HANA PODOLSKÁ, A CZECH FASHION LEGEND

The high-quality workmanship of her dressmakers, the luxurious fabrics she used, her sound knowledge of the latest Paris fashion trends adapted to Czech taste, together her business spirit and pleasant social demeanour, made Hana Podolska´s salon the most popular and best-known couture house in Czech society between the two world wars. Her clientele included famous Czech actresses, like Růžena Nasková, Jarmila Kronbauerová, Olga Scheinpflugová, Adina Mandlová, and Nataša Gollová, and other celebrities, such as the opera singer Jarmila Novotná, the racing car driver Eliška Junková, and Hana Benešová, the wife of the Czechoslovak president. The exhibition brings the visitor into the environment of this couture house of the First Republic, presenting more than 50 original models and a number of accessories. It uses film footage, photographs, and other documents to offer insight not only into the workings of the salon, but also into the sometimes very difficult life of Hana Podolská and her family, influenced by the ups and downs of the first fifty years of Czechoslovakia.
The exhibition includes interactive areas, in which visitors can become better acquainted with most of the fabrics used in the exhibited models and explore their texture (by touching them and looking at them under magnifying glass), leaf through the album „Did You Have Your Clothes Made at Podolska´s?“, and design their own formal wear.