Anja Rubik

>> The newly-engaged Anja Rubik, while speaking with Frockwriter on Jan. 1, revealed that her appearance in Karl Lagerfeld's 2011 Pirelli calendar wasn't the first opportunity she'd had to take part in a Pirelli calendar. She turned Terry Richardson down the year before because she wasn't comfortable with what he might ask of her: "Doing the Pirelli was also incredible, because it was always my dream to take part in this calendar. It’s like the most famous calendar in the world; it’s such a huge honor. And the best people shot for it, and the best girls were in it . . . I was actually supposed to do the Terry Richardson one, but I was a little bit afraid, because I never undressed, I was never shot actually nude before. Although I love Terry and I worked with him a lot for French Vogue and other editorials, but I was a little bit afraid of his Pirelli."

Rubik said that she turned the opportunity down through her agent because she "didn't feel comfortable" doing "full-on nude," something she'd "never done" before — she'd only previously done topless. "I knew [Richardson] would, like, push the borders," she added, "and you know, I was just afraid of how far they were going to be pushed and if I’m going to feel comfortable."

Furthermore, she elaborated: "I know he would push it a little bit more, in a way that would be very naked, and I know that I wouldn’t go there probably. So that’s why it was stupid to accept the challenge because I thought I wouldn’t be capable. And you think . . . how it’s going to come out, because he has a different kind of take of that, a little bit more on the edge of, you know; I don’t want to say vulgar but on the very, very slight edge of it. There were supposed to be a lot of girls, and he likes to shoot a lot of girls with girls, and I just didn’t think I’d feel comfortable, that’s why."

So, she said no. "I just knew it would be uncomfortable for me and maybe for [Richardson], because I wouldn’t feel right in the moment . . . The worst thing is to go somewhere to a shoot and be there and feel uncomfortable. Because first of all, it’s bad for me; it’s bad for him; it just creates a really bad atmosphere."

But again, she says, she's never had issues with Richardson's comportment — which has been questioned by other models. "To be honest I know him," she told Frockwriter. "I’ve shot with him many times. And I think he’s great. I never felt uncomfortable, I never thought he pushed me into anything. I think if a girl, like, leaves her green light that she’s open to doing different things, he maybe pushes the boundaries. And if he knows how the girl is. Like I don’t get all these allegations. I mean I worked with him over, I don’t know, 15 times and I never felt awkward . . . that I felt I had to do something."

>> Anja Rubik and her longtime boyfriend, model Sasha Knezevic, are currently in Sydney where Rubik is shooting a Vogue Australia cover, but just before Christmas, they got engaged. She told Frockwriter:

"We were spending Christmas in Vienna this year because Sasha grew up in Vienna, and his family is there, and my family was coming over. And just two days before he came over, we went to Dance of the Vampires, the one that Roman Polanski directed. It’s an opera. I wanted to see it for such a long time, and Sasha organized the tickets, so it was really nice for Christmas. And then we went out, and we walked around, it was really foggy the whole night, and then he finally proposed, which was funny . . . It was pretty incredible. In the middle of the street. In the middle of the night. And then we went and had dinner in this restaurant that was on the rooftop of a building. And it was really, really nice. Apparently he was carrying the ring around for a while. And that day, we fought all the day long. We were preparing the whole house for Christmas, and there were all these things to be done, and I had to cook, and I had to do this and that and the Christmas decorations . . . I couldn’t find the ones I liked. So it was totally dramatic the whole day. I thought, ‘I’m going to kill him.’ I was like, ‘I think this was my last Christmas ever’ [with him]. And he said, ‘I picked this day on purpose, because although we have our fights, we’ve been together and ra ra ra ...’ And he’s right."

She added that they are "kind of hoping to do [the wedding] in May or June," and the ring is "a beautiful Cartier ring, I think it’s gold. Solitaire."

>> Lacoste has ditched its five-year-old tagline, "Un Peu d'Air Sur Terre," for a new theme dubbed, "Unconventional Chic". "After five years it was time for a change," said Christophe Chenut, CEO of Lacoste SA. "The previous ads were very product-focused and we felt we needed a campaign that was an affirmation of the brand statement as a whole.” Instead of featuring a group of models like the brand has done in the past, the new campaign highlights individual shots of Liya Kebede, Anja Rubik, Jon Kortajarena, and Noah Mills wearing polo shirts over fancy evening gowns. “We’re showing that you can be chic in a different way, not just when you are dressed up for a party or for the office,” explained Chenut.

• Givenchy called Adriana Lima when she was four months pregnant to walk in their Spring 2010 show, she says: "They take my measurements and I’m like, 'Oh my God, oh my God, I'm big!' And then they say, 'You’re not big enough!' Because they wanted to see the belly." [The Cut]
• Roland Mouret is anti-diffusion line: “I would never do a diffusion line. I don’t think the future is that. People mix brands all the time already, so you need to do something else. We are living in a different fashion world now.” [Style File]
• Karlie Kloss and Jourdan Dunn spent some quality time together yesterday, Kloss Tweeted: "Lovely day in London w/bff ms.dunn...lunch at Claridges, shopping at Selfridges, and now off to the eurostar...goodbye london hello paris!" [@karlie_kloss]
• Street style favorite and Harper's Bazaar senior fashion market editor Joanna Hillman is documenting her style daily during December for the magazine's blog [Harper's Bazaar]
• Gap's Spring 2011 faces include Anja Rubik, Liu Wen, Anais Mali, Carolyn Murphy, Karmen Pedaru, and Monika "Jac" Jagaciak [TFS]
• Talon cuff fans: Pamela Love just launched an online store [Pamela Love]
• Peek Naty Chabanenko in Cushnie et Ochs's new Spring 2011 lookbook (pictured) [Refinery29]
• Cathy Horyn takes an in-depth look at Chinese couturier Guo Pei as part of Sally Singer's first issue of T, which is slowing leaking online [T]