Warsaw

Swan Lake. Magda Butrym SS24

| Design & Culture by Ed

Magda Butrym’s elevated resort 2024 collection reflects the brand’s expanding vocabulary which is a clash of romanticism, femininity and assertiveness. Pure romance was conveyed in the pink column dresses with draped bustiers and shoulder-straps in rose-like shapes. Hot take on femininity can be seen in the gorgeous “revenge” LBD with v-neckline and the sheer knitted gown with hand-crotcheted inserts around the bust. Power-dressing – Butrym’s latest specialty that she keeps on refining – informed the oversized tailoring that took clues from masculine proportions, as well as in the all-leather separates (see the jacket with furry collar!). But the ultimate hero piece status belongs to the silver evening dress, wholesomely splashed with sequins and appliquéd with metallic florals. Magda Butrym wouldn’t be Magda Butrym without bold accessories with – you guessed it – flowers as the main characters. This time, the Polish designer mixes her signature blooms with XXL pearls, which appear on stiletto heels and in the Audrey Hepburn-approved chokers. As always, Butrym’s dream closet oozes with pure chic.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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I Wish You Roses. Magda Butrym Pre-Fall 2023

| Design & Culture by Ed

Magda Butrym‘s pre-fall 2023 collection launched at the time Kali Uchis released her new, soothing single, I Wish You Roses. “I was a rose in the garden of weeds, my petals are soft and silky as my sheets, so do not be afraid to get pricked by the thorns“. Sometimes, a feeling is captured simultaneously by both, music and fashion. The Polish designer, who dresses Hollywood’s leading women, from Natalie Portman to Margot Robbie, knows how to serve a collection that’s feminine, romantic, yet absolutely badass and empowering. The pre-fall offering sees model Erin Wasson wearing the most sexy red dress of the season, literally blooming with hand-draped roses. There’s a column-dress moment in silver lamé; a summer-perfect sun-dress made entirely from crotchet; a hooded black gown giving total red carpet glam. The floral print, so signature for the brand, goes through a Kar Wai Wong’s In The Mood For Love lens this season. The eveningwear is hot, and Butrym keeps on evolving other parts of the wardrobe as well. The red blazer with broad, 1980s shoulders is as convincing and bold as the boxy leather coat. The best-selling heels with pinned flowers now come with the chicest pearls attached. “I wish you roses, yeah, roses, roses…“

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Pleasure Garden. Magda Butrym SS23

| Design & Culture by Ed

For spring-summer 2023, Magda Butrym invites us to her, as the collection’s title suggests, “Pleasure Garden“. The Polish designer, whose clothes are red carpet favorites among actors and artists like Natalie Portman, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Olivia Rodrigo, just knows what women want: a certain sort of chic that’s romantic, yet bold, mature, yet mood-boosting. The latest offerings has plenty of Butrym’s signature florals, which return in form of artful appliqués as well as in tone-on-tone embroidery across a white standout maxi and curve-hugging black set. In a dreamy sea of neutrals with pops of pale lilac and bubblegum pink, find hand-draped floral forms punctuating the necklines of slinky jersey halter tops and ultra-high side slits, and unfurling in structured ruffles trimming the ruched cocktail dresses. The designer also takes a look back at the 1970s jet-set style with a toffee suit made from finest suede, and charming denim embroidered with even more florals. Butrym doesn’t really go for straightforward themes, and that makes her vision of a woman feel so distinct and true-to-her-style every season.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Warsaw: Anna Bilińska’s Retrospective

| Design & Culture by Ed


Anna Bilińska was the first Polish female artist to gain international recognition. Her first solo retrospective at the National Museum in Warsaw takes place just now, in 2021, but it’s better late than never. Bilińska used oil paints, pastels and watercolours to create portraits, still lifes, genre scenes and landscapes in the style of European realism. The artist brilliantly mastered the basics of the painting technique, evidenced by her academic studies of models, which strike the viewer with their synthetic approach to the form and with their casual technique of painting. Of course, the artist also simultaneously continued the clear contour style, exemplified by her Male Nude Study (1885), Study for a Male Nude (ca. 1884-85) and Boy Nude (ca. 1884-85). Sketches for the historical and biblical compositions which Bilińska created in her youth have similar qualities but also display a bold expression of colour juxtaposition, as exemplified by Joseph Interprets Dreams (1883) and Inquisition (1884). Bilińska’s mature works consist predominantly of portraits and portrait studies of various ethnic types which were fashionable at that time. These pieces merge the refined simplicity of realism with an academic discipline of the painting technique, such as Head of a Serb (ca. 1884) or Old Man with a Book (ca. 1890s).Bilińska’s self-awareness and thoughts on the artist’s position in the world, which manifested itself in, among others, the representation of her own image in self-portraits, make her works so powerful. And still, the artist’s entire oeuvre and life story have yet to be thoroughly analysed and rediscovered…

The exhibition is on view until 10th of October 2021.

The National Museum in Warsaw is worth a visit in general! Here are some of my favourite artworks, especially from the 19th and 20th century galleries, from Józef Mehoffer’s enchanting Stange Garden to Jacek Malczewski’s prophetic visions.

Photos by Edward Kanarecki.

Focus On: Jan / F / Chodorowicz

| Design & Culture by Ed

Finally, a delightful dash of refinement appears on the Polish fashion scene. Meet Jan / F / Chodorowicz, the womenswear designer and recent graduate of Central Saint Martins MA course, and his brilliant SOCIALI/S/TE collection. Chodorowicz’s debut line-up introduces the audience to his two favourite meeting-points: the codes of haute couture and workwear. For the collection, Jan was simultaneously inspired by the glamorous Truman-Capote-kind-of-women, and photographs of working women in socialist Poland – visions of strikingly contrasting femininity that collided at one point in history, when Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill came to Warsaw in 1970. The collection is a capsule wardrobe for a contemporary, charismatic and business-ready woman, a modern-day lady who is in control of her narrative and expresses her confidence through uncompromising total looks. The dominating, deep tone of blue is a reference to classic workwear, which is combined with fine wools in windowpane and houndstooth patterns, all fully bonded with silk satin to create a chic, couture-ish silhouette. Every outfit has a matching pair of gloves and tights that convey the dynamic blue lines that run through the entire collection, making the looks not only feel lady-like, but surprisingly also utilitarian. Keep Jan on your radar – for more of his works, follow the designer right here.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Look-book: photography by Łukasz Kuś, make up by Marianna Yurkiewicz, styling by Marcela Stanczyk & special thanks to Krystyna Engelmayer Urbańska and Jula Strużycka.