVD. It is good to mix it up. But most of the time, I am exercising by myself.

What do you eat in general? Do you follow a special diet?
I studied nutrition in New York. I am a certified health coach. So learning that knowledge is something that helps me in daily life. I know what to eat to function at your best. I can make healthy choices but I also believe in the fact that it is important not to deprive yourself. So if you have appetite for something, have it. Otherwise it is human nature to end up craving for it. Just have a little bit of it. I believe in 80% healthy and 20% indulgable.

Do you have a favourite dish?
It despends on the day. I love food and to cook. I love to eat yummy delicious organic food but I cannot always. It is difficult when I am travelling. So I try to make the healthiest choices possible but I am not always too hard on me, especially when I having a full work schedule.

Do you remember the first time you connected with a fragrance? Is there a smell that reminds you of your childhood?
My mum had a collection of fragances. She didn’t wear just one. I remember that one of her favourite things to do was putting fragrance on. She taught me to spray her clothes. That way when you walk through the room, it will be like your natural scent. You make it your scent.

You are now the face of the new Escada scent Joyful? Why did you choose to front this fragrance?
Escada approached me and told me that they were coming out with a fragrance called Joyful. They said that the key ingredients were peony, magnolia and sandalwood and I thought that this was crazy because peonies are my favorite flowers. They are so delicate, so beautiful, feminine, they seem so pure. I love sandalwood so I thought it was a great alignement, a great fit. When I smelled it, I felt, it was right.

What does being joyful means to you? When is Miranda joyful?
I like to think that my heart is naturally very joyful and being with my son brings it out more than anything else that I have ever experienced. The simple things like enjoying the sunset, enjoying nature, taking my shoes off and putting my feet in the grass, having a fresh cut bouquet of flowers, lighting a candle and having a bath, having a laugh with friends, those things make me very happy.

On what occasion would you wear Escada Joyful?
It is a very lightweight, happy fragrance, not overpowering, like a fresh bouquet of flowers, very feminine, something that every girl wants. It works for all occasions.

New York and Australia, how do they smell like for you?
Growing up in Australia, I think of the smell of fresh rain, the smell of Christmas, because we have those Christmas beetles and they were really strong in the countryside where I grew up. Christmas was always so special. We went to my grandparents house, had a barbecue with all the family being together and then we went to my uncle’s house to swim in his big pool.

NYC has so many different smells, depending on where you are in the city. I love the smell of Central Park. There is so much energy in NY. It has ist own heartbeat that you even smell, a mixture of so many scents.
But the air here in zurich is unbeatable.

Miranda Kerr in three words.
Fun, content and joyful.

Thank you, Miranda, for this lovely interview!

Inspired by the moment of joy one feels when receiving a beautiful bouquet of fresh-cut flowers, ESCADA JOYFUL reveals a beautiful, fresh pink peony, surrounded by dewy white florals, awakening an inner feminine happiness and is available as Eau de Parfum 30ml (CHF 79.00), 50ml (CHF 112.00) and 75ml (CHF 147.00), Body Lotion 150ml (CHF 50.00) and Shower Gel 150ml (CHF 45.00).

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Escada, Miranda Kerr and © Sandra Bauknecht

Last night, BALLY celebrated their new F/W 2014 collection in collaboration with L’OFFICIEL SWITZERLAND at the Zurich store on Bahnhofstrasse.

Exclusively for BALLY, I chose as editor-in-chief my must-haves for the next season that were highlighted in the store with cute little tags. Moreover guests were entertained by a specially curated trunk show during the event. Enjoy some impressions below and stay tuned for my outfit post coming up soon.

To shop the chic F/W 2014 collection online, click here please.

LoL, Sandra

My favorite BALLY heels: the BESNA PUMPS

My favorite BALLY bag: the SOMMET TOTE

Last night with Erhard Schwendimann, BALLY’s Managing Director Retail

Photos: © David Biedert Photography

Recently I went to a very special event that took place at Zurich‘s new Neo Club on Europaallee. IRO Zurich had invited the city’s fashionable crowd to explore how fashion meets art. Swiss graffiti artist Shark hosted the URBAN ART ACT during which he live painted one of the French brand’s fabulous leather jackets. The performance appealed so much to the audience that everyone wanted to have the piece. Great news is that you can win this individual item in the September issue of L’Officiel Switzerland that will hit the shelves Mid August.

Good luck to you! In the meantime, I recommend a visit the IRO shop in Zurich on Strehlgasse 5. Probably the color combination of black and gold has inspired you a little… I like to add a pop of color as I did with my green bag.

My look: Fur stole by Blumarine, lace mini dress, green ‘Miss Sicily’ bag, coin earrings and cameo coin necklace, all by Dolce & Gabbana, Janis leather pumps by Saint Laurent, Mitza ring by Dior Haute Joaillerie and Lady Excalibur watch by Roger Dubuis.

LoL, Sandra

Graffiti artist Shark with me

Photos: © Sandra Bauknecht and © Andrea Monica Hug