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"Naturally, a tuxedo must be bespoke.
Preferably tailored by a master like Józef Turbasa,
who lives in Krakow..."
Wisława Szymborska
ENTRIES OF THE MOST EMINENT CLIENTS
OF J. TURBASA ATELIER
Czesław Miłosz, Maciej Słomczyński, Stanisław Lem, Antoni Dziatkowiak, Andrzej Szczeklik, Anna Polony,
Andrzej Wajda, Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda, Ryszard Gryglewski, …
ANDRZEJ WAJDA
In this tuxedo, the director of ‘’The Promised Land” received an Oscar award from the hands of Jane Fonda, the American Film Academy Award for lifetime achievement.
In the same suit, the master also received the International Inamori Kyoto Prize. The financial component of the prize later became the basis for the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow, designed by Arata Isozaki.
photo. Zofia Nasierowska.
ALEKSANDER KWAŚNIEWSKI
The President of the Republic of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski in an interview for ‘Viva’ magazine:
“Well. The jacket has been tailored, on the eve of the wedding day we come to Brussels, and here at the Polish embassy they are saying something about it needing to be black. I say: “It’s difficult, I won’t change anything anymore, I’m not going to polish my jacket with a black shoepolish.” We are going to the cathedral. My wife, perceptive in these matters as usual, says: “Listen, it’s fine. Mr. Turbasa was right, everyone goes – like an army – in Marengo [dark grey].” I feel great, because I know I’m dressed properly. All as one, are dressed as if by the Master Tailor from Krakow. But then, at the aperitif, in the Royal Palace, I look and see… There’s one strange guy. First of all, he has a black jacket. Secondly, the trimming that no patterns envisaged. Thirdly, he doesn’t have a white shirt, just a white collar and a striped blue shirt. Fourthly, he doesn’t have a silver tie, only blue. Fifthly, he has a double-breasted vest. And lastly, sixthly, he has got not regular black – but some kind of patent leather – shoes. I look at him and I think: ,,So be it, there is always somebody that have to stand out”. Were it not for the fact… that he is Prince Charles.”
The photo comes from the VIVA! monthly, December 2001, photo: Jacek Poremba/Tale.
TOMASZ STAŃKO
The interview of Małgorzata Domagalik with Tomasz Stańko – ‘Master and Margarita’ – for the ‘’Pani” magazine:
“(…)
MD – And this suit, everything very stylishly selected.
TS – Unfortunately, I have a bird’s nature.
MD – Why “unfortunately”?
TS – A nature of a bird like a magpie, I like to dress up in different feathers. Jazzmen have it that way.
MD – Does it come easily to you?
TS – I have such a tailor in Krakow, Turbasa, I’ve been going there for several years. His father said: ” Mr. Stanko, you should get yourself a closet.” I started to put together a dozen or so coats and jackets, now I’ve slowed down a bit.
MD – Wardrobe too small?
TS – Indeed.
(…)”
CZESŁAW MIŁOSZ
‘’The Tailor of Miłosz” - in 2011, as part of the ‘’Miłosz Liberated – Czesław Miłosz’s Year celebrations in Krakow’'. J. Turbasa atelier was a partner of the '4P – writer (PL: pisarz), poetry, prose, public space' campaign.
In the atelier's window, at 15 St. Gertrude Street, the original templates of Czesław Miłosz were showcased, and the opportunity to take their miniatures created. For the first time, it was not the poetry of the Nobel laureat that was presented on paper, but his silhouette inscribed in the cut-outs of tailoring patterns.
IREK GRIN
“I’ve got two pages of anecdotes like this, entitled: The Nobel Prize inside out. Although, after a long thought, I decided that the vast majority of them should not see the light of the day earlier than 5 years after my death. (…)
This is the last, I suppose, Stockholm memory, so – since what is inside is the lining – I wanted to thank Jerzy Turbasa, Master Tailor, for tailcoat. I haven’t felt so good in a long time. ”
Irek Grin accompanied by Olga Tokarczuk during the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.
WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA
Despite the male subject, Jerzy Turbasa’s book ‘ABC of male elegance’ interested Wisława Szymborska herself, who discussed her in Gazeta Wyborcza in the column ‘Men in Clothes’, which was included in ‘New Optional Reading’ (Wisława Szymborska, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2002).
Despite the male theme, interested Wisława Szymborska herself was greatly interested by Jerzy Turbasa’s book The ABC of Man’s Elegance; she discussed it in ‘’Gazeta Wyborcza” newspaper in the ‘’Men in Clothes” column. The article has later become a part of the New Nonrequired Readings (Wisława Szymborska, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2002).
L'HABIT VERT AS A PIECE OF ART.
Andrzej Wajda, in addition to the Oscar statuette, donated to the Jagiellonian University Museum a tailor-made chamered tailcoat by J. Turbasa, in which he was dressed during the ceremony of his admission to the prestigious French Academy. The director mentioned – “I am handing it over to the Jagiellonian University, because this place is particularly close to my heart. It’s here where all my major awards are”.
In this way, handicrafts from the atelier of J. Turbasa found their destiny among other works of art, including the astrolabe of Nicolaus Copernicus.
PIERRE CARDIN
Foreword to Jerzy Turbasa’s book The ABC of Man’s Elegance by Michał Ronikier:
“Mr Turbasa’s class is perfectly illustrated by the story told by Andrzej Wajda. When he became a member of the French Academy, he had to make a special, richly chamered tailcoat, designed almost 200 years earlier by Jacques Louis David, court painter of Napoleon. Of course he ordered it from Mr. Turbasa. During his admission to the Academy, he noticed that Pierre Cardin, who is also a member of it, has been watching him closely.
After the official part, Cardin approached his new colleague and said: “You must have got an excellent and very expensive tailor.”
In recognition of his great achievements in the field of film at the French Academy, Andrzej Wajda received a chair after Michelangelo Antonioni. When he was nominated for a member of The Academy of Immortals, he did not order, as is customary, a gala tailcoat (designed by J. L. David) from Pierre Cardin, but from master Józef Turbasa in Krakow. In Paris, embroidery is typically done using computer technique, the ones in the picture were made by hand, and it took two months for Elżbieta Drzewiecka to embroider them.
JÓZEF TURBASA
Józef Turbasa is listed among renowned 17 “Great Cracovians” who have shaped the most of the post-war history of the city of Krakow (on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the establishment of Dziennik Polski). The master tailor and the artist joined the group of such personalities as Karol Wojtyła, Wisława Szymborska, Stanisław Lem, Sławomir Mrożek, Tadeusz Kantor, Ewa Demarczyk or Piotr Skrzynecki.
JÓZEFA TURBASY STREET
In 2017, the ceremony of naming a new street in Krakow after Józef Turbasa – the founder of J. Turbasa atelier – took place. Józef Turbasa (1921-2010) was also a patriot, a soldier of the Home Army aka “Birch”, after the liberation, imprisoned in St. Michael’s prison. He held the function of the Senior of The Cloth Trade Guild, President of the Mutual Help Craft Association, he was also a member of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers, the first king of first Marksmen’s king of the Rifle Association Marksmen’s Society in Krakow in renewed Poland (1989), patron of the arts, and a donor. He was awarded, inter alia, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Silver Cross of Merit, the J. Kiliński Gold Medal and the Honoris Gratia badge.
