LesMads

Bald einen Monat ist es her, dass ich für einen Tag zum Launch der DKNY-Kampagne von "DKNY Women Energizing" nach Warschau geflogen bin. Topmodel Anja Rubik und ihr Verlobter Sasha Knezevic sind die Gesichter des neu aufgelegten Duftes, der erstmals als Eau de Toilette auf den Markt kommt. Für die Bilder wurde in New York eine gesamte Avenue mit Blick auf das Empire State Building gesperrt, damit Anja und Sasha den ganzen Tag rumknutschen durften, wie sie in der Pressekonferenz erzählen.

Die ursprüngliche Kampagne mit Esther Canadas und Mark Vanderloo (zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch frisch verheiratet) erschien 1999 und zeigte die beiden ebenso in New York und eng umschlungen im strömenden Regen - die Neuauflage ist sexier und genauso authentisch.

Nach der Pressekonferenz bekam ich einen 15-Minuten-Slot mit den Protagonisten und die waren trotz zahlreicher Interviews vorher entspannt und ziemlich redselig. Ursprünglich wollte ich das Interview filmen, was aber von den Agenten verboten wurde. Daher gibt es unser Gespräch schriftlich auf Englisch.

LesMads: When you are working together as a couple, what are the pros and cons ?

Sasha Knezevic: There are not many cons, I would say.
Anja Rubik: No, the great thing is we can take the job and turn it into a little vacation. We enjoy each others company and it's easy and fun to work together.
Sasha: We always get exited to work together. It seems that we work more often together than it actually is and when we work together it's all over the place. So thats why people get the feeling that we work together all the time together but it happens like a couple of times a year maybe. And when it happens, we are really happy. So it's very easy, we know each other and we joke around. Sometimes we say: "Don't stand like this" or "Don't touch my hair". It's little things and it's really fun.
Anja: And also you know the projects that we decide to do together, we usually know the photographer and we like the idea of it. So we are ecxited about it. It's nothing we have to force ourselves into.

LM: You also doing "25 Magazine" together.

Anja: Yeah, that's another project we are just doing on the side. It started in Austria, Vienna and now we took over the 25 Magazine, which was a lifestyle magazine. Our friend bought it and he asked if we wanted to do a little fashion and I said that's a great idea but if I take my friends and photographers and ask my friend to do it, we have to try and change the layout, the this and that. It was like a snowball.
Sasha: We basically changed everything! It's a completely new magazine.
Anja: And it was very spontaneous, because it was all done within a month. It came with a lot of really good feedback and there was a next issue. Then we said: Ok, if we are doing it seriously we have to stand back and see where we want the magazine to go and what the target is. Just to start to build it the right way, because before it was really spontaneous, we were checking the magazine at 3 a.m. in the morning.
Sasha: It had it's own charme, because it was really almost handmade. Even the articles with the collage together, sat every site and page. We would do everything ourselves. So, it was a great experience and I definitely think we grew with that project. Also just seeing how it is to work for a magazine and to see how much work it is to have your own magazine. We enjoyed it so much, we definetly want to take it to the next level. We're doing little adjustments.
Anja: We moved it from Vienna to New York.
Sasha: That's one adjustment. Vienna is good for classical music but not for fashion.
Anja: It's very art forward. They have amazing art.
Sasha:Yeah, but it is not really the place for a fashion label or fashion magazine. The Germans, for example, are much more forward with these things, I would say.

LM: So you will do another Issue - is there already a date?

Anja: No, we kept on putting a date but then we had to move it because of formal reasons. So now we're saying it's going to be for sure this year.
Sasha: But theres going to be a small relaunch again. So it's going to be like new and when we grow the magazine grows stronger.

LM: You promoted your magazine with a shortfilm, which has been blogged about everywhere. What do you think of blogs and how important are they for you as a model and editor?

Anja: I think that's our future. Blogs are incredibly important, Especially since we live in the days where the whole trend is to have information quickly. Everythings new, now, quick, quick. The blogs are amazing. When I wake up in the morning I turn on my computer and read the news and the I go to fashion blogs. I love Fashionology, I love Fashionista, I go to Fashion Gone Rogue ... there is a lot of them. I go to models.com...
Sasha: It's good to stay informed. You know what's happening and seeing other work.
Anja: You have Style.com but you see they're very limited because they're owned by Vogue (Anmerkung d. Rede: style.com gehört mittlerweile zum selben Publisher wie wwd) - it's different. You know, especially about fashion you can't read much about it because you go to a website of a serious magazine - fashion is very little, it's not so important. Those blogs are really good because they pick up on everything. And blogs also open doors to young designers because most of them don't have the budget to go into papers and advertise in them. So they get all the promotion from blogs and online. So basically the whole fashion world opens up to a huge amount of young talents.

LM: Did you ever find a designer through a blog?

Anja: Yeah I did. My good friend Eddie Borgo. I knew about him from a blog. I mean, there's so many just out the top of my head. Les Chiffoniers also! There's many, many, many.

LM: If you have one day off and you dont't have to work, what does a typical day look like in your life?

Sasha: New York is great. It's the city of so many opportunities and all the time you have the feeling if you stay home that your going to miss out on something because you just have everything there. We travel a lot. If it's a sunny day we like to get on our bicycle and ride down the Westend Highway. We like to do alot of sports. It relaxes us. She loves to do yoga and I love my basketball. So we have that. But it just happens that we stay in because we love that aswell. When you travel so much without being at home and doing anything like watching a movie or ordering some food in or even cooking you like to do that too. Anja loves to cook, she's a great cook. You know, the little things that for some other people may be normal, we really appreciate.

LM: Sounds like a very normal couple.

Sasha: Yeah, we are!
Anja: Sometimes! That's a luxury for us!

LM: What do you spend most money on?

Sasha: Oh I think it's mostly on travelling and dinners. We eat often outside. If we are hungry we go and eat something there are no limits.
Anja: You know when you're hungry and you want to go try a new fancy restaurant. When you're hungry you eat! And I think for us it's mostly travelling. Im lucky because I get shoes. I don't have to spend my money on shoes.
Sasha: But it's still like every good moment you spend money on shoes because I think you could give women all the shoes in the world and they would still go out and buy some! Women and shoes!
Anja: Sometimes I'd buy a pair where I know im not going to wear them ... maybe once or twice... buy I just like to look at them there in my closet. So I have the option.They're pretty and they're there.

LM: What was your latest purchase?
Anja: I was in Paris and I did some Isabel Marant shopping...

LM: If you weren't models - what would you do today, in dream and reality?

Anja: In reality you never know but I guess that because my parents were veterinarians. So probably I would have gone that way. But If I started studying now I would never go to a veterinary school. I would start something with art and design. But in fiction I would love to be able to write and love to be a movie critic. I love movies but I don't have the ability.
Sasha: My dream since I was a kid was to become a basketball player and partly I fullfilled my dream. I played six years professionally in Italy. I was even in Germany for a really short time in Mainz. So since I was little I was always very into sports and modeling just happend more or less by coincidence. It wasn't planned. I never really thought of it. So definetly I would continue playing sports.

LM: You're both very humorous and open minded, which is rare in the snobby fashion scene...
Anja: I think they put on a face like an outfit to go to the shows. When you get to know them personally you'll see that they are really a lot of fun. Like Emmanuelle, who just took over french Vogue, she's in real life when you shoot with her so much fun. She dances, she laughs, she always puts on her music and there's always a fight between her and the photographer abou the ipod. Usually Terry Richardson has the worst music, he always play Gaga all the time, which is fun but not all day. And so she's full of life. I think most of them put on their business look, which is very serious. Of course there are the ones that are serious day and night but in every business you have different people. Even in the business world e.g. lawyers you have the ones that have sense of humor and the ones that don't. Theres so many people in the industry. It's a very personal thing. Many take fashion a little bit too seriously, then they should because you know designing a diffrent length of a skirt doesn't really change the whole world. It doesn't have an impact on poverty and Africa nor does it save anyone's life but then again it's a huge business and there's alot of money behind the things and it feeds a lot of people in the world.
Sasha: Well you know, for me it's very important to keep a certain distance. That's what I love in this industry, the fact that I can do that in this industry. So I don't take it too seriously but still you can't be too relaxed either because after all it's still work and it's important to be professional. But at the same time you have to maintain the distance and laugh about yourself sometimes.

(Die Agentin schaut mahnend auf die Uhr und ich habe nur noch wenig Zeit für schnelle Fragen.)

LM: Your favorite book and song?

Sasha: Personally I loved "The Alchemist".
Anja: I love the biographie of Isodora Duncan "My Life". And my favourite song at the moment would be from "Kings Of Leon": "Use Somebody".
Sasha: For me the songs from Xavier Naidoo and I got her (Anja) hooked on him too! She really likes it as well and I think he's a great artist.

LM: Which is the best place to shop in New York?

Anja: I think if you go for vintage, then it's East Village is amazing, 8th Street. It's really incredible.
Sasha: And for me the NBA store.

LM: You can't live without...
Anja: My leather pants.

LM: Your best model girlfriend?

Anja: Karen Elson is one of the nicest persons I've met. I'm not best friends with her but she's just the nicest person. But Im really good friends with ... oh there's a lot of nice girls.

Sasha: Yeah, they're all nice like: Heidi Mount and Maryna.
Anja: Abbey Lee's great!

Thank you very much for the interview!

Hier der alte Spot:

Und der neue mit Sasha und Anja: