Sofía Sanchez de Betak Takes Max&Co. on a World Trip
MILAN — Ever since publishing the Assouline book “Travels With Chufy: Confidential Destinations” in 2017, travel and style influencer Sofía Sanchez de Betak has proven she knows a thing or two about off-the-radar gateways and retreats around the world.
A naturally born cosmopolite brought up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and living across New York, Paris and the Spanish island of Mallorca, Sanchez de Betak has translated her travel experiences the cultural melting pot she’s witnessed around the world in her Chufy fashion brand. She’s now embracing a similar concept as the latest creative to join Max&Co.’s &Co.llaboration project.
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Zooming from Mallorca to preview the collection, Sanchez de Betak said the two-pronged inspiration for the collection came from the Max&Co. archives as well as her travels, particularly bazaars and local flea markets she’s visited around the world, from Marrakech’s medina to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and the dealer’s markets just outside Avignon, France.
“It’s a bit of a mix of things I’ve been influenced by….You travel across different parts of the world, and you get influenced and touched and changed by each experience and each person you meet on a journey, animal, sites landscapes, sunsets…you become very different,” Sanchez de Betak said.
She aptly titled the collection “Souvenirs of Life,” nodding to the lessons learned and experiences enjoyed on her frequent trips around the world. She also appears in campaign imagery shot in Marrakech.
“It’s a recollection of these special moments in life that make you who you are, the charm of traveling is that when you are on a journey you meet people, you fall in love,” she offered.
Touring the Max&Co. archives she discovered wardrobe staples that stood out for both their quality and practicality, which she revisited with a personal twist.
“As a small brand, [with Chufy] we are accustomed to a slower process and have less resources, so it was incredible to work with such a high-level team, and quality. It was smooth,” she said.
Building on those archival pieces, she distilled a luggage-ready collection, adding her own flourishes drawn from a range on inspirations such as the Safari landscape, Mexican patterns and African motifs.
An embroidered, boho-nodding shirtdress mingles with a cotton parka bearing decorative panels at the back, ditto for safari jackets with ikat motifs, while a denim overshirt, crafted from upcycled jeans, serves as the perfect traveling throw-on piece to be worn over floral breezy minidresses. Suede boots and flat sandals, as well as basket bags complete the look.
Max&Co.’s tie-up with Sanchez de Betak marks the fifth installment of the &Co.llaboration project. Last February the brand linked with stylist and fashion editor Anna Dello Russo, following designer and curator Duro Olowu and Efisio Rocco Marras, the creative director of I’m Isola Marras and son of designer Antonio Marras.
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