Daria "Dasha" Zhukova (May 2007 - April 2010)

[shalu]

At least the belt looks like Alaïa, so probably the dress is Alaïa too.

That's what I thought too but I checked and it isn't... I'm thinking it might be Chanel?

 

[BetteT]

I have moved the last 3 posts to the Rumour Has It form to the thread about her and Roman.
Please keep all talk, articles and pictures about the couple in that thread.

http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f6...ne-bf-roman-abramovich-broken-up-82840-2.html

 

[Lacroix]

forum.purseblog.com / thepurseforum

 

[shalu]

Just curious, does Dasha get her clothing from designers for free now that she is the editor of Pop? Or did she get them for free when she was just known as a socialite as well?

 

[Lacroix]

TO MANY, DASHA ZHUKOVA CAME OUT OF nowhere. That's because, until recently, the 28-year-old art patron, fashion designer, museum founder, and newly anointed editor in chief of Pop magazine was just another wealthy Russian girl schlepping a croc Birkin around London in a chauffeured Mercedes. Sure, she may have been spotted at a few events in years past, but she was rarely pursued. A little bit of pre-2008 photo research results in only a few images, namely from when she dated a certain Russian tennis player who for a time was ranked number one in the world. Today, the tennis-player boyfriend is gone, and in his place is 42-year-old Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who Vanity Fair ranked number eight on last year's list of most powerful people

And last summer, Zhukova did something that spurred her from quiet rich-girl-dom. She opened the Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, more familiarly known as The Garage, since it's housed in a renovated 1920s bus depot. Suddenly, Dasha (which is an affectionate Russian diminutive of Daria) was everywhere: famously hiring Amy Winehouse to perform at the opening party for The Garage in June 2008; joining the committee of the Serpentine Gallery in London and sprucing up their annual fundraiser in September; hobnobbing with Larry Gagosian at a gallery opening in Rome in February; sitting front row during Paris Fashion Week in March ...
The girl's status has changed indeed: Now paparazzi run after her in New York. The interest in Zhukova--who readily admits that while she has houses in Moscow and London, she spends most of her time on a plane--isn't exactly a mystery. She blossomed at a time when many were looking to Mother Russia as a new world power player, and as an attractive entrepreneur, she's been labeled one of Russia's rich new things. There are those who speculated that the reason she found Abramovich so attractive was his wallet. But Zhukova's father, who owned oil companies before diversifying, was also an oligarch. The Garage is the first contemporary art museum of its magnitude in Moscow, with an opening show of the Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, followed by the wildly impressive Francois Pinault collection and a collaboration between David Lynch and Christian Louboutin. And last but not least, Zhukova looks like a million bucks (or a billion rubles

What is so endearing about Zhukova, however, is that while many of life's pleasures stare her squarely in the face, she has remained down-to-earth. During the course of this interview, which was conducted in the bar at the Ritz in Paris, Lily Allen slurred by the table and feigned horror that this conversation was being recorded since she was occupying the next booth over. Zhukova decided she liked Allen. "I just read the interview that Damien [Hirst] did with her," Zhukova explained, referring to the February issue of this magazine. "And she's funny. It was so refreshing to finally hear a girl not denying that she likes a good time. I cannot listen to another girl say, 'I'm not a party girl. I just happen to always get photographed falling on the floor with lipstick all over my face and a bottle of champagne sticking out of my bag.'" For the record, Zhukova had champagne during this interview, and moved on to vodka later that evening

http://findarticles.com via bnet.co.uk/

 

[Lacroix]

continued

Interview Magazine August 2009

DEREK BLASBERG: I have to say, you're not at all what I thought you would be like.

DASHA ZHUKOVA: That sounds offensive.

BLASBERG: No! I don't mean it in a bad way. But when you hear of a rich, powerful Russian woman, you don't necessarily think sweet and approachable ...

ZHUKOVA: Who do you think of?

BLASBERG: A James Bond villain. I thought you'd have an accent and that you would be really cold and definitely be wearing hooker heels. I thought you'd be mean to people and wouldn't smile and that you'd wear really tight pencil skirts. You know, the stereotype.

ZHUKOVA: Yes, but that is so outdated. I think it has a lot to do with Russia's history, the reality of being a woman there, and the way that past generations of women had to fend for themselves. Women in my grandmother's generation really had to rise to the occasion during the war. They were tough because they had to be.

BLASBERG: IS the new Russian woman more chilled out?

ZHUKOVA: Well, let's steer clear of generalizing--it's a whole nation of people. I do think that the new generation isn't as hard as previous ones. But they will have their own problems. There's this surge of new money, so those kids will be faced with something different.

BLASBERG: How do you feel when people classify you as a symbol of this newly minted Russia?

ZHUKOVA: The thing is, I grew up in L.A., so I had this unique opportunity to live in both communist Russia and see that life, and then move to America as a young girl and experience a completely different life. I don't really feel like I'm part of that category of new Russians.

BLASBERG: What were some of the big differences when you came to California?

ZHUKOVA: Before I was in California, I was in Houston, Texas. That was crazy. The very first meal I had in the U.S. was Froot Loops, and I was like, "What is this? We do not eat colorful circles for breakfast." I was used to pancakes with meat stuffed in them. Everything was different.

BLASRERG: Wait, why were you in Houston?

ZHUKOVA: My mom, who is divorced from my father, is a molecular biologist. She really didn't like what was happening in the medical community in Russia and the attitude toward the scientists. Once communism fell, to really make a living you would have to deal, essentially, with hustlers. Everything was up for grabs, and the hierarchy shifted so dramatically that my mother couldn't find a place for herself where she was comfortable. Before, it was an educated group--the intelligentsia--and then suddenly you needed a whole different set of skills to survive. She just didn't feel like she wanted to be a part of that, so she got a job in Houston because we had family there. I had no choice in the matter.

BLASBERG: You went for the Fruit Loops.

ZHUKOVA: Exactly. I did feel like I was going to Disneyland the whole time.

BLASBERG: Why?

ZHUKOVA: I guess that was the limited information about America I had growing up. You think of Mickey Mouse waiting for you when you get off the plane. And then, after being in Houston for two years, we moved to L.A.
BLASBERG: How did you like California?

ZHUKOVA: I actually fought my mom about moving. When she told me, I was so angry because I thought Houston was the best place on earth. I even threatened to divorce her, to be an emancipated minor, if she tried to move me. I think I was 12. But, obviously, I liked California once I got there.

BLASBERG: You stayed in California for a while, from middle school to university.

ZHUKOVA: Yes, I went to UC Santa Barbara. It was amazing, maybe one of the most fun experiences in my life thus far. It was a totally stereotypical American experience.

BLASBERG: What did you study at UC again? I sometimes forget how brainy you are.

ZHUKOVA: I did pre-med, Slavic studies, and literature. Basically, it was a lot of science classes, with a bit of Russian.

BLASBERG: While you were studying, were you going back to Moscow often?

ZHUKOVA: No. I hadn't been to Russia in about a decade at that point. I went my junior year of college. My father had moved back, so I went to see him. It was fun. I never in a million years would have thought about moving back to Moscow. But in my last year of college, I decided that I didn't want to stay in L.A. I wanted a change. So I did my last semester abroad in Russia.

BLASBERG: And you liked it?

ZHUKOVA: I did. And I debated moving to Moscow permanently. But I had started this clothing company [Kova & T, a Los Angeles-based line] with my friend Christina [Tang]. I had met Christina in middle school, and we had been friends the entire time I lived in California.

BLASBERG: Did people discourage you from doing a clothing line?

ZHUKOVA: Completely. Actually, I feel like anything I've ever done, I've been strongly advised not to do.

it's a pretty long interview, here's the link to read otherwise I could post the rest if people are interested

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_6_39/ai_n32164751/pg_3/?tag=content;col1

 

[Party_Vixen]

^ Lovely interview . Dasha came across very well. It's nice to see someone in her position who's intelligent, well-spoken and is driven to succeed.

However I would've preferred someone other than Derek to conduct the interview. He comes across as ignorant and rude. But Dasha retained her grace and rose above all of his bs. Thanks for posting Lacroix .

 

[VaLera]

Dasha

 

[lauraprado]

she never looks happy with Roman....there is 0 feeling between them....

 

[Lacroix]

^ to be fair, they're candid paparazzi pictures, I doubt they'd be themselves in front of cameras but you never know


She looks amazing in the last picture

 

[lauraprado]

New York Fahion magazine

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/07/dasha_zhukova_is_the_new_edito.html

Dasha Zhukova Is the New Editor-in-Chief of Pop, But She Doesn’t Know Much About Fashion

At the beginning of the year, the legendary Katie Grand abandoned her editor-in-chiefdom of Pop for Condé Nast's new Love magazine. She took most of her Pop staff with her, leaving Pop's very survival uncertain. Then Russian socialite Dasha Zhukova was randomly installed as Grand's replacement, as though every experienced stylist or editor that might have had a shot at filling Grand's shoes had joined the Peace Corps. Prior to the appointment, which the fashion world blatantly scoffed at, Dasha was arguably most famous for her relationship with Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. But Dasha's fist issue of Pop is due out September 1, so it's time for her to start doing damage control. You know, reaffirming her talent, credibility, and fashion expertise to the fashion industry. Perhaps that's why she agreed to do an interview for Interview, which obnoxiously waxes on for four pages before even getting into Pop.

She told Derek Blasberg:

I’ve wanted to do a magazine for years. In fact, my friend Olympia Scarry and I had worked on a magazine concept before. We did up a dummy version, and even looked to get it printed. It was not like Pop. We had only planned on a single issue a year, and the layout was different. But when this opportunity came along — an entire magazine ready to go and fully staffed, with an entire infrastructure — eventually I decided it would be stupid not to at least entertain the idea ... My initial reaction was, “No way. I don’t want this.”

Oh, so she wanted to run a magazine. Now it all makes sense! What a great reason for her to land the job. She's only attempted it once before, for fun, but she has opened an art museum in Russia and started a clothing line (called Kova & T) with no experience in those things, so running the magazine Katie Grand made great is just another new thing for her to add to her résumé. So why did Dasha doubt herself initially?

I read fashion magazines, but I’m not all up in the mix. I’m not from this world. I haven’t spent years in fashion making friends and making enemies. I barely know who half the people are. Obviously, I know that Katie Grand started Pop, and that it’s a product that’s so associated with her in this world. But in my world, it’s just Pop.

Well, at least she's probably looked up the magazine on Wikipedia.

 

[Lacroix]

Italy, 8th June Roman Abramovich leaving the restaurant Bolognese with his girfriend

bew

 

[Lacroix]

 

[Party_Vixen]

VaLera please provide the source for the images in post #1628 or they will be removed. Thank you .

I love what she's wearing in the above candids of her leaving Bolognese restaurant. The mix of the print of her jacket and scarf makes the look imo.

 

[VaLera]

Dasha

vkontakte.ru

 

[VaLera]

vkontakte.ru

 

[lauraprado]

she really likes that jacket!!! i have seen pictures of her from 2004 and 2006 with the same one .. it is nice she repeats things.

Myspace,fotobank.ru

 

[fashiongirl84007]

is that 2nd pic in post 1637 taken in 2004? her nose looks really different

 

[arlekindearrabal]

^yes, i've also wondered before is she's had something done on her nose...

 

[lauraprado]

agenceangeli