Lauren Sanchez is nothing if not a fashion innovator.
Blasting off into space this week, the former TV presenter turned fiancée of Jeff Bezos did so kitted out in a custom designed space suit by the New York based brand Monse.
A collaborative effort between Sanchez, 55, and co-founders Fernando Garcia and Lauren Kim (who are also the creative directors of Oscar de la Renta), the reimagined flight gear which has been described as a ‘cross between Star Trek up top and the outfits Elvis Presley wore in his Vegas years down below’, is just the latest in a string of high-profile fashion moments by the soon-to-be wife of the second-richest man in the world.
Engaged since May 2023, Sanchez seems determined to make 2025 – the year of her Venice-based nuptials – her own, breaking not only the boundaries of aeronautic history but laying claim to the title of the year’s most influential fashion phenomenon.
Like the doubtlessly carefully planned 11-minute flight, Sanchez’s fashion mission launched just weeks into the new year when she, alongside the tech billionaire, formed part of the front-row line up at Donald Trump‘s second inauguration.
Choosing a show-stopping white Alexander McQueen pantsuit, Sanchez grabbed not just Mark Zuckerberg‘s attention with her provocative peekaboo bra worn underneath the tailored tuxedo blazer, but the entire fashion press who, even in the midst of a Trump family fashion parade, were aghast at one of the most unconventional ensembles ever worn to a presidential swearing in.
A collaborative effort between Lauren Sanchez, 55, and co-founders Fernando Garcia and Lauren Kim, the reimagined flight gear which has been described as a ‘cross between Star Trek up top and the outfits Elvis Presley wore in his Vegas years down below.’
Choosing a show-stopping white Alexander McQueen pantsuit for the 2025 inauguration, Sanchez grabbed not just Mark Zuckerberg’s attention by her provocative peekaboo bra worn underneath the tailored tuxedo blazer, but the entire fashion press.
Two months later, Sanchez again made her presence felt at an event in which she could have otherwise gotten rather lost.
Showing up at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in full bridal gear, it was a not-so-subtle reminder to all those more famous fashion figures that the former helicopter pilot was headed down the aisle with Bezos.
In her strapless white satin dress, complete with mermaid skirt and train trimmed in feathers, Sanchez flaunted in full a silhouette that showed off her ever-shrinking waist alongside an ever-increasing bust.
But the world’s newest astronaut has, I think, figured out that even Jeff’s estimated $200 billion can only get you so far.
And after six years of exhausting the potential of custom couture, I wonder if Sanchez has tweaked to the realization that something still, at least in the style stakes, eludes her.
I think she’d decided that her breakout moment was to be at this year’s Breakthrough Awards.
Dubbed the ‘Oscars of Science’ the event cleverly merged her twin personal pursuits of flying and fashion – and thus represented an ideal opportunity to confirm that she is something more than mere Amazon arm candy.
Amid an A-list Hollywood crowd that included Gwyneth Paltrow, Lily Collins, Katy Pary and Alicia Keyes, Sanchez went full va-va-voom in a slinky red silk gown designed, she claimed, not for her but for the legendary Sophia Loren who had in 1994 donned the John Galliano for Christian Dior creation.
‘I was proud,’ Sanchez declared via her Instagram account, ‘to give it a second life on a night all about pushing boundaries and honoring brilliance.’
Invoking one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Sanchez stole the show – and the next day’s fashion headlines – by wearing the cast-off credentials of a woman who is one of the last surviving icons of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Not that raiding the archives is entirely new for the red carpet. The trend has gained a new momentum in recent years as stars seem increasingly unsure of their own style story.
Kim Kardashian, long seen as a pariah by the snooty fashion world, showed how much things had shifted in her favor when she turned up at New York’s iconic Met Gala in 2022 clad in Marilyn Monroe’s bejeweled Bob Mackie beige dress – the one worn by the screen siren in 1962 to serenade President John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday.
The military-style operation that involved a specially constructed changing room outside on the Met steps so the reality star, 44, could delicately step into the dress before descending onto the stage of the red carpet was a coup for a woman once derided as a D-list celebrity and who now had the power – through sheer influence alone – to remove a five-million-dollar dress from its darkened temperature-controlled museum vault.
While few other stars have been accorded such similarly daring moments, there’s been a clear trend towards emulating the past rather than trailblazing the present when it comes to Hollywood dressing in recent years.
The spring 1956 dress designed by Christian Dior himself that Mikey Madison, 26, wore to this year’s Oscar was a powerful statement by the virtually unknown actress who galvanized the full force of fashion to make a case for cinematic stardom that had scant support in her CV.
In her strapless white satin dress, complete with mermaid skirt and train trimmed in feathers, Sanchez flaunted in full a silhouette that showed off her ever-shrinking waist alongside an ever-increasing bust.
Sanchez went full va-va-voom at this year’s Breakthrough Awards (pictured) in a slinky red silk gown designed she claimed, not for her but for the legendary Sophia Loren who had in 1994 donned the John Galliano for Christian Dior creation.
Kim Kardashian, long seen as a pariah by the snooty fashion world, showed how much things had shifted in her favor when turned up at New York’s iconic Met Fashion Gala in 2022 clad in Marilyn Monroe’s bejeweled Bob Mackie beige dress (pictured).
The spring 1956 dress designed by Christian Dior himself that Mikey Madison, 26, wore to this year’s Oscar was a powerful statement by the virtually unknown actress who galvanized the full force of fashion to make a case for cinematic stardom that had scant support in her cv.
So, Sanchez’s decision to lean into retro is nothing surprising. Unlike Kim and Mikey, she didn’t even have to return her vintage frock at the end of her Cinderella inspired evening.
Acquired from LA-based vintage dealer Timeless Vixen – most likely through Sanchez’s long-time stylist Kelly Johnson – the Galliano gown was hers for the keeping at what was (at least for the Bezos budget) the bargain-basement price of a mere $7,000.
Yet what should have been a triumph instead revealed the cracks in Sanchez’s otherwise well executed agenda. Waltzing onto the red carpet with apparently inadequate preparation, she mixed up Sophia Loren and a very different screen siren, Raquel Welch – who actually wore the dress. And then, as the Daily Mail revealed, proceeded to credit the wrong woman as her icon!
It was a mistake that screamed amateur hour – and a notable gaffe for a woman who is apparently in overdrive to demonstrate her gravitas – in fashion and beyond.
