Diplomatic Fashion

A concept with depth – Septième Etage is defined by lots of light and open spaces. It’s a comfort zone for designers and customers alike.

Diplomatic Fashion. Septième Etage/Geneva

Septième Etage/Geneva. If you are the daughter of a diplomat, you are definitely very used to travelling between worlds and balancing them accordingly. Katharina Sand has found a way to transform this talent into cash without venturing into the financial

world, as is the case with 99% of the children with her heritage. Text: Dörte Welti. Photos: Nicolas Schopfer, Septième Etage

A school reunion in Geneva provided the final impetus for the creation of a boutique. Katharina, who then worked - and still works - as a freelance journalist and correspondent on the international fashion stage, had just interviewed Isabel and Ruben Toledo. After the interview, she wondered why it wasn’t possible to purchase all these beautiful fashion items in Geneva. It triggered a desire to share the wonderful ideas of fashion designers with the public, and to explain what it means to wear a high-end dress that has been tailored in such a manner for a very good reason. At the school

Septième Etage

10 Rue du Perron, 1204 Geneva/Switzerland www.septieme.com Opening: July 2000 Owner: Katharina Sand Employees: 2 Sales area: 170sqm Brands for women: Alice + Olivia, Costello Tagliapietra, Delfina Balda, Elizabeth and James, Francesca Rosafio, Isabel Toledo, Greta Constantin, Jessica Choay, Lover, Maria Cornejo, Nili Lotan, Rodebjer, Veronica Beard, Whit Accessories brands: Alice + Olivia, Eppla Lemonada, Gemmina Mia, Totally Unnecessary, Wonderwool Lifestyle brands: Isabel Toledo for Mizensir Candles, various magazines reunion, Katharina found herself surrounded by former classmates “who all failed to maximise their creative potential and the majority of whom chose a career in finance because it was the easiest option.” Katharina whipped up a business plan in no time and raised the necessary funds. After she had found lovely premises in Geneva, she returned to her old school and announced that the demanding, fashion-conscious daughters no longer had to travel to New York, London, and Paris for shopping. She made clear that all the fashionable brands were available in her shop in Geneva. That was quite a coup, especially as she also gained the wealthy Saudi Arabian women, who spend their summers in Geneva, as customers.

Weaving a Relationship Network

The exchange with the school continues to this day; Katharina awards internships to the pupils. She is a juror for Swiss fashion awards and she regularly organises events or art/ photo exhibitions in the store. Furthermore, her customers are extremely loyal; women between 14 and 70 years of age who give in to their fashion addiction in Septième Etage. By the way, the shop’s name was chosen because Katharina Sand’s last flat in New York was on the seventh floor of a building without a lift. She started with Isabel Toledo and still has an intimate friendship with the designer couple to this day. They even designed a candle together; the candle by Isabel Toledo for Alberto Morillas von Mizensir is available in the store. Right from the start, Septième Etage stocked various iconic brands from New York and the unique boutique can now celebrate its 15th anniversary. For a short while, there was a second branch just across the road and the number of employees rose to 10. However, it soon became apparent that this was one step too many after seven years. Now Septième Etage is once again a bright spacious store spread out over two floors, but with an inhouse photo studio in the second basement and a fairly successful online shop. Katharina the Great (she is 1.85 metres tall) actually works in her store at least three times a week. “I want to explain the designers’ work personally”, she explains. She still is a coveted freelance journalist and is visibly thrilled by the fact that people from all over the world fly into Geneva to visit her shop, which has already been praised by the US version of Elle and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. “You simply feel different when wearing a dress designed by Isabel Toledo. Like all my designer brands, it is special.” Katharina is always in

More than just fashion –Katharina Sand communicates quality awareness.

a rush to reach the next meeting before jetting off to London to study for her Ph.D. in Fashion Curating. After all, presenting fashion - no matter in which context - is the most beautiful thing in the world, at least in Katharina’s world.