Fashion House Telimena
Western trends combined with Polish motifs in the second half of the 20th century
A case study of the Fashion House Telimena
Telimena, established in Łódź in the 1950s, was one of the most famous fashion houses in PRL times (The Polish People’ Republic; 1952-1989). The idea for the name came from the Polish national epic called Pan Tadeusz, czyli ostatni zajazd na Litwie: historia szlachecka z roku 1811 i 1812 we dwunastu księgach wierszem (Master Thaddeus, or the Last Foray of Lithuania: A Nobility’s Tale of the Years 1811-1812, in Twelve Books of Verse). The epic was written by Adam Mickiewicz and first published in Paris on the 28th of June, 1834. Telimena – the heroine of the book – was an example of a chic, mature woman who was eagerly following foreign fashion trends. Over the years trends have changed, however the patroness of the company remained the same.
Waleria Mycielska (de domo Tarnowska) as Telimena from Adam Mickiewicz’s Master Thaddeus photographed by Walery Rzewuski ca 1873. Source: Polona
Post-war polish fashion and the beginnings of Telimena
The history of Dom Mody Przemysłu Odzieżowego Telimena (literally: The Fashion House of the Clothing Industry Telimena) goes back to 1957 when the company was founded. As reported by Dziennik Łódzki, Telimena was expected to be hugely revolutionary in the country after Second World War. The company’s main assumption was to combine luxury fashion with industrial production – a combination which was definitely an unprecedented solution in the country. Starting with 1940s, the whole industry of the Polish People’s Republic depended heavily on the government and the idea of it was built from the state-run factories in the whole country. Hence, all bigger companies were nationalised in the same decade. Additionally, fashion houses, which had been established by private individuals after the Second World War, were closed between 1947- 1949.
Spring models of coats from The Fashion House Telimena on the page of Moda from the spring of 1960.
From there on, the official clothing production was supposed to be based on the state-run companies, however, it was undeniably challenging to meet the market need; not only in terms of the number of pieces produced but also in terms of the design and trends offered by them. Polish magazines and newspapers (like Przekrój, Moda and even Dziennik Łódzki) very often published photos and fashion drawings of creations from foreign fashion houses. Despite the communist propaganda, which was promoting the image of female workers, Polish collections prepared for international fairs were certainly influenced by western trends. The national offer of tailor-made clothing – prepared for instance by Biuro Mody EWA (Fashion Office EWA) – was an ideal solution mostly for wealthy women whose husbands were usually occupying high positions in the political system. In the country, due to the lack of fashionable creations in the state-run stores, Polish women used home methods or used the services of a home seamstress. It was in this atmosphere that Telimena was born. The company from Łódź was supposed to meet the market needs and produce fashionable clothes from trendy pattern textiles (the famous Moda Polska would be established in Warsaw one year later). The concept of luxury of the Fashion House Telimena assumed mainly a limited number of pieces, sometimes not more than two hundreds. It prevented from too many women having to wear the same dress. Moreover, the idea was to produce clothes which would be as similar as possible to those presented during fashion shows.
Carnival dresses from the Fashion House Telimena on the page of Moda from winter 1962/1963 (no. 32).
The first collection of Telimena was presented on the 18th of March 1957 which was during the fashion show for representatives of the industry. The Art Director of the company from the very beginning till 1960s was Krystyna Depczyńska – a graduate of the Public Academy of Arts in Łódź (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Sztuk Plastycznych). The designers, who had been working for Telimena over the years, were frequently linked with the academy in Łódź. The collections prepared by them made Telimena locally proud; however it was not only because of the origin of the company but also because of the team working there. During PRL times the Fashion House Telimena had created a lot of collections inspired by the latest western trends regularly combined with the Polish motifs. Some impressive examples of this tendency dated to 1970s are currently in the Collection of Clothing in the Central Museum of Textiles.
The power of Polish folk motifs
One of the most popular accents which had appeared multiple times in collections of the Fashion House Telimena were inspired by Polish folk culture and art. The company’s idea could not be considered unique of the time – after Second World War a great number of factories during PRL times used motifs from the folklore culture. This tendency was also present in the Polish fashion before 1939, especially in the 1930s when the trend was immensely popular and supported by the government. Women’s magazines of that decade had published drawings of fashionable summer clothes embellished with embroidery inspired by folklore. After the war, the government of the Polish People’s Republic wanted to promote and support local folk culture and one of consequences of this concept was the establishment of Cepelia in 1949. Full name of the institution was Centrala Przemysłu Ludowego i Artystycznego (word to word: Headquarters of the Folk and Artistic Industry) and its main goals were to both to promote original works of artists from villages and products which were inspired by folk culture and made by industry.
Fashionable blouses decorated with embroidery on the page of Przegląd Mody no. 5 from 1937. Source: Polona.
Telimena’s designers also found folk accents appealing. One of the pieces from the first collection in 1957 was a green dress embellished with ‘krajka’ from the region of Łowicz known from the flourish rose motif. ‘Krajka’ was a type of folk ribbon woven usually by hand and used not only to decorate clothes but also to strengthen the edges of the garment. Using of this type of decorations were popular in Polish fashion in 1950s and the tendency also appeared in the subsequent decade. In the 1960s patterned ribbons used to decorate dresses were really diverse and its folk character would not be so visible and marked without additional references. In summer issue of Moda from 1962 one can notice a model wearing linen green dress with a flared bottom which was decorated with those accents. The photoshoot was organized in spaces of the Feature Film Studio in Łódź (Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych w Łodzi). The idea of combining fashionable clothing with the scenography recreating village architecture and its atmosphere gave an interesting contrast. It shows the tendency to look at western trends and adapt its to the policy of the Polish People’s Republic by for example reaching for traditional, folk motifs – in dress itself as well as in the way of presenting it.
Two models of the Fashion House Telimena presented on the page of Moda from summer 1962 (no. 2/33). On the left the dress decorated with pattern ribbons.
In the first half of 1970s the team of the Fashion House Telimena had designed a lot of pieces inspired by Polish folk culture. Collections inspired by those motifs attracted attention during international fairs organized in Düsseldorf, Belgrade, Lausanne or Amsterdam. Garments were decorated with florals prints from folk scarves, folk embroidery or motifs of cut-outs and part of them went to the fashion collection in the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. Among other objects, there are two interesting maxi dresses made from silk decorated with forms coming from the region of Kurpie which characterized unique traditional customs of its inhabitants (who also were called Kurpie).
The ball gown from The Fashion House of the Clothing Industry Telimena in 1974. The collection of The Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. Photo by Piotr Tomczyk.
One of the most well-known aspects of their culture are characteristic cut-outs in various shapes. Long, yellow dress from the collection of Telimena was decorated with a motif called ‘leluja’ –a symmetrical small tree with a base and sometimes, as in this case, enriched by silhouettes of roosters. Traditional shape, inspired directly by folk culture, was combined with fashionable cut of the silk dress and contrasted with the yellow background.
Kurpies’ Cutouts of the village Kadzidło. On the left ‘leluja’ and on the right ‘kółko’ (a circle) or ‘gwiazda’ (a star). Pages from the book of Wydawnictwa Oddziału Kurpiowskiego P. T-wa Krajoznawczego from 1993. Source: Polona.
The same treatment was applied to the second dress from Telimena’s collection. The burgundy dress with long sleeves and a type of collar characteristic for 1970s were embellished with symmetrical colourful motifs of roosters and circular shapes of cutouts which are called ‘gwiazdy’ (stars) or ‘światy’ (worlds).
The evening dress from The Fashion House of the Clothing Industry Telimena from 1974. The collection of The Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. Photo by Piotr Tomczyk.
Looking at the sky
Folk motifs were not the only inspiration for the fashion designers who had been working in the Fashion House Telimena. 19th of February 1973 was a crucial date for the whole world – the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas Copernicus. The Polish mathematician and astronomer had changed the way of thinking about the universe and his work called ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ (‘On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres’) published in 1543 caused one of the biggest revolutions in the history of science.
The examples of this special collection were pieces created for the International Fair in Paris in May 1973. Telimenaprepared, as the part of the collection, evening and ball gowns made from natural silk embellished with patterns inspired by astronomy and Nicholas Copernicus. Bright, intensive hues of dresses were a reference to the Renaissance colour palette, the inspiration for decorations of garments most likely came from representations of the Polish astronomer in the history of art. One of the dresses from the special Parisian collection was distinguished by colourful symbols of the Earth, Jupiter and the Saturn.
Evening gowns from the special collection of Telimena on the page of Moda, Winter 1973/1974 no. 76.
Another pattern referred to tellurium – the tool used by the astronomer. The dresses appeared on the page of winter issue of Moda in 1973 along with examples of pieces of jewellery which were prepared for this event. Necklaces, earrings and bracelets referred to astronomy as well silk gowns. According to Dziennik Łódzki the collection was presented during the International Fairs in Paris next to the old carrousel from Cracow dated to the end of the 20th century. The author of the collection concept was Alicja Waltoś – one of the fashion designers from Telimena’s team.
The evening gown from the special collection of the Fashion House Telimena from 1973. The collection of The Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. Photo by Piotr Tomczyk.
The silk dresses from the collection of the Fashion House Telimena are interesting examples which show creative strategies applied in 1970s by Polish designers to western trends. The idea to create a fashionable garment did not mean making a copy of the clothes presented by French or English brands. The designers were looking for various sources of inspirations to combine with the newest tendencies in the world fashion and the most popular during that time was folk culture. The tendency of using those Polish accents during 1970s were even stronger than before because of – among other reasons – political aspects of that time which are called ‘the Golden Age’. It was the decade when Edward Gierek became a new First Secretary and his plan for the country was focused on credits from Western Europe and the United States which were supposed to help in the creation of economic power and to modernize industry. The government also cared about the image of the Polish People’s Republic abroad and a luxurious and beautiful collections by talented designers from the Fashion House Telimena were supposed to be products of the national industry which could help shape the image of the country as an economic power. Unfortunately, the following vision of fashionable garments produced by state-run companies shown during international events was very often out of touch with reality. Despite this, the dresses from the Collection of Clothing in the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź are now amazing examples of skills of Polish designers working during PRL times.
by Aneta Dmochowska
Museum Assistant at Textile Cultural Context Department at Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
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The latest exhibition “Open Departments/ Closed Departments” in Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź is running until April 2021.
It forms a multi narrative reflection on history of the institution with Telimena as a protagonist.
Check the link to learn more.
https://cmwl.pl/public/informacje/dzialy-otwarte-dzialy-zamkniete,187