Grażyna Hase

Her career in fashion began when she was still a teenager. Her photos were published in Italian Vogue as part of a feature on young women behind the Iron Curtain and soon afterwards, she was chosen to model for the popular Przekrój weekly. She swiftly became one of the most sought-after models in the industry. From the mid-1960s onward, she modeled for the biggest fashion brands in Poland: Moda Polska, Telimena, Centralne Biuro Wzornictwa (The Central Design Bureau). She walked the runways at home and abroad, having her picture taken for major magazines. In 1967, she decided to launch her own eponymous fashion label.

Her first collection Kozak Look drew its inspiration from Russia and its imperial styles. It was an instant success and her subsequent collections, all produced by Cora Clothing Manufacturing, followed suit, building on the last, while keeping up with all the freshest trends with an imaginative flair. Hase came out with about four collections a year up until the end of the 1970s. She also continued to model. She ran her successful Fashion House boutique and wrote a fashion column in the Sztandar Młodych (Youth Banner). She put on her own fashion shows in Poland and around the world, in places like New York, Toronto and Moscow.

….when I was young (…) if a girl wanted to look good, she just made something out of nothing. <br>I was always making myself outfits, but I never, ever thought that I would end up being a fashion designer.

(Grażyna Hase: Miłość, moda, sztuka, K. Tomasik, Marginesy Publishing House, Warsaw, 2016, p. 34)