Cause To Celebrate

Is this the new face of fashion? We spend a night in Venice with @golden_barbie and find out what makes her tick

- Genevra Leek

Jasmine Sanders is celebrating her birthday. In fact, it’s been a birthday festival of sorts, kicking off with friends and fireworks at a Japanese sushi bar in West Hollywood and now keeping the momentum days later with a surprise dinner in Venice, thrown by her other “family”, Roman jeweller Bulgari. Sanders is the newly nominated digital ambassador for the LVMH-owned brand and she’s been generously welcomed into the fold. “I’m super excited to be working with such an amazing group of people,” she says the morning after, looking fresh faced and for all the world like she’d been tucked up in bed by 9pm instead of partying in a local Venetian bar until the early hours. “[They were] all over my page and saw that I was celebrating and figured I needed to celebrate with the family here as well!”

Sanders has been flown in to the City of Masks for the launch of Bulgari’s Festa, a collection of more than 100 one-of-a-kind jewels and high-end watches inspired by the tradition, colour and cheer of the Italian festa. With her ready smile and effervescent personality, she’s the kind of party guest you know will be first on the dance floor. If you haven’t yet heard her name, it’s likely because many know her by the Instagram handle Golden Barbie, a moniker derived from a childhood nickname. You’ll most definitely recognise her though, from Kim Kardashian’s happy snaps from their jaunt in Mexico last August, or perhaps Kylie Jenner’s lip gloss line-up. But with respect to her high-profile friends, Sanders is a social-media superpower in her own right, and the 26-year-old has got the luxury fashion world’s attention.