Anja Rubik Is Super Taus in Vogue Czech March 2021 by Marcin Kempski AOC Fashion

The Art of Taus Makhacheva

Supermodel Anja Rubik is among the women covering the March 2021 issue of Vogue Czech in images tagged on Instagram with #whencreativitybecomesform. Jan Kralicek styles Anja in a fashion story pieced together by Google translator and me that focuses on the practices of Taus Makhacheva, Super Taus and Superhero Sighting Society. Taus Makhacheva, 38, is a Russian artist based in Moscow..

A COVID-impacted summer/fall exhibition in Germany at Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art adds additional texture to the understanding of the images. Taus Makhacheva also showed at the Armory Show in New York in 2019. Remember that the March issue of Vogue are devoted to creativity.

The Vogue Czech tagged IG post specifically references a Super Taus viral videl ‘Untitled 1’ by Taus Makhacheva. Photographer Marcin Kempski captures the fashion story with a distinctive feminist energy, anchored with fashion from Jil Sander, Rick Owens and more.

Abortion in Poland Update

When AOC last left Anja Rubik, she was naked on the cover of the December 2020 issue of Vogue Poland, anchoring an issue devoted to the power of women. The issue supported the topic of abortion rights in Poland, as the right-wing government sought to enforce the most onerous ban on abortion in decades. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Polish citizens were in the streets for days.

In the United States most Trump supporters agree that a woman should be forced to carry a totally deformed fetus that will die at birth to term — one that doesn’t have a brain, for example. The new Catholic Church law in Poland demands this obedience from women with no regard for her own psychological and mental health over such a catastropic situation. If men were forced into such servitude of carrying a fundamentally ‘dead’ baby for months, such a law would never be passed or embraced by the Catholic Church.

AOC is sad to report that the anti-abortion law in Poland is now being enforced. Most recently, on January 27, 2021, Poland’s top court, known as the Constitutional Tribunal, ruled on the fetal-abnormality abortion ban and declared it law.

Searching for the update, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Vogue.com is carrying the February 11 update. No Google translator required. After Poland Issued a Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Marta Lempart Has Been on the Front Line of the Protests. Solidarity legend Henryka Krzywonos is interviewed about the past and present of her activism.

When LVMH and Rihanna agreed to hit ‘pause’ — perhaps a very long pause — on Fenty, it only confirmed the reality that even Rihanna cannot gear up a global luxury brand of fashion clothes during a pandemic. Vanessa Friedman and the New York Times explained the ‘situation’, as both parties — LVMH and Rihanna agreed that the decision was a joint one.

The brand is not officially closed and Rihanna remains part of LVMH. Friedman pursue the analysis as a reminder “that just because someone has an enormous cultural following and no-holds-barred taste, it does not mean they will make great, original clothes..”

AOC’s interest is the $115 million fundraising round for Savage x Fenty by L Catterton, a private equity firm connected to LVMH. We reported in December that the partnership both put swimwear brand Seafolly into administration in Australia in June 2020 and then bought it back again at an attractive price near year’s end. This new round of fundraising resulted in Savage’s valuation exceeding $1 billion, wrote Fast Company.

I hadn’t read any projections that Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie and beauty brands could exceed the struggling Victoria’s Secret brand. But the thought has crossed my mind more than once — and noted on AOC. Savage x Fenty just wiped the Victoria’s Secret floor with their recent Valentine’s Day campaign, leaving VS to look like a rudderless ship that’s turning in circles.

If Victoria’s Secret didn’t have their For Love & Lemons collab, the brand would visually appear to be even more adrift. (Note, that Anne (me) was the fashion director and head of product development for Victoria’s Secret during the glory years. I resigned over the increasing brand positioning differences between myself and Ed Razek, and our abandoning our relationship with women to give the brand to guys.

Rihanna and I share the view that women should control our sexuality on our own terms. And that includes a sexual mindset that is hotter than Hades. “She’s unapologetic,” says Savage co-president Christiane Pendarvis. “What she does is for herself and not for someone else. That’s what we try to embody at Savage: Giving that power and control back to all women.”

Pendarvis was VP of Merchanding at Victoria’s Secret from 2004 to 2008. That’s a short run, so Pendarvis may have had her own ‘issues’ with the growing boys club at VS. And while I cannot state that I ever imagined taking Rihanna’s approach to coverying every body out there in the lingerie of her choice, I definitely fought to expand our range of sizing into the mainstream of American women.

One thing is clear — besides the brilliance of Rihanna’s merchandising instincts — and that of her team. Rihanna has access to big money and important relationships. With her commitment to Amazon — avoided by so many upscale brands — Rihanna could pitch Jeff Bezos for an investment. And when Bernanrd Arnault is in your corner and you deliver results, money is not a problem.

As the mogul moves to build lingerie stores, her full-frontal confrontation with Victoria’s Secret will become even more overt. After spending some time pursuing the question as to whether or not Savage x Fenty could become bigger than Victoria’s Secret, the answer appears to be a definitive ‘yes’.

To put it as plainly as I can, it would be such ‘Just Desserts’ for VS — and delivered by a black woman, no less. I love it. ~ Anne