10 Iconic Polish Film Costumes
From an American military jacket to a nun’s habit – here's a list of the most memorable onscreen outfits from Polish film.
Dressing actors for Polish films has usually meant weaving in metaphors and hidden meanings in to their costumes. Andrzej Wajda – probably the most iconic Polish film director, who was originally trained as a painter – always insisted on having visually compelling costumes. Four out of 10 items on this list were made for his films, yet each has different style and meaning. You might also notice that four jackets made the list, which is quite significant too – living under the whimsical Polish weather and sometimes dire political circumstances requires serious protection.
1. Maciek Chełmicki’s jacket in ‘Ashes and Diamonds’, directed by Andrzej Wajda (costume designer: Katarzyna Chodorowicz), 1958
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Scene from 'Ashes And Diamonds', directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1958, photo: East News
If communist Poland had superstars, Zbyszek Cybulski was one of brightest ones. His acting style was something different – intense, fervent and modern in a time when most screen performances where either subdued or marked by pre-war mannerisms.
In Ashes and Diamonds, Cybulski plays a Home Army soldier, Maciek, who amid the post-war turmoil gets an order to kill a communist official. The Home Army is soon decimated by a new Polish regime, and Maciek and his mates become poster boys for rebels with a patriotic cause – unlike their American buddy with a James Dean face.
Initially, Cybulski’s his character was supposed to look like a typical Home Army soldier of his era – clad in military riding boots, breeches and a beige trench coat. But since his acting was so modern, and on the top of that, Wajda wanted to convey a contemporary mood (post-1956 October thaw disillusionment), Cybulski ended up wearing his own clothes.
The jeans and American M65 military jacket probably came from the US through the UNRRA relief programme, which offered food, medicine and clothes to war-torn countries. Dark shades completed the iconic look of the young, handsome man, who fell victim to the country’s tragic 20th-century history.
2. Kalina Jędrusik’s black dress in ‘Kabaret Starszych Panów’ (Elderly Getlemen’s Cabaret), produced by Jerzy Wasowski and Jeremi Przybora, 1960s
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Kalina Jędrusik in 'Jutro Premiera' (Tomorrow's Premiere), directed by Janusz Morgenstern, 1962, photo: Studio Filmowe Kadr / Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny / fototeka.fn.org.pl
Her husband, the writer Stanisław Dygat, called Kalina Jędrusik the ‘Polish Marilyn Monroe’ and insisted she keep up her bombshell image. So on many occasions, both private and professional, Kalina would wear figure-hugging dresses and plunging necklines. She would also bat her eye lashes and smile provocatively, driving men as well as their conservative wives crazy.
According to an urban legend, Władysław Gomułka, a leader under the communist regime, threw an ash tray into his TV set after seeing Kalina in the satirical TV programme Kabaret Starszych Panów wearing such a tight and revealing black dress. Soon after that, she was fired from the show – according to some, it happened by request of Gomułka’s wife. Kalina continued to work (and cause scandals) in theatre and cinema, most notably in Promised Land, an Oscar-nominated film by Wajda, who cut a raunchy scene featuring the Polish Marilyn. It was the only case of him censoring his own work.
Maybe the truth about the dress and politics will be revealed in the upcoming biopic Bo We Mnie Jest Seks (Because There’s So Much Sex Inside of Me), coming this year to Polish cinemas. When asked about the famous garment, the actress Maria Dębska, who plays the main character, gives a mysterious smile instead of a nod.
3. Sheepskin coat in “Everything for Sale’, directed by Andrzej Wajda (costume designer: Katarzyna Chodorowicz), 1969
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Still from 'Everything for Sale', directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1968, pictured: Beata Tyszkiewicz and Andrzej Łapicki, photo: Studio Filmowe Zebra / Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny / fototeka.fn.org.pl
In this autobiographical film, dubbed the Polish 8 ½, Wajda mourns the premature death of Zbyszek Cybulski and portrays his own inner circle. Andrzej Łapicki, who stars in the film as the ‘director’, wears thick, beige sheepskin coat – which was the most sought-after covering of the time and served as an unofficial uniform of the Warsaw in-crowd. It was worn by many famous artists, including the writer Marek Hłasko, half of the Everything for Sale cast and… Cybulski on the night he died, after trying to jump into a running train.
The film also stars young Daniel Olbrychski, who soon became Wajda’s new favorite actor as well as the audience’s darling. In Everything for Sale, Wajda wanted Olbrychski to wear a military jacket and dark shades, that would look only too familiar, but actor declined and opted for a sheepskin overcoat instead.
4. Sunglasses worn by Irena in ‘Hunting Flies’ directed by Andrzej Wajda (costume designer: Renata Własow)
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Małgorzata Braunek in 'Hunting Flies', directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1969, photo: Renata Pajchel / Studio Filmowe Zebra / Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny / fototeka.fn.org.pl
Yet again the public and the personal intertwine in Wajda’s film, creating an iconic character and look. Going through a divorce, the Polish director made a film about a woman called Irena (Małgorzata Braunek). She is a Polish literature student and a social climber, who wants to turn an ordinary and married man (Zygmunt Malanowicz) into a translator of Russian poetry.
The big sunglasses Irena wears, combined with her toothy smile, complete her look of a dangerous creature who prays upon the weak. The famous shades were bought by Renata Pajchel, an on-set photographer and Wajda long-time collaborator, who found them on a trip in Italy with her costume-designer friend Hanna Morawiecka.
5. Denim flares worn by Agnieszka in ‘Man of Marble’, directed by Andrzej Wajda (costume designer: Lidia Rzeszewska, Wiesława Konopelska), 1976
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Still from 'Man of Marble', directed by Andrzej Wajda, 1976, pictured: Krystyna Janda, photo: Renata Pajchel / 'Zebra' Film Studio / National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute / fototeka.fn.org.pl
Another iconic Wajda character owes a lot to her costume. Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda’s breakthrough role) is a no-nonsense aspiring director. She talks fast, thinks fast and walks fast, as she is trying to discover the fate of 1950s udarnik, or shock worker. Her denim flares, denim coat, navy-blue scarf and platform shoes complete the look of determined and ambitious woman who doesn’t need to read feminist theory – as she lives by it.
Janda recollects that Agnieszka looked like her classmates from the Art High School: ‘weird, a bit extravagant […] a person who believes she can change everything in the world’. Wajda added a huge, American backpack to complete the look.
6. Overcoat worn by Ryszard Ochódzki in ‘Teddy Bear’ by Stanisław Bareja (costume designer: Milena Celińska), 1980
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Stanisław Tym the film 'Teddy Bear', directed by Stanisław Bareja, 1980, photo: WFDiF / Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny / fototeka.fn.org.pl
The worker’s overcoat (kufajka or fufajka in Polish) is probably the biggest crime against fashion ever committed. The garment is made of non-woven textile, resembling the felt which kept workers under the communist regime warm, while making them look tired and sad. By depriving any masculine silhouette, the horrible overcoat seemed to be designed to take away their spirit too.
All that is reflected in Polish cult classic comedy Teddy Bear, directed by Stanisław Bareja, which revolves around Ryszard Ochódzki – a manager at a local sports club, who knows how to use idiocy of daily life under the communist regime to his own benefit.
A similar overcoat is worn in many other films, including Wajda's Wałęsa: Man of Hope, where the Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa (Robert Więckiewicz) sports a kufajka as well as his iconic moustache.
7. Female party members’ uniforms in ‘Seksmisja’ directed by Juliusz Machulski (costume designer: Małgorzata Braszka), 1983
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Bożena Stryjkówna in the movie 'Sexmission', directed by Juliusz Machulski, 1983, photo: WFDiF / National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute / fototeka.fn.org.pl
This hilarious take on a feminist revolution and one-party system set in the not-so-distant future required a unique set of clothing. Yet in the 1980s, when the only products easily available were canned peas and vinegar, the costume designer Małgorzata Braszka fought her own battle with the system to get fabrics she needed. First, she had trouble ordering the cloth, then the threads and then leather for the shoes. When finally, all the elements were completed, her costume department travelled miles from one factory to another to have the garments made.
The hard work paid off – Machulski had few different styles for his characters, called ’sisters’, each one symbolising their place in the party’s hierarchy. In a world without men, powerful was the new sexy, and these women were not afraid to sport such a look.
8. Leather jacket worn by Franz Maurer in ‘Pigs’, directed by Władysław Pasikowski (costume designer: Elżbieta Radke), 1992
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Franz Maurer’s jacket in 'Pigs', directed by Władysław Pasikowski, 1992, photo: Roman Sumik / Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny / fototeka.fn.org.pl
Pigs was nothing short of the first cult film in free-market Poland, and it became a bona fide box office hit. The central figure of the film was a former communist secret police agent, Franz Maurer (Bogusław Linda). His wry smile, cynical one-liners and his leather jacket became iconic – and launched the directorial career of Pasikowski, whose next films were usually centred around Maurer-type males.
Pigs also reinvented Linda and turned his cerebral image from Krzysztof Kieślowski or Agnieszka Holland’s films into a real macho persona. Maurer was in a way the spiritual grandson of Maciek Chełmicki from Ashes and Diamonds – a rebel wearing leather instead of khaki canvas, but with same spirit underneath. In 2020 the jacket was sold at a charity auction for over 100,000 PLN.
9. Tracksuit trousers worn by Silny in ‘Russian Red, Polish White’, directed by Xawery Żuławski (costume designer: Anna Englert), 2009
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Borys Szyc in 'Russian Red, Polish White', photo: Piotr Bernaś / Reporter / East News
In Poland, the tracksuit (dres) is not just a piece of clothing – it’s also a state of mind and a moniker of a subculture made of men (and women) more interested in partying and going to the gym than anything else. Silny (Borys Szyc), a character invented by writer Dorota Masłowska (Xawery Żuławski’s film is an adaptation of her book), is a quintessential dres – he drinks, gets high and lets his fists do the talking.
The pants he wears in the film flatter his muscled figure but also make running from the cops easier – in case it’s necessary. Szyc, one of the most talented Polish actors of his generation, gives a stunning performance, and wore his costume as if it were a second skin.
Tracksuits can be made from many different fabrics, including cotton, polyester, silk or what is known as kresz, a type of crushed polyamide, which makes a distinctive rustling sound.
10. Nun’s habit worn by Ida in ‘Ida’, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski (costume designer: Aleksandra Staszko), 2015
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Still from 'Ida', directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013, pictured: Agata Trzebuchowska, photo: CAP / NFS / Forum
Ida is by far the most popular Polish nun and definitely the only one with an Oscar, though no real-life convent would recognise her as one of their own. Aleksandra Staszko explains that she designed the costume by mixing existing patterns, but also made sure that the frock fitted silhouette of Agata Trzebuchowska, who played Ida.
‘I wanted that costume to be a little more feminine. During the first fittings, the frock was a little heavier, because it was made from a thicker fabric, and Paweł [Pawlikowski] said it’s “not sexy enough”. The following versions were more satisfying, yet creating Ida’s frock was a process, and the final costume was different from my initial design’, concludes Staszko.
Written by Ola Salwa, 10 May 2021. Source: ‘Kronika Wypadków Filmowych’ by Bartosz Michalak
Tytuł (nagłówek do zdjęcia)
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