Dasha Zhukova is young and beautiful and has already started a fashion line, opened an art gallery, been appointed editor of a fashion magazine, and gotten knocked up by a Russian oligarch. No wonder people hate her.

Well, Interview Magazine adores her! A glowing new profile in the mag reminds us that there is going to be a lot of loving-her-or-hating-her going around when the first issue of Pop magazine with her as editor hits the stands in September. Is she a fierce art and fashion visionary who is a role model for little Russian girls? Or, is she a horrible money-grubbing slattern who is using her rich boyfriend to finance her hobbies? You decide!

Real Name: Daria Zhukova

Age: 28

Residence: London, but spends lots of time in Moscow, L.A., and other capitals.

Source of Wealth: Roman Abramovich, her Russian billionaire boyfriend—and, if you're going to sell your womb for billions of dollars, there are uglier guys to sell it to. Just saying. Also, her father Alexander, an oil magnate who was once held in Tunisia for arms dealing, may be chipping in too.

Background: When her parents divorced in the early '90s, Dasha's mother Elena, a microbiologist, moved her first to Houston and then to L.A. She studied biology and literature at University of California, Santa Barbara. She spent her senior year in Moscow and has been a habitué ever since.

Famous Ex: Russian tennis player Marat Safin.

Famous Friends:

  • Stella McCartney
  • Larry Gogosian (pictured)
  • Jeff Koons
  • Olympia Scarry, socialite
  • Natalia Vodianova, model
  • Derek Blasberg, writer (who did the Interview, um, interview)

Projects:

  • Launched L.A.-based fashion line Kova & T in 2007 with friend Christina Tang. It became famous for it's latex leggings and hipster aesthetic (see left).
  • Started the Center for Contemporary Culture (better known as The Garage), a modern art gallery built in a converted Moscow bus depot, last June. After a lavish opening where Amy Winehouse performed, it's first show was by Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. Next up was items borrowed from the François Pinault collection and followed by a collaboration between director David Lynch and shoe designer Christian Louboutin. Is a venue for the Moscow Art Biennial next month.
  • Named editor-in-chief of British fashion magazine Pop in February, to replace founding editor Katie Grand, who left to open Condé Nast's Love. The first issue under her reign comes out until September. The fashion world hasn't been keen on her appointment considering her lack of editorial experience. Monday, the mag's cover by Damien Hirst leaked.
  • The bun in her oven, which is due November-ish