Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova Gets Married
In-between honeymoons and revolutionary organizing, we sat down to chat with Tolokonnikova about her wedding. “John did a lot to help Ukraine and to help women’s rights,” explains Tolokonnikova, “and I found that endearing.” “Both of us are kind of workaholics, we worked on things for over a year before anything romantic happened — but I guess we both need this kind of work ethic and mutual respect proven first.”
A shared work ethic, mutual respect, and a love of Adidas solidified their relationship. “We both wore Adidas to be part of the Gopnik dresscode,” says Tolokonnikova. Only she could make Adidas matrimonial. “I sewed on the three stripes to John’s jacket, and enhanced my upcycled dress and veil as well with Adidas logos. I learned how to sew while in jail — I never thought anything good could come from this, being forced to sew police and military uniforms, but i tried to reclaim this skill and put it to use here.”
Tolokonnikova’s daughter, Gera Riot, made the playlist, with old Soviet pop hits and new Russian trap songs. The couple’s first dance song was Alla Pugacheva Позови меня с собой (pozovi menya s soboy). The lyrics roughly translate to “in spite of evil nights, I will go after you.”
Everything served at the wedding was vegan. “I made a vegan Napoleon cake from scratch because we couldn’t really find anyone to entrust this to. I assembled it into a large cross and dyed it black,” Tolokonnikova tells of us making her own wedding cake. We asked her who she'd wished had been there with her celebrating: "Hypatia. She was a philosopher violently murdered by Christians in the 4th century. The Russian court used my journal entries about Hypatia as evidence of my hatred toward religion. I think she would’ve had fun at our wedding— and enjoyed our cake.”
The only thing missing from their registry were "more HIMARS to Ukraine." See photos from the wedding below.
