The period of World War II and the first years after its end were full of shortages and widespread poverty. Yet even in such difficult times, against all odds, people tried to maintain an appearance of normality as much as possible, including caring about their looks and following fashion. Parachutes proved useful for that…
To somewhat tame the harsh reality and feel attractive and elegant, women altered, among other things, old, previously worn clothes or items of men’s wardrobes. However, the most coveted were fabrics from which clothing could be sewn from scratch. But where could one obtain material in a country engulfed by war and poverty?
During this period, the textile industry was primarily subordinated to meeting the needs of the military, and wool or silk were virtually impossible for civilians to obtain. People therefore resorted to recycled fabrics, using among others those of military origin. Parachute canopies, produced from silk, viscose or nylon, were particularly suitable for this purpose. They reached Poland through Allied supply drops.
There are legends about women armed with dressmaking scissors who, surrounding a landing paratrooper, would cut off and take away the coveted material. Parachutes were also sold on the black market by soldiers or smugglers, and after the war, surplus ones arrived in parcels from relatives in the West and in packages from the UNRRA relief organisation. The fashion for dresses and blouses sewn from parachutes became widespread in Poland, and over time this clothing acquired not only aesthetic but also sentimental and historical value — it often passed from hand to hand and from generation to generation. In the Podhale region, embroidered nylon blouses even gained their own name — nylonki.
The nylonka blouse donated to the collection of the Polish Aviation Museum comes from Zakopane and was sewn during World War II or shortly thereafter. It was cut from white nylon obtained from an Allied parachute, either American or British. In one of the lower corners, on the front and on the collar, the characteristic diagonal reinforcing seams of the canopy are visible.
The front of the blouse, the sleeves and the pointed collar are decorated with white embroidery in the style of highland folk patterns and braided buttons, also made of nylon. This is not only a unique example of the secondary, civilian use of material originally intended for military purposes, but also a beautiful and elegant symbol of those times.
