If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos can be trusted to always be rich, his fiancée, helicopter pilot Lauren Sánchez, can be trusted to always be glamorous. She proved it at the Oscars not long ago, looking resplendent in a white Oscar de la Renta number, and now again at the Oscars of Science, the Breakthrough Prize ceremony. The platform that honors scientists as modern-day heroes and celebrates individual achievement was brought to life by founding sponsors Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. But Sánchez looked more like a product of divine intervention than science itself as she took the stage to present an award alongside American rapper and icon Will.i.am.
As this gorgeous 54-year-old head-turner prepares to head to space with an all-female crew (pals Katy Perry and Gayle King also attended the ceremony ahead of their scheduled Blue Origin flight, NS-21, on April 14), she’s very much part of the science world, but she brought along a piece of history to this rare convergence of pop culture and pure science.
The soon-to-be Mrs. Bezos flaunted her curves in an archival 1994 John Galliano dress once worn by the legendary Sophia Loren. But it was her customized Judith Leiber clutch that truly made our hearts skip a beat. The dazzling arm candy was shaped like a tiny astronaut, a glittering tribute to the upcoming space flight. With its bold orange finish, it resembled NASA’s iconic “pumpkin suits,” complete with a helmet, display and control module, microphone, and headphones.
The last time Sánchez’s handbag made headlines was during the promotions of her New York Times bestseller The Fly Who Flew to Space. Then, she carried a customized Dior handbag, a departure from the fashion house’s classic ecru and gray Toile de Jouy motif, featuring the book’s cover. Adorned with whimsical illustrations of Flynn the Fly, a rocket, the moon, stars, and her name engraved at the center, it was a statement piece through and through.
It seems Sánchez’s statement pieces are going to be space-themed for a while. A side effect of being engaged to Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man worth $189 billion? Perhaps.
