Anja Rubik
Anja Rubik is a Polish supermodel, activist, philanthropist, and businesswoman. She lives and works in New York.
Early life
Rubik was born in Rzeszów, Poland. In 1988, she and her veterinarian parents moved to Greece. They later moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and to Umtata, South Africa. In 1992, they moved back to Poland after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Among the schools she attended was one in Częstochowa, Poland. Her family still lives in Poland where Anja also owns a home.Rubik was interested in modeling from a young age after watching George Michael's music video for "Too Funky" featuring famous 90s supermodels. She participated in a local modeling contest, where she was scouted by a Parisian agency. In 1999, she moved to Paris to begin her modeling career. While she finished her education, she modeled during school vacations only.
Career
Model
Rubik made her runway debut during the Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 1999 ready-to-wear collections. In 2000, Rubik signed with Next Management in Paris. In 2005, Rubik's modeling career started to take off after she landed her first campaign for Chloé photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. By the end of the year she was labeled fashion's rising star by Style.com. By 2009, Rubik was dubbed a “top model” by French Vogue. In 2011, the International Business Times hailed "supermodel" Rubik as the "world's most in-demand model".Vogue Paris declared Rubik one of the top 30 models of the aughts. In 2010 she was ranked as one of the top 25 Money Girls by models.com. By 2012, she was ranked as an Industry Icon.
In addition to her seven-year period as the face of Chloé, Rubik has fronted campaigns for Gucci for four consecutive seasons, photographed by Mert and Marcus, and Fendi for four consecutive seasons, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld. The designer-photographer has also photographed Rubik for numerous magazine covers, Chanel, and the 2011 Pirelli Calendar. Lagerfeld has referred to Rubik as one of his favourite models.
Rubik has also starred in campaigns for Armani, Balmain, Dante Herró, Chanel, Christian Dior, Elie Saab, Estée Lauder, Givenchy, Hermès, Lanvin, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent. Rubik was the face of Chloé's fragrance alongside Chloë Sevigny and Clémence Poésy, and she starred in Fendi's Fan di Fendi fragrance campaign with Mark Ronson. In addition, Rubik has been the principal in campaigns for Barneys New York, Belstaff, BLK DNM, Bottega Veneta, DKNY, Etro, Dante Herró, Forever 21, Gap, H&M, Jimmy Choo, Karl by Karl Lagerfeld, Kurt Geiger, La Perla, Lacoste, Mango, Marc Jacobs, Moschino, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli, Seven Jeans, Tod's, Tommy Hilfiger, and Zara.
Rubik has been modeling in London, Milan, New York, and Paris throughout the 2000s. Rubik's select runway appearances include the Haute Couture collections of Atelier Versace, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Valentino. She has walked the runway for the prêt-à-porter collections of Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Anthony Vaccarello, Balenciaga, Balmain, Burberry Prorsum, Chloé, Emanuel Ungaro, Emilio Pucci, Fendi, Gucci, Isabel Marant, Kanye West's DW Kanye West line, Michael Kors, Prada, and Tom Ford, among others.
Rubik made her Victoria's Secret runway debut in its annual televised fashion show in 2009, going on to also appear in the 2010 and 2011 editions.
Rubik has been featured on the covers of more than twenty-five international editions of Vogue. She was selected to cover the fourth issue of Porter magazine, the print offshoot of luxury e-retailer Net-a-Porter, by frequent collaborators Inez and Vinoodh, and Mario Sorrenti photographed her for the covers of Lui and. She has also covered TIME Style and Design by Ben Hassett, Garage by Sølve Sundsbø, and the international editions of Elle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, Nylon, Numéro, self service, and W magazines.
Excluding the aforementioned photographers, Rubik has worked with other photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Araki, Camilla Akrans, David Bailey, David Sims, Collier Schorr, Ellen von Unwerth, Erwin Wurm, Glen Luchford, Hans Feurer, Hedi Slimane, Juergen Teller, JR, Mario Testino, Michael Thompson, Nick Knight, Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Lindbergh, Paolo Roversi, Steven Klein, Steven Meisel, and Terry Richardson.
Muse
Rubik met designer Anthony Vaccarello in 2011. She starred in his runway collection in 2012 and subsequently appeared in campaigns for his self-titled brand. She helped the emerging designer's career by wearing one of his mile-high slit gowns to the 2012 Met Gala. From 2012 to present, Rubik has become Vaccarello's main inspiration.Since Vaccarello's appointment as Creative Director of Saint Laurent in 2016, Rubik has appeared as the face of the brand in campaigns and on the runway. The brand's designs and image are largely inspired by Rubik's punk-meets-feminine style.
Creative and design
Rubik has done capsule collections with Giuseppe Zanotti in 2013 and IRO in 2016.In 2012, Rubik founded and created 25 magazine, for which she also serves as Editor-in-Chief. The publication is an annual collector's print exploring artists' views of sensuality. Contributors include Alex Prager, Araki, Daniel Arsham, Hedi Slimane, Isabel Marant, Inez and Vinoodh, Marina Abramović, and Woodkid. In September 2015, Rubik made her directorial debut by directing Issue 04's teaser film featuring Andreea Diaconu and themed around the five senses.
In 2014, Rubik unveiled her own debut fragrance entitled "Original by Anja Rubik" in which she was involved in every step of the creative process, including designing the bottle and campaign shot by Paola Kudacki.
In 2015, Rubik hosted and curated the Art & Fashion Forum, an open platform of inspiration and education. Art & Fashion Forum is the 9th edition of an event initiated by Grażyna Kulczyk, which is organized in Stary Browar in Poznań every year since 2007.
In September 2018 she published a book called #SEXEDPL. Anja Rubik Talkes About Adolescence, Love and Sex. which became a huge success with over 100 thousand copies sold during first two months.
Television and other appearances
Rubik is featured in the 2009 fitness video game Yoga Wii for the Wii home console. She was also an inspiration for a character in the manga "The One" as the main character Cane Lele.Since 2010, she has appeared on Top Model. Zostań modelką, the Polish edition of America's Next Top Model. In 2014 she became the host and a judge of the Polish version of the reality show Project Runway TVN.
In 2014, Rubik starred in a music video for the song Chleb by Mister D., a music project of the Polish author Dorota Masłowska. In 2015, she launched her own perfume brand Original by Anja Rubik.