Parachute jackets and bandage skirts: fashion in communist Poland

An elegant former hotel employee remembers dyeing gauze bandages and turning them into ruffled skirts to remain fashionable despite chronic shortages in communist-era Poland. Dressed in a leopard-print hat, beige turtleneck and long brown skirt with tassels, Koczwanska reminisced while watching old fashion reels projected onto a gallery wall. Inventiveness was a must for looking good in Poland's communist decades from 1944 to 1989 faced with the limitations of a planned economy.

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Parachute jackets and bandage skirts: fashion in communist Poland