Dasha Gets Serious
You'll be relieved to hear that Dasha Zhukova, whose surprise appointment as editor-in-chief of Pop magazine triggered a bitchy wave of consternation across certain sections of the fashion world—because, you know, presiding over the compilation of pretty pictures is on a par with brain surgery—is not letting the haters deter her. She says she's cutting back on her involvement with fashion line Kova & T in order to focus on her new job, as well as on her Moscow gallery. "Garage and Pop magazine are my priorities," she told a journalist interviewing her about an exhibition of art owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, opening today at Garage.
The show includes works by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, and Takashi Murakami but, on Dasha's orders, nothing explicit that would be unsuitable for children: "Art sometimes should have shock value and make people uncomfortable, but we have responsibilities to the families who come here." Not that she's a prude or anything: While remaining tight-lipped about her own art collection, she admitted she'd recently visited John Currin's New York studio and admired his (famously porny) paintings.
We're glad, of course, that Dasha is taking her responsibilities as both editrix and art patron so seriously, but we still want to know: Have she and billionaire boyfriend Roman Abramovich, to whom she's been engaged for years, set a date yet?
Koons Works Star in Pinault Show at Abramovich-Backed Gallery [BN]