Political Protest and Snobbery

Fashion among Cracow Students in the Early 1950s

Leszek Dzi�giel

D�i<;g-icl, Lcswk 1997: Political Protest and Snobbery. Fashion among Cracow Students in the Early 1950s. - Ethnol ogia Europaca 27: 67-77.

The ethnolog-ical r·cscarch on the everyday life of' big Polish cities has only commenced. The author describe:; a ,;criesof' cuHtomary behaviours connected with the dress of the students of Cracow in the years 1945-1956. Basing on the newspapers of those times and on his own memories, the author discusses the fa shion of that period, the ways of obtaining the clothing and its alteration necessary since a considerable part of it came from the military stores of the Western armies. A proper haircut and a special way of bearing were chosen to match the dress. Jt was a demonstration in opposition to the propagated by the Communist youth organisation, a manifestation of the philosophy of life. According to the author that fa shion was a conscious form ofthe protest expressed by the academic youth against the cultural unification introduced by the totalitar­ ian system limned in in the period following World War II.

Professor dr Leszek Dzieyel, Direct01; Instytut etnologii, Uniwersytetu Jagiellolisk­ iego, ul. Grodzha 52, PL-31-044 Krah6w, Poland. E-mail: dziegiel@grodzhi. phils.z4j. edu.pl

For centuries the student community has been customs". This is certainly the case in Cracow, an essential component of Cracow's cultural where the favourite topics include the annual environment. The life and customs of old-time Emaus fa irs at Easter, the antics ofLajkonik (a students have often provided a rewarding field man dressed up as a Tartar rider during a of exploration fo r novelists, poets, playwrights popular fe stival in summer), solemn religious and scholars. The last-mentioned group has processions, parades of craftsmen's guilds etc. been exhibiting a particularly keen interest in Some attention has also been given to the city's the distant past, which has acquired a nostalgic market places, particularly in connection with patina of centuries gone by (Stepanova 1996:82- the contacts between Cracow and the neigh­ 93), undergoing an ever increasing mythologi­ bouring villages. Incidentally, the suburban zation and distortion in the process. On the village has sometimes offered a convenient and other hand, everyday life and popular customs "safe" subject of research for an ethnologist in more recent times have received much less venturing fo r the first time into the domain of scholarly attention, even though a lot of written "urban anthropology". sources and iconographic materials are availa­ The life of students and the young genera­ ble, to say nothing of the remembrances of tion of educated people in present-day Cracow people who began studies in Cracow less than is usually viewed in an artistic or hedonistic half a century ago. Ethnological and anthropo­ perspective (Godula (ed.) 1995:239-290). Other logical reflection on the everyday life of big aspects of everyday life have usually been ab­ cities in Poland in the 20th century is still at the sent from the literature, or at least fr om publi­ beginning stage. Scholars who deal with those cations about Cracow. matters have often relied so far on the popular­ The late 1940s and the first halfof the 1950s culture model and concentrated on the analysis present a particularly interesting period for a of various manifestations of so-called "plebeian historian of Polish culture or an ethnologist, in

67 view of the politicul circumstunces of those and observ ations made d uring his studies at days. The programme:;of fiH·ced "re-ed ucation" th e Jagel l onian University in the years 1950- of society took particularly drastic forms in big 1955 among a group of fe llow students of both cities, such a:; Crucow, Wu rsuw or Poznw1. The sexe�:�. Additional reflection was made possible generation of adolescents and young adults, by the author's field studies in ethnography being a category traditi on ally opposed to all carried out in those years in various rural forms of pressure and any attempts to impose regions of Poland. by decree uniform patterns of daily life, reacted In the early 1950s, fa shion - as well as by specific forms of protest, e�:�capisn1 and rejec­ entertainment - played a principal role in the tion of the oflicially approved way oflifc. Under bizarre war the object of which was to promote the peculiar circumstances of Stalinist Poland, an ideologically appropriate lifestyle. Today, this protest against ideo logical ly determined, after all those years, the oflicial attempts to fo rced uniformity did not lead to pl uralism in bring into uniformity the fa shion of trousers or preferences and tastes. At least in the field of skirts may seem ridiculous - reminiscent of popular fa shion and entertainment it gave rise those rare instances of crazy regimes where to a more or less uniform type of popular cul­ ideological totalitarianism still reigns supreme. ture, which was simply the negation of the One might wonder how the dogmatic official model officially professed by the simple-minded propagandists could fail to see the fu tility of social engineers. 'l'heid eological war in the field their fierce and fr enzied attacks. Back then, of popular culture in post-war Poland that the however, things looked different. communist system waged against society and For many people, the defence of their indi­ lost constitutes an extensive area of exploration vidual tastes in the field of clothing became a for students of customs, not only in Poland, but surrogate battlefieldwhere they fo ught for their in entire Central and Eastern Europe. So far, right to privacy and to individual preferences. however, this area has been sadly neglected It was a struggle for personal liberty. (Dzi.,:giel 1995). Unimportant and trivial issues of hairstyle Issues offashion, clothes, entertainment and and clothing were often blown up out of all resistance to ideological pressure in daily life proportion. It was a strategy of the system to were dealt with by Leopold Tyrmand (who died provoke hysteria over matters ofno consequence. in the United States a couple of years ago) in his When, many years later, the system itself re­ columns, novels and essays (Tyrmand 1955, signed fr om some of its ideological incantations 1980). We owe him at least some fairly adequate and symbols, it leftbehind an often idolatrous accounts of cultural situations. His observa­ cult of the very lifestyle it had vainly tried to tions, however, were usually made fr om the eradicate. The artificiallymaintained isolation point of view of well-to-do or even elitist circles of millions of young people fr om everyday ele­ of Warsaw of the 1950s and the Warsaw under­ ments of the Western civilization left society in world, linked with that first group by various a state of infantilism. One of its manifestations kinds of dealings. Tyrmand's position in War­ was the attitude of young Poles - but also saw society did not exactly place him in close Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians or Russians - contact with the student circles ofWarsaw, with towards modern fa shion. The ideological war of all their social, financial and cultural differen­ the early 1950s in the field of entertainment tiation. He was, however, one of the few authors and fa shion has long since ended, but until now fascinated by this aspect of contemporary cul­ it remains an area where reactions of society ture. are devoid of all criticism and objective reflec­ 'l'he intention of the present essay is simply tion. This is highly typical of civilizationally to acknowledge the existence of a new research retarded neophytes who have lived in a state of area, using as an example the popular student cultural isolation. fa shion in an old, big-city academic centre. The Jazz, chewing gum, Coca-Cola - these were description of cultural elements presented be­ the symbols ofthe alleged corruption ofthe non­ low results from the author's own experience communist world and at the same time ele-

68 ments of' an extremely naively construed my­ that it was an impoverished and vulgari 1.ed thology of' the West. Having banned Western variety of the type of clothing worn in the year�; novelties, the regime forfeited the chance to 1939-1940 (Dziek011ska-Koztowska 1964:271- gain popu l arity even among the most primitive 296). groups of the youth, whose support it tried to Modern fashion would reach the cordoned­ win in the first place. The oflicially extolled off Poland of the 1950s slowly and selectively. drabness would soon lose any appeal, while The so-called "new look", which marked the things attacked by the state propaganda as reaction of the West against the wartime re­ manife�;tations of bourgeois, Western tastes strictions and military requirements that even were promoted to the rank offorbidden fruit. In women had had to comply with, came to Poland some young people, however, the authorities only much later, half-heartedly and, occasional­ managed to reinforce complexes and the sense ly, in highly distorted forms (Dziekor\ska-Ko­ of powerlessness. Those people had come to ztowska 1964:297-356). The witty, illustrated believe that stagnation, drabness and banality guide to modern dress by Barbara Hoff and Jan constituted a virtue. They let themselves be Kamyczek, Jak oni si� ma.i'l ubierac [The way persuaded that novelty and change in everyday they should dress) had yet to appear, in the life signified an attempt to destroy their world. wake of the fu ndamental political and ideolog­ The East, on the other hand, had little to ical changes of 1956 (Hoff & Kamyczek: 1956). offer that could really impress the thousands of Meanwhile, inspiration had to be derived fr om young people who yearned for civilizational Western films, shown in ever decreasing num­ advancement. What made things even worse, bers, and sometimes fr om old copies of We stern post-war Poland, deliberately impoverished and magazines. This unnatural isolation left the reduced to the status of a cultural backwater, young generation with a nearly pathological had likewise ceased to appeal to the greater craving for novelties, ideas or gimmicks of all part of the youth in the long run, despite the kinds originating from the mythical land of noisy propaganda. This was also the case with well-being, where life was supposed to run clothing, which usually plays a very important smoothly and colourfully to the rhythmical role in the life of young people of both sexes, as sound of music. And in the Stalinist era no one a means of expressing one's personality, aspira­ would make the young generation any promises tions, expectations and sense of membership of of a "speedy accession to Europe"! On the con­ the group which one accepts. trary, society was told daily that very soon the The offe r of the state-owned shops was out of revolutionary anger ofthe masses was going to fa shion and in poor taste, both in terms of erupt, plunging the rest of the world in the drab design and colours. Ladies' garments could make reality. On hearing this, many a young man even the most beautiful girl look ugly. The would think that if the worst came to the worst, shapeless coats and jackets, heavily padded at it would nevertheless be nicer to be on the other the shoulders, gave everyone a squat look. The side of the Iron Curtain when that mythical shoulder padding was seen in those years as an revolutionary eruption took place ... Or, mean­ epitomy of conservatism and bad taste. Awk­ while, to get to a place where one could at least ward, mass-produced dresses were neither enjoy the material goods denied to the people at short, nor long, neither loose, nor tight, and had home. a lot of pretentious fr ills around the . As in the case of women's fashion, also men's Women's fo otwear imitated the kitschy designs wear showed the same boring styles in every of the late 1930s. Only private boutiques, whose shop selling factory-made clothes. Likewise, an number dwindled rapidly, would offer a limited air of dead seriousness emanated fr om the selection of stylish fashions at exorbitant pric­ official photographs ofthe highest-ranking dig­ es. nitaries. I remember a visit of a group of Soviet Looking back today, nearly half a century experts on power industry, afterwhich the bag­ later, at the official fashion and goods sold in gy, awkward-looking double-breasted jackets state-owned shops in those times, one can see they wore received the epithet "high-powered"

69 in student parlance. Decades would have to laced boots with flat toecaps and or pasR before party activist.RRta rted to read lash­ rubber Hole;;, ugly a nd stylele;;s . On hot. days, ion magazines, usc the services or beauticians some put on broad-strapped sandals, while oth­ and mw,;;;ew,;c;;, or play Lenni;; in order to get er;; wore tennis ;;hues, usually of a " dark w bite" slim. In the 1950s, men's fashion promoted by colour. They were restored to their original the ofiicial elite reflected the tastes from the appearance with the use of chalk, hence chalk first years of World War II. This becomes quite marks were not an i n frequ ent sight on the apparent when one confronts it with old Amer­ pavements. ican films or with archive photograph;;taken at The fi rst livelier addition to the otherwise conferences and meetings of statesmen from drab and shapeless attire of a student fr om the the East and the West. country who had just enrolled at the university Navy blue or dark brown double-breasted could have been a peaked velvet the colour pinstripe suits were popular with people of of which symbolized the particular faculty of unrefinedtaste, be they rich or poor. Men wore the university, or an angular, cream-coloured oversized jackets stiff with padding at the shoul­ rnga ty wka cap (the traditional design worn by ders, with very narrow . Trousers creased the Polish army). Officials from the party and at the with numerous seamings. A the ZMP youth organization viewed those kinds factory-made shirt could be recognized at a of with suspicion, as alleged "relics of mile's distance by its pale hue and pointed the bourgeois and corporatist past" ("corpora­ . tions" were pre-war student societies). But the The conformist's neck was adorned by a nar­ favourite among young men on the threshold of row tie, the shape and design of which brought adulthood was a black, fe lt . Being of poor to mind its pre-war antecedent. Anyway, it quality, it quickly lost shape in the rain and differed radically from the broad, florid fa sh­ bulged like a mushroom cap. It was said that ions popular in the West, whose appearance in young men in black sometimes fe ll vic­ Poland was in a way the first sign of protest tim to the aggression of street gangs, hostile to against the officiallyaccepted style in clothing. students. I cannot say how true these rumours In warmer seasons, people usually wore were. greenish canvas coats with side and a A student fr eshly admitted to the university belt, called "Canadians", although they had would usually shun carrying his notes and nothing to do with Canada. In winter these textbooks in a briefcase: that would have been were replaced by homespun coats of a similar too much like at school or in an office. Instead, design, usually herringbone patterned. Some he would go to a "sports shop" (which was not people, though not many, still preferred the exactly what we would expect it to be today ...) "partisan" style, with breeches and long boots and buy a shoulder bag of yellow leather. Stu­ (so-called "officerboot s"). were rare among dents who did some fieldwork particularly fa­ students. In contrast, clerks and, generally, voured those quasi-military-style bags, in addi­ persons of rank enjoyed wearing their "felts". tion to which they often put on in winter a The young generation, on the other hand, often brown "aviator's cap" made of artificialleather. wore homespun . City hoodlums would The same kind of headgear was also used by oftenstuff newspaper underneath for elegance; officialfu nctionaries dispatched to the country­ this type of headgear earned the nickname side to perform their duties, and, of course, by "thug caps", first used by Warsaw newspapers motorcyclists. Crash helmets were not yet man­ and then adopted in Cracow. In winter, pre-war datory in those days. For us, the clerks fr om the style ski-caps were still in use. revenue board or the PZU insurance company In the area of fo otwear, black leather domi­ wrapped up in their trench coats, speeding by nated. Brown shoes appeared in shops on a on their company-owned motorcycles on the more substantial scale only after the so-called way to the countryside, briefcases dangling "October transformations". Impecunious stu­ fr om their shoulders on a narrow - or dents usually wore black shoes or ankle-high returning home in a state of utter exhaustion -

70 made delightfu l figures of fu n. fr om American military stores acquired first of' Students ofthe Academy ofihe FineAris and all a symbolic di mension. Aesthetic considera­ of the fa culty of architecture at ihe Te chnical tions played a secondary role here and practica I University proudly carried around ihcir huge uiiliiy was ihe least important (Kantor 1982). sketch pads or cardboard tubes for tracing pa­ Interestingly enough, in the same years per. It was a matter ofnobiliiation and chick for Polish peasants set a high value on items of them. Malicious tongues would say, however, clothing used by the Polish People's Army. On that the very fa ct of showing off one's sketch pad the weekly market in ihe town of Nowy Targ, did not necessarily amount io much: after all with covered with olive-col­ even pre-war maidservants had been known to oured fabric and fa tigue caps of the dress up as secondary school siudenis! type were lined up on the stalls, invariably In winter, the sports fa shion thai the poor attracting crowds of buyers. Fashion dictated young man fr om the country could atlord was a that a young farmhand or shepherd should be pair of pipe-legged skiing trousers let into old­ wearing a khaki jacket, nonchalantly unbut­ fa shioned skiing boots with covering the toned to reveal underneath a home-knit sweat­ laces. In this outfit he would trudge boldly er of coarse , adorned with silhouettes of through the puddles in Cracow's Main Market deer. Other attributes of the highland dandy Place, even though he had never in his lifetime included a rogatywka cap, boisterously tilted gone skiing. He neither knew how to, nor could backwards and homespun trousers (portki) afford it. A true skiing snob fr om the slopes of adorned in fr ont with an ornate embroidered Kasprowy Wierch would no longer dare to show pattern (parzenice), let into ankle-high rubber up in the Tatra Mountains dressed like that. boots of the kind used for spreading manure. By Also weekend tourists and mountaineers ob­ contrast, Cracow students of those days, who servedtheir own dress codes in order to express had to undergo mandatory military training at their aspirations and emphasize their partici­ the university, did not think much of the style of pation in particular youth groups. This issue the uniforms of their commanding officers, to deserves a more extensive treatment (Dzi�giel say nothing of the fa ded dungarees they had to 1994). wear in the field,which were an object of con­ Whenever the everyday style of dress worn stant ridicule. by young people in the early 1950s went beyond Thus in big-city market-places, the Polish the most primitive and banal patterns proposed People's Army outfit occupied only a marginal by the clothes stores, it began to reflect the position, unlike Western military garments. yearnings, aspirations, petty triumphs, and frus­ Clothes of the latter type were much sought trations of the generation. Simultaneously, it afterfor many years afterthe war, despite their opened up - inevitably - the way for various, high prices and signs of wear and tear. Jackets oftenridiculous forms of affectation and snob­ with frayedcollars , patched battle-dress blous­ bery. es or windbreakers with greasy fo lds had their The war had ended only five years before. dedicated fans who painstakingly washed, The shabby victors from the East made them­ cleaned and repaired them. In those years, selves seen everywhere,and yet the myth ofthe filth, tatters, rags and studied sloppiness were other victorious army was still alive: the army not yet in fashion. What did matter was the whose arrival fr om the West and fr om across design and the unequalled touch of the types of the ocean had been awaited for so many years. fabrics invented by the leading British and An efficient, elegant and at the same time American military labs. Buyers paid attention fr iendly army, which for reasons best known to to colour, but the main thing was the comforta­ itself had stopped somewhere halfway across ble and clever design of every article of military occupied Germany and remained immobile, clothing produced overseas. leaving us to become prey to primitive barbar­ The greater part of those garments came ians. In that period of frustrated expectations from Britain,brought to Poland by fo rmer Polish and lingering hopes, the demand for clothing soldiers returning home from the West. For

71 many years they could be Rcen wearing old, Rheepskin coats, but alRo lor the popular navy­ sand-coloured battle-dress and bluck bcrciR. type duffel coats. In ihi:;way the outfit worn by Sometimes they might sell you a worn-out, the seamen ofthe allied fo rces sailing across the tight-fi tting military overcoat made of cloth or icy water:; of the North Sea or Atlantic had a neat, brown trench-coat of the type called - become a status :;ymbol fo r those Pole:; who nobody knew why - "Major Belt coat". Despite could aflord it. Many years later, the hooded the wear and the passing of yea rs, they were coat became so popular thai even state-owned particularly elegant. manufacturers started to turn out garments of Even bciier-!iiting, however, wereArnerican a similar fa shion, although of a much poorer military clothes. Comparing the outfit of the quality. The design thus became commonplace two armies, one would notice the British inabil­ and finally went out of fa shion. ity to combine chic with com Iori and functional­ The attraction of the military outfit was its ity in the design of special-purpose garments. lOO-per-cent authenticity. That was the real British military boots, for instance, were ex­ thing, not an imitation suited to the liking ofthe tremely comfortable and oflered ideal protec­ youngsters of the kind you can sec in "army tion against water. But their colour and shape shops" today. Back then, no one would have left much to be desired and sometimes provoked thought of wearing colourful badges of imagi­ scorn. It was not so with the American outfit. nary units or an admiral's epaulets. Likewise, the short British battle-dress blouses The type of clothing I am writing about was that could be cleverly fa stened to the trousers available, although in a very narrow selection, did not prove fu nctional for civilian use. The fr om second-hand commission-sale shops, so American olive-coloured, hip-length uniform called komisy, which charged ridiculous prices. blouses, on the other hand, were more comfort­ Th ose who ventured to market places in small able. Among the many different jackets from towns had a chance to get Western clothes at a the U.S., the veritable legend of those times was fr action ofthat cost. This was particularly true the lightweight canvas type with a woollen about regions fr om which the most peasants , of the kind worn by General Patton. It had once emigrated to America as, for instance, was also in those times that the first fo ur­ the Carpathians, but also the Kurpie region in pocketed blouses with a waistband made their northern Poland. Descendants of the one-time appearance. Mt er the Korean War they were village paupers whom hunger had driven to adopted by most armies ofthe world, except in America now showered their Polish relatives the Communist block. In winter, the brown with hand-me-downs. Overseas fa shion did not airmen's coats, narrow at the hips suit the local, provincial tastes. Thus clothes and fitted with big collars, sold for outrageous one could see in a fa shion magazine were often prices. used around the house or farm for the dirtiest Another big hit with young dandies was chores. We often observed, much to our horror, military trousers: tight-fitting, made of sand­ good-natured fa rmers digging potatoes or coloured . Anappropriate complement to spreading manure dressed in rags that had these was a dark olive-coloured pullover. Some, once been the most elegant suits or jackets. though not many, would don in addition a close More and more often, however, pedlars would fittingcanvas cap with a large, square peak. It call at peasants' cottages: the Western clothes was either turned upwards, in the style fa­ they would buy there dirt cheap could be resold voured by the heroes of wartime films about in town at a huge profit. Some ofthose salesmen crews of the B-17 Flying Fortresses, or tilted were regular visitors at student hostels, always dowli so as to screen the fo rehead and eyes. carrying a bag of attractive merchandise. They Dark, rectangular sunglasses a la General were eagerly awaited by their regular custom­ MacArthur were also a much coveted object ers. Others, however, went straight to the mar­ that most people could only dream of. ket place. In wintertime, military fashion enthusiasts For several decades, Cracow's flea market, hunted not only for the aforementioned airforce called tandeta in the local idiom, was constantly

72 being relocated fr om one place in the outRkirts they did not feel like mixing with that market­ of the town to another. The communist author­ place proletariat, although they did look around ities had hoped it would wither away; it grew, to sec what was being sold and for how much. instead, out of all proportion::;.The funny thing Finally, they would make their way to the cen­ is it keeps expanding now, in the wake of the tral part of the ta.n.deta, where displayed on stormy political transformations going on in tarpaulin sheets lying on the ground (plastic Central and Eastern Europe. A whole new type was not used for such purposes in those times: of small private shops selling second-hand it was too scarce and precious) were heaps of clothes uf We stern origin has sprung up. They clothes of foreign origin, guarded by the trades­ are popularly called "lumpexy" - an ironic refer­ men. Depending on the season, those people ence tu the Pew ex network of stores that until would stamp about to keep off either the cold, or 1990 sold luxury goods lor hard currencies, and the boredom. Their faces had become rough­ to the Lumpenproletariat, the aJicged clientele ened after the hundreds of days spent in the of those new shops, who buy such luxuries as heat or fro st. Cigarettes in their mouths, they they can afford. In the times I am writing about would smile ingratiatingly at you, displaying no such shops existed. The commission-sale yellow teeth. In winter, they would put on - over

second-hand shops - komisy - were of an entire­ all the other warm clothes - an additional green ly different character. or once-white raincoat, so greasy with dirt that In the early 1950s, Cracow's main tandeta every fold of it shone. Women wrapped ker­ was situated in the Podg6rze borough: offKal­ chiefs or shawls - draped -like as had waryjska street, not far from present-day Kra­ been fa shionable in the wartime years - around sickiego-Boczna street. Allthe buyers and sell­ their heads. Experienced buyers would noncha­ ers were Polish. The only slightly more exotic lantly examine the piles of clothes lying on the ethnic element was a very small group of local sheets and ask about the prices with an osten­ Gypsies. Twice a week, the trams bound for tatious disgust. People who regularly fr equent­ Podg6rze were bursting at the seams in the ed the market place in order to convert goods morning hours. Riding to the tandeta were all received fr om the West into cash were often well kinds of strange and dubious characters. It was known among the tandeta elites. Every so often rumoured that the city authorities, hostile to someone would accost them to inquire about the the bazaar and to anything that did not fit into contents ofthe bags they carried. It was typical the economic patterns imposed upon the city, for such a seller to have a close circle of regular deliberately took some trams off the route on buyers. Some customers, however, were best those days. I don't know whether that was avoided as potential informers. really the case. Anyway, experienced bazaar­ To the left, next to the wall, there operated goers would remind you to take good care of sellers of the worst kind of rags and totally your wallet in the cramped vehicle rolling down worn-out shoes. Those items, offered for sale fo r Kalwaryjska street. a song, had often been extracted from the spa­ A muddy path led fr om the shabby and ugly cious wardrobes of old Cracow flats, fo r the street to an enclosure surrounded partly by a purpose of being thrown away. All kinds of wall and partly by a fe nce. At the entrance goods fo und buyers in that section of the tande­ swarmed groups of individuals of both sexes, ta, but then the amounts of money that changed dressed in drab clothes, who were trying to hands in the process were negligible. Shoes and dupe the newcomers into a deal. They would boots that were worn-out beyond repair were offe r to buy goods brought by others - at ridic­ often bought by some country shoemakerwho ulously low prices - only to try to sell the same would use them as material for mending other thing at a profit a couple of metres away. Ta n­ shoes, or, alternatively, would patch them up deta regulars treated those petty tricksters somehow and sell them to a village beggar. Such with a haughty indifference. They steered care­ was the condition of the merchandise that some fully, clothes-filled bags in hand, among the prospective clients were inclined to poke about rows of sellers proffering their wares. Usually, it with a stick. On the other hand, the interest

73 aroused by this section of tho ta ndeta speaks whom tho official propaganda Rnon dubbed biili­ volumes about tho economic situation of tho nia.rze, or "hikinnihs". A "bikinnik" wore ruther Poland in those years. No owner of a "lumpox" shortish trousers, :;oti ght-fitting th at they al­ shop in Cracow, Rolling uRed clotheR by th e mo:;t required u :;hoohorn to put on, :;tr·iped kilogram, would dare to include this kind of socks and extremely thick-soled shoes. Other stuff in his offer. attributes included a broad, florid tie, a jacket The Cracow tandeta, like all public gather­ with padded shoulders but narrow in the waist, ings, must have been routinely observed by the and a very broad-brimmed with a small secret police. However, tho number of pickpock­ crown, called a "pancake hat". A "bikinnik's" ets operating there no doubt exceeded the hair would be carefully swept back so as to form number of informers. a so-called "pleureuse" covering his neck. Bulin Most students visited the tandeta fo r social the days I am writing about that kind o!Tashion rather then mercantile reasons. Their misera­ was popular mostly with Cracow's underworld ble scholarships would hardly allow them to - the "street-corner society" in which students buy things there, even though many an item of had no intention to be included. In Western clothing aroused an unbearable desire. And yet Europe, that rather decadent style had had its

the style-conscious youngsters were regular followers - thuggish dandies called zazou - visitors in Kalwaryjska street, if only to keep already during the war and it must have been abreast ofthe latest fa shions. For many years it there and then that Leopold Tyrmand picked up was a fitting thing to do to boast about some his extravagant style, which shocked his Polish supposedly excellent bargain one had made at friends so much in the late 1940s (Szarota the tandeta. Nobody, even the swankiest person 1995:81-86, Fig. 28 and 29). of either sex, fe lt embarrassed about wearing How, then, should a young citizen of Cracow second-hand and oftenwell-worn clothes, which have chosen his clothes and hairstyle in 1951, nevertheless conjured the magic of overseas that is, assuming that apart fr om the desire to fa shion. It was not just a matter of design. look good, he had access to gift parcels from People were fa scinated also by the touch ofthe abroad or, alternatively, enough cash to visit fabrics, their softness, smoothness and strength. the tandeta and the komis shops for other pur­ Those clothes fe lt astonishingly light to wear. poses than purely cognitive? The earliest synthetics rustled seductively and First of all, he should have chosen a well­ no matter how hard you crumpled them, they fitted, soft, single-breastedjacket with relative­ would return to shape in a second all by them­ ly short but wide lapels, unpadded on the shoul­ selves, as if by magic. Many years had to pass ders. Such jackets had, apart fr om the regular before the impecunious neophytes of plastic flappockets , also an additional small at modernity rediscovered the true merits of the the waist, on the left-hand side - a fr eak of despised natural fibres. Komis shops with sec­ fa shion fr om a far-offland . Trousers, in their ond-hand goods prospered, bazaars expanded. turn, which never had any tucks, had to fit All the while the sorry products of the domestic tightly at the hips and then the legs narrowed industry were held in utter contempt. Girls down, to reach a width of some 20-23 em at the were particularly disgusted with those of their bottom. They either had a 3-to-4-cm cuffor no fr iends who apprehensively altered clothes sent at all - that was a hallmark of elegant to them fr om abroad to make them match the design. Yet another was the presence of two traditional, "quiet" designs. pockets at the back. Short, pipe-legged, "j olly­ Apart from military outfit, whose flow into boy-style" trousers were left to hooligans to Poland had by now shrunk to a trickle, more wear - and to official cartoonists to portray in and more civilian clothes began to reach the their attempts, as fierce as they were fu tile, to market and became the decisive influence on eradicate the "bikinnik" subculture. Shirt col­ the avant-garde of the early 1950s. lt is not true lars had to be small and narrow. Ties had broad that the most widely fo llowed style in those fr onts and a newly devised, heart-shaped knot days was that of dtolersi, that is, "j olly boys", had come into fashion. Vulgar images - of the

74 kind of a nude Hawaiian girl under a palm tree endured for many years. Embroidered sheep­ - were no longer the vogue. skin coats of a pre-war design , taken in at the Light shoes on thick rubber soles be­ waist, combined with fur caps, were character­ gan to give way to brown and yellow mocca::;in::;, istic ofthe circles of "former landowners", gen­ which you could easily jump into and out of. uine ones and others. Shoes on corrugated soles ofthick, hard rubber One could not afford to buy fa shionable (popularly called "tractor shoe::;"),so popular in clothes only in expensive komis shops or at the the subsequent years, had not made their ap­ nearly equally expensive tandeta. People tried pearance yet. to sew their garments themselves or commis­ In view of Cracow'::; poor climate, an elegant sioned tailors to do the job. This was made inhabitant of that town would often wear a soft, easier by the fact that the early 1950s saw the which admirably withstood rain, comeback of a once popular and commonplace unlike its predecessor made of fe lt. Boys and type of fabric: corduroy. Initially, people used girls were desperately trying to lind one, but the standard variety, available in the state­ private manufacturers somehow could not keep owned stores. Soon, however, the arbiters of up with the demand, while the giant state­ fashion declared it banal and ugly. The vogue owned producers stuck to the old fashions and now was delicate, fine-texturedcordur oy. It was ways. When the inexorable Central European used first of all fo r trousers. To be sure, it frost set in, those who did not shun some eccen­ quickly bulged at the knees and trouser legs tricity put on small, woollen caps fr om military were becoming short and baggy. At the fo lds on stocks or shapeless commando-style headgear the back it crumbled hopelessly, leaving large fashioned fr om double-layered, army-issue bald patches. But it was fa shionable. scarves. The most stylish thing to do, however, As I said before, trousers had to be well fitted was to go about bareheaded for as long as it was at the hips and back. Today, with all kinds of possible. baggies being in, one finds ithard to believe. In Girls doing artistic or quasi-artistic studies ­ the 1950s, however, people exchanged, with a particularly if they were well-off - were more glint in the eye, addresses of tailors who would ambitious, as far as clothing was concerned, undertake to sew trousers of such a design, or, than ones fr om other milieux and schools. They better still, alter an old pair. I twas not easy. The preferred sports clothes of Western origin. On Cracow craftsmen of the early 1950s simply their heads, they usually wore red , could not adjust to the new demands. Usually imprinted with a pattern and bearing a "FAST they refused to do things the way their young COLORED" notice; these could also be used as clients wished. "What outdated fa shions they've neckerchiefs. Their clothes were colourfu l, un­ got there in America," marvelled a tailor exam­ pretentious - and expensive. On cold days, it ining a pair of trousers whose design he was was fa shionable to wear bright yellow three­ supposed to duplicate, borrowed fr om a friend quarter coats of camel wool or ladies' duffel who had received them in a parcel. Indeed, the coats. In 1950, if not earlier, the long-lasting new style was reminiscent of the days of Count craze began for bright-coloured, striped syn­ von Zeppelin's first experiments with airships thetic sweaters and enormous, colourful and the Meyerling tragedy (Banach 1965). kerchiefs which could be worn on the head or Therefore, commissions to alter a pair of trou­ tied around the neck. Yet another item which sers or sew a new one usually ended in a gained great popularity was the zip . It miserable failure even of the masters of the art: was used everywhere, whether it was necessary The tailor had botched the job again! But we or not. Some circles of the Cracow intelligentsia were soon to findout that in a narrow passage had a penchant for broad, chequered skirts, offthe Main Market Place in Cracow there was tight, black, synthetic sweaters and hunter's an "emergency repair shop" run by a truly shoulder bags of yellow leather. This kind of competent man. He gladly undertook to make fashion was sometimes perceived as a nostalgic all kinds of alterations and even difficult re­ form of protest against the evil times and it pairs and quickly became our sartorial patron

75 saint oflast resort. He never rejected any order, their hair cut short with a halo of curl�> round even though its execution was not always per­ tho taco, a Ia Claudette Colbert. A few girls feeL At any rate, among the fa shion-conscious began to wear their hair tied in a pony tail. students of Cracow, he enjoyed for a while the Other�> pro1crrod a permanent wave Jlowing position of a monopolist. over the shoulders in tho style of Rita Hay­ Gradually, the blue jeans came to be per­ worth. In contrast, all kinds of pigtails, buns or ceived as the best-loved type of trousers of the plaits running across tho shoulder were seen as latter half of the century. In the early 1950s, terribly outdated. On the other hand, hairstyles however, they were only beginning to make "a Ia Fanfan" or "a la Simone" inspired by the their appearance in Poland - creating an un­ new Italian and French cinema were only to paralleled sensation, both because of the tex­ appear later. tu re of denim, unknown in Poland before, and of It is interesting to note that the authorities, their indigo colour (Davis 1992). Their price so fu riously attacking all Western influences in soon soared to unprecedented levels. Original­ fa shion, seemed totally ignorant of the prcler­ ly, the design and finish of "cowboy trousers" ences of students and the dress subculture were very traditional. They were lockstitched based on komis and tandeta buys. They invari­ with a white thread and hardly ever adorned ably assailed the "j olly boy" in a "pancake hat" with studs. The first lucky owners proudly (Dzi�giel 1993:76-77). The official guards of rolled up the cuffless legs an inch or two. People ideological morality must have thought that were in for another shock when denim jackets clothes received in parcels or purchased at the arrived. At the bazaar stalls, they were even tandeta were worn by poor people who could not harder to get and still more expensive. afford to buy "decent" dress in normal shops. On warm days, it was fa shionable to wear Anda pauper was, in those days, automatically striped synthetic T-shirts, let out loosely over viewed as a worthy, or at least harmless, citi­ the trousers. This was also the way to wear zen. Besides, bosses of the ZMP youth organiza­ flannelette sports shirts, which, in accordance tion would sometimes appropriate clothes sent with the overseas fa shion, should never be fr om the West as a gift for the poorest. And as far tucked in. But what were we to do here, in as hairstyles were concerned, the officialprop­ Central Europe, where shirt buttoning did not aganda still fo ught the battle against the "pleu­ usually extend below the waist? Their length reuse" of the "bikinnik", never mind the crew was not suited to that fa shion, either, as they cut. But as a matter of fa ct, to arouse the least often ended a little above the knees. political suspicions, one ought to have been Those who despised the banal pre-war hair­ bald. styles while leaving the "pleureuse" to be worn For decades after World War II, beards or by the shady figures prowling the streets of the moustache were out of favour with the young Zwierzyniec borough, chose a new type of hair­ generation in Poland. A venerable, old professor cut which was like a crew cut, but longer at the might be wearing a moustache, but not a stu­ top and sides of the head and shorter at the dent. Our unforgettable professor of ethnology, back. Nowadays you can get this kind ofhaircut fo r instance, had a grey English moustache ala at any barber's shop in Cracow, but in 1950 or Clark Gable. Yo ung people were always clean­ 1951 an average hairdresser neither knew nor shaven. cared about this style. Fortunately, on the cor­ Today the barber's shop at the corner of ner ofWarszawska and Szlak streets there was Warszawska and Szlak streets has given way to a barber who would cut our hair exactly the way a paint shop. The tandeta square in Podg6rze we liked. All we had to do was to tell the man at has long since been built up. Its youthful clien­ the very outset we wanted our hair cut "weirdo tele of the 1950s is approaching retirement. style". He was not an old man yet, but he knew A separate treatment should be given to the all the tricks of the trade so the customers were developments in everyday student fa shion in always satisfied. the days immediately before the political break­ Some fe male students in those years had through of October 1956. Advocates of tradi-

76 tiona]- and ZMl'-style dress were clearly losing Dzi.,:giel, L. ] 993: "Bard?.iej Rtraszne niz smies?.ne" Arka their ,.;cal. 'l'he domm;tic clothing market, weak !Rather frightening than fu nny!, No. 6fi(6), Krakow, pp. 64- 77. and inadequate as it was, fi nally started to Dzi<;:giel, L. 1994: "Wolnosc reglamentowana" !Ra­ imitate We:-�te rn design::;,alb eit awkwardly and tioned freedom!, Universitas No. 12(4), Krakow, faint- heartedly. 'l'he scanty import of more at­ pp. 48-55. tractive footwear or clothes from the adjacent Dzicgiel, L. 1994a: Skok z wybuchem czyli srodki pozoracji !Jump with a bang or the art of camou­ countries bred a naive conviction about civiliza­ flage! , Kultura No. 5(560), Paris, pp. 41-59. tional advancement of our cl ose neighbours, Dzicgiel, L. 1995: "Zycie codzienne i historia na­ e.g. Czechoslovakia and H.ungary - those mys­ jnowsza - no we pole bada1l etnologa" [Everyday li lc terious and inaccessible lands which it was only and recent history: A new field of ethnological research], Universitas PUNO No. 63, Zurich-Lon­ now becoming possible (for the select fe w) to don, pp. 7-11. visit. Nothing, however, could erode the posi­ Godula, R. (ed.) 1995: Sellretyi hlejnoty Kralwwa l'l'hc tion of the Cracow landeta. For many, many secrets andjewels ofCracow I, Wydawnictwo Wawcl­ years it was a source of goods that boosted the skie, Krakow. Hoff, B., and Kamyczek, J. 1956: Jak oni si� maj:1 morale and self-esteem of the fr ustrated young ubierac !The way they should dress!, Czytelnik, generation of People 's Poland, whom the au­ Warszawa. thorities were trying, with less and less success, Kantor, R. 1982: Ubi6r-str6j- kostium. Funkcje odzienia to imbue with the only correct ideology. w tradycyjnej spofeczno.sci wiejskiej w XIX i na pocz:Jthach XX wiellu na obszarze Polski [Dress­ clothes-costume: Functions of clothing in the tradi­ Translated by Krzysztof"Kwasniewicz tional village community in the 19th and early 20th centuries on the territory of Poland] , Uniwersytet Jagiello1lski, Krakow. Stepanova I. 1996: Symbolika v odevu prazskych References studentu v letach 1848 a 1868 [Symbolism in dress­ es of Praha students in 1848-1868] In: Kultumi Banach, A. 1965: Portret wzorowego mpiczyzny [A symboly a etnicke vedomi (ed.) Jan Pargac, Praha. portrait of an exemplary man!, Wydawnictwo Lit­ Szarota, T. 1995: Zycie codzienne w stolicach okupow­ erackie, Krakow. anej Europy [Everyday life in European capitals Davis F. 1992: Fashion, Culture and Identity, Chica­ under Nazi occupation] , PiW, Warszawa. go. Tyrmand, L. 1955: Zfy [The evil one] , Czytelnik, Dzieko1lska-Koztowska A. 1964: Moda kobieca w XX Warszawa. wieku [Ladies' fa shion in the 20th century] ,Arkady, Tyrmand,L. 1980: Dziennik 1954 [Diary: 1954], Polo­ Warszawa. nia Book Fund, Warszawa.

77