Ty i Ja Magazine: East Euro Fashion History

I always find super interesting and unique art on Pinterest (as many do). That’s where I discovered “Ty i Ja”. The Polish magazine, translated to “You and Me,” focused on fashion, art and lifestyle. It was published from 1960-1973 and attained cult status in the European fashion world. Teresa Kuczyńska and Roman Juryś created it, the head of the fashion department and a socialist editor-in-chief, respectively. The famous Polish artist Roman Cieślewicz was the art director until 1962 before moving on to other big projects in Paris, like artistic direction for French Elle and collaborating with Vogue. The pure creativity I’ve seen coming from this magazine drew me to it. 

Here are some of my favourite covers: 

During the magazine’s publication, magazines in Poland were only allowed to be published under the guidance of state institutions, so the founders managed to get the Polish Women’s League to publish Ty i Ja monthly. 

Various topics were discussed, including interior design, psychology, and literature. By some, it is also considered one of the first Post-War manifestos on Polish consumerism, but a highly respected publication and not considered “political propaganda.” 

The second aspect of this publication that drew me to it is the variety of its topics and themes, reaching academic and political issues. After all, art, fashion and design are inarguably political and should be deeply thought-provoking. I feel that in today’s status quo, political themes in art are almost immediately labelled as propaganda or seen as an opportunity to use political buzzwords, and they lose certain people.  In contrast, from my understanding, a significant demographic of Ty i Ja’s readers were upper-class housewives! I can’t imagine a similar publication today being marketed to society’s privileged like Ty i Ja was. I long for a time when the masses revered, respected and embraced political messages in art for the intelligent and stimulating element they add to the work. 

As a Balkan, I love reading about Eastern European fashion and art history. Eastern Europe is known for specific aesthetics, like Brutalism, but I still feel we are, overall, overlooked compared to Western Europe. I feel like our cultures, perspectives, mentalities, and histories are unique, allowing some amazing art and design to come out of this part of the world. This is also a great example of a prominent and influential fashion industry in Eastern Europe. 

Now don’t get me started on Balkan art…EVEN MORE underrated. And I will dedicate an entire post (maybe even multiple) to my favourite Balkan artists. 

Overall, I always find myself gravitating to old magazine publications. I find that today’s truly creatively innovative and intellectually stimulating magazines are underground, gatekept, or simply unknown. You have to search for them, so I find it a more challenging medium to discover and consume. I admire how prominent magazines managed to be creatively and intellectually innovative and also socially challenging in its entirety. That’s not to say that today’s prominent publications are not creative and innovative, but I feel there’s a different energy to it now. It all feels more controlled and marketed. I want an art publication I’m reading to feel like art for art’s sake. 

If you want to read more about this magazine, I found an article that really goes into it. Just follow the link https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-fashion-stories-ty-i-ja.

VM.