Richard Krajčo's Rough Youth: His mother was ashamed of him. She beat him with a dog leash, his wife Karin revealed
The Krajčo spouses are a thorn in the side to many for the way they present and dress themselves. Together, they make a harmonious couple that complements and supports each other in everything. Currently, Richard is struggling with complications and ended up in the hospital. At the Slavics, he still had an IV catheter under his tailcoat, as he revealed to us in an interview. We talked not only about fashion but also about criticism and haters. They also revealed to us how challenging the renovation of a church is, which they have been furnishing in a pop-art style for several years now.
Have you recently been in the hospital, how are you feeling? Is everything okay now?
It's not, but I didn't want to miss this evening. I'm going straight from drips, I still have a cannula stuck under my tuxedo and I'll go to refill it.
Who dressed you up today?
Zuzana Lešák Černá designed and sewed it for us, Dušan Chrást did the styling as always and we have jewelry from ALO diamonds and Hallady.
How are you feeling?
Richard: Great. I was looking forward to it, from the first sketches, when we started to draw it and all four of us were so enthusiastic. And it looks even better than we imagined.
Karin: We enjoyed the fact that Zuzana is again having fun with us, and that we were all tuned to the same wavelength. It flowed nicely and it was easy.
Do you talk into your outfits? How are they created?
We sit at one table, start brainstorming and come up with one, two, three models, then we narrow down from them.
You have an unusual handbag.
It's not that unusual, watch out. I found out that people don't really like men's handbags like last year. So I was looking for what they like the most, we did such a survey, kids walked the streets, Karin walked the streets, I walked the streets and we found out that most people carry plastic bags.
I wanted to make them happy, so I took something that everyone likes.
Karin: Because he wanted to cram everything back to me and he cannot fit everything in there and last time he crammed everything in there, so this year he piled it up like this here and he is satisfied.
Are you renovating the church in Chotevice, whose idea was it and how challenging is it?
It's still ongoing. We started about four years ago, it was Karin's idea. We were lucky enough to be able to look into that church some time ago, before we started considering it and we found out that it was destroyed, dilapidated, closed since 1984.
Karin: When I was walking the dogs there, I saw it, I came home and I told Ríša:
"Darling, if we don't take that church under our wing, it's probably going to collapse."
Well, Ríša is so passionate about everything, so without thinking about what it would all entail, without us discussing it, in his huge enthusiasm he picked up the phone and began to inquire how it is possible to secure and have the church transferred to us, which he managed to do.
Richard: Approximately a year and a half after negotiating with the church, we managed to do it.
Now, we have it for about three and a half years, it belongs to our foundation, under which we are repairing it and combining old works that remained there with modern ones, which are made for us by the pop-art artist Pepa Rataj.
Every year we come up with something new so people could come back. In addition, a lot of things were done there such as electricity exchange, floor renovation, lighting, repairing old paintings, organ restoration, partial painting, part of the facade.
Are you planning any event related to Christmas there?
Karin: Next week on the seventh, eighth there is an annual charity concert, all the proceeds go again for the reconstruction of the church and then on Christmas Eve we have such a tradition. After we give each other gifts and finish it at home, we go to the church and we open it for locals and it's always beautiful.
Almost the whole village gathers there, the church is packed and we chat, eat, drink, sing and it's a beautiful neighborhood gathering.
I read that there is allegedly a reference to Karel Gott in the church, is that true?
Yes, it has to do with the organ. A collection and auction were held for it, and one of the items that were auctioned was Karel Gott's jacket, which he used during the shooting of his last album, I believe.
I think it was auctioned for four hundred thousand, so therefore Karel will have an imprint there at the organ.
Karin: Ivana said at the time, that if Karel was alive, he would certainly have wanted to help with this, so she got involved and we really appreciate it.
When it comes to clothes, you are often compared to Harry Styles, do you draw inspiration from him?
I think Harry Styles is cool, he has the advantage of being abroad and people look at these things differently, he has fashion houses behind him, which you can't afford here. I have been dressing like Harry Styles was before Harry Styles was born, so I rather continue in this wave.
And now they are comparing us, because he is worldwide bold, but beautifully bold, I like him.
Karin: The fact that Richard loves fashion, he brought me to it, and his mother could tell you. When he was fifteen years old, she beat him with a dog leash because he refused to change clothes and insisted that he would go dressed like this and she was ashamed of him.
So I think that Richard is carving his path with the style he likes.
Does criticism bother you?
If people were bothered by criticism of everything, which is already a trend here, they couldn't go dressed or naked, couldn't write anything, couldn't sing anything, couldn't play anything.
I think that one has to approach this with a lot of, a lot of perspective.
Karin: Criticism bothers me probably more than it does Richard. He handles it more lightly, he has been in the show business world longer.
But when there comes such a huge wave of hate, like last year for his handbag, it affects me in a way more than him.
I'm always surprised by how little tolerance there is in people and how much time they have to even deal with it and to sit down at that machine and write that hate. And it really upsets me, because we often say about ourselves that we are an extremely tolerant nation, but then when push comes to shove, it often turns out that this is not entirely true.
Source: author's article, own questioning
