Magdalena Tesławska

From Colonel Wołodyjowski to large productions

Magdalena Tesławska (1945–2011) designed costumes for The Deluge and later With Fire and Sword, Pan Tadeusz and Quo Vadis¹. Łukasz Maciejewski’s remembrance records her education at an art school in Łódź and her start in film on Colonel Wołodyjowski, working with Jerzy Szeski on military costumes².

Costumes as storytelling

The film documentation credits Tesławska with costumes³. Clothing can be read as characterisation: it communicates position, affiliation and circumstances. Comparing a magnate, courtier and soldier’s dress may tell the viewer more than an impressive individual detail.

A visible element is not automatically historical evidence. A film design must allow movement, repeated takes and readability on screen. Establishing documented seventeenth-century dress requires a separate comparison with historical sources.

Collaboration and continuity

Maciejewski describes Tesławska’s long collaboration with Paweł Grabarczyk and identifies Battle of Warsaw 1920 as her final film². Read about the costumes and conflicting published totals in the production guide.

Museums, fabrics and costume wear

The 1975 report describes Polish fabrics and ornaments made in workshops including Riga, Minsk, Kraków and Łódź. Tesławska researched portraits in Olsztyn and fabrics, leather and ornaments in Moscow museums⁴. The reference material thus had to be translated into available materials and workshop practice.