Twenty-second International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

Moda Polska fashion house was established in 1958 on the initiative of Jadwiga Grabowska and Kaya Mirecka-Ploss. Jadwiga Grabowska assumed the role of artistic director at Moda Polska until her retirement in 1967. As the person responsible for designing process she visited fashion shows in Paris, and then adapted the current trends to the domestic market. Moda Polska organized shows of the leading collections, also known as informational, which were an overview of current fashion trends. Before the carnival, the carnival collection was also presented. Commercial collections were launched for sale. At its peak, Moda Polska employed about two thousand people and had about sixty stores. The company was criticized for large differences between the leading and commercial collections, too much Parisism of the promoted fashion, and thus the lack of a clear Polish identity, which, according to critics, was suggested by the name. The company was completely unable to cope with the new economic reality (after the transformations of 1989) and was finally sold in 1997. The speech is part of a research project devoted to the institutional logics of the fashion design process in the People’s Republic of Poland, based on interviews with designers and the analysis of the the documents. Thanks to the case study of Moda Polska fashion house, it is possible to discuss all four phases of the organizational life cycle – from birth to death.\

Presenters

Michał Wójciak
Research and Teaching Assistant, Institute of Culture, Department of Management and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University, Malopolskie, Poland

Marta Połeć
Student, PhD in Social Sciences, Kozminski University PL 524-10-05-438, Jagiellońska 57/59, 03-301 Warsaw, Poland