“All These Different Suits and Lacquers”. Fashion in Times of Transformation

Authors: Justyna Jaworska, Agata Zborowska

Songbook from 1986: “Let’s Sing and Dance”.

“The video for the song moves with its simple narrative – there are Cinderella’s dreams of wealth, an adoring guy in a tuxedo with a limo and Jablonex jewellery…”
Anna Jurksztowicz, “Diamentowy kolczyk” (Diamond Earring), music video, 1985

“The runway was monumental, choirs singing Haydn and Mozart were joined by angels draped in gold dresses, with wings on their heavily accented arms. From the ceiling there fell metallic flakes. Out of all this, sharp arm lines, gold and glitter reached the wider audience of the street. But still the message was clear: wealth rules.”
Thierry Mugler, autumn/winter collection, 1984

“Consumption was spiralling upwards. Then in 1987 the market crashed; ten days later Christian Lacroix launched his debut collection “Luxe.” He showcased a witty puff skirt with a corset top, a feminine design but exaggerated and unpractical; it was compared to Dior’s New Look from the height of the 1947 crisis.”
Christian Lacroix, *Luxe*, autumn/winter collection, 1987

“Though this fashion was accompanied by a parallel fashion for ‘poor’ lines (sweaters with holes were first shown in Paris by Japanese designers, with loose kirtles made of linen or cotton, shirts as aprons, new romanticism or the punk inspirations of Vivienne Westwood), nevertheless it is rather the bombastic style of *Dynasty* which dominates our image of this period.”
Still from *Dynasty*, 1985/86

“Huge roses from Lacroix made their way to tops which had been stitched together in a semi-professional manner; plastic jewellery was produced in garages using domestic injection moulding machines; you could also buy patterned tights or preshrunk jeans distributed via Turkish bazaars as well as leather jackets. Sewing was ubiquitous, especially following the designs and patterns available in the sewing magazine ‘Burda’”
“Styl Anny Burdy” (The Style of Anna Burda), *Twój Styl*, December 1990

“The famous photographic diptych *Sie kommen* by Helmut Newton was made, it is true, in 1981, but it serves well to illustrate the situation in Poland ten years later where an army of assistants and secretaries marched on the new posts available in the new companies.”
*Sie kommen*, Helmut Newton, 1981, source: http://www.sleek-art.net/stories/buy-helmut-newtons-sumo-book

“In the western fashion of the early 90’s the minimalism of smooth forms from Armani or Jil Sander had already appeared, an answer to global recession, but at that time Polish women were following other trends”
Working Girl, Mike Nichols, 1988

“In the reportage articles of the lifestyle magazine *Twój Styl* [Your Style], we were able to read about the various areas in which Polish women were enjoying success. *Twój Styl* first came out on the turn of July and August 1990 (and as a counterpart to the men’s magazine *Sukces*.) Articles like ‘Dziewczyny z Marriotta’ [The Girls from the Marriott], ‘Sekrety sekretarek’ [The Secrets of Secretaries], ‘Dziewczyny z kasyna’ [The Girls from the Casino], ‘Humanistki w biznesie’ [Humanities Graduates in Business] and reports on stewardesses working for Polish Airlines LOT – they all present new career paths, yet follow one form”
“Dziewczyny z Marriotta,” *Twój Styl*, September 1990

“W duecie. Sekrety sekretarek” (As a Duo. The Secrets of Secretaaries), reportage by Jacek Szmidt, *Twój Styl*, December 1990

*W duecie. Sekrety sekretarek*, reportaż Jacka Szmidta, “Twój Styl”, grudzień 1990

“Proszę zapiąć pasy” (Fasten Seat Belts, Please), reportage by Jacek Szmidt, “The Portraits of the stewardeses were taken on the return of the plane from Paris by Maciej Osiecki. The protagonists of the reportage posed for the pictures after a very tiring flight. The plane experienced 2 hourse of delay,” *Twój Styl*, March 1991

“Dziewczyny z kasyna” (The Girls From the Casino), reportage by Renata Dziurdzikowska, photo by Adam Hayder, *Twój Styl*, December 1991

“The first brands to enter the market are medium-price cosmetics like Margaret Astor for example, whose cosmetics provided a feeling of western luxury but were affordable for students. The first, or one of the first, adverts for Margaret Astor was a narrative about Cinderella with a young Paweł Deląg as the prince”
Margaret Astor, commercial, 1993

“The earlier advert for the pumice Purokolor’89, one of the very first Polish advertisements, was also self-referential. The model has round clip-on earrings, small shoulder pads emphasizing her arms, a ‘terrier style’ perm. It presents the pumice with an elegant lady, with a woman working a ‘quarry of pumice’ but finally the actress ends up in the bath where she regains her freedom of expression (the obvious sexism of this messaging was transparent to the viewers at the time)”
Purocolor, commercial, 1989