Stylish Shopping in Warsaw

Published in

Nationall

5 min readJan 10, 2016

Christmas for many years has meant leaving New York on the evening of December 23rd and waking up at the Warsaw airport next day around noon. (That’s just an abbreviated version of the trip deprived of discomfort, too talkative plane companions, many sleepless hours of watching movies and dreaming of proper food and drinks:)) The tradition was continued, this time with the slight surprise in the form of super freezing temperatures and lack of proper clothes to face the cold and keep exploring the Polish stylish surprises, fashion consultant’s way! However, those who love exploring the cities in search of new fashion and cultural wonders will always conquer the unfavorable weather conditions and continue on the stylish journey with the bravado of the super hero, as I did.

This holiday season, I was lucky enough to have a longer time to discover Warsaw from a fashion lover’s perspective. As the temperature was not my ally, I followed the suggestion from a great article from New York Times, 36 h in Warsaw and concentrated on one concept store, MYSIA 3, which offers 3 floors of adventures in the world of fashion, jewelry, photography and interior design.

It is an innovative take on the shopping mall idea for those customers who would like to find creative stimulation from the visual, design and even culinary experiences offered in this one not so easy to find Warsaw retail space.

Charles de Gaulle Roundabout, Warsaw

Just the sneak-peak of the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

ORSKA

ORSKA

As the readers of this blog are deeply aware I am a big promoter of creative girl-bosses and female entrepreneurs. Therefore, I wanted to introduce two amazing women whose stores are located at Mysia3.

Ewelina Kustra is the girl-power behind the fashion brand SHE/S A RIOT. She admitted in one of the interviews that as a kid she was not the one sewing dresses for her Barbies and dreaming about becoming another female version of Alexander McQueen. She worked for many years as a journalist, sometimes designing clothes for herself, which definitely made her stand out from the crowd. One time, when she was visiting New York, she was wearing one of the jumpsuits of her own design and the guy on the street turned around and screamed: “Your ass looks great in those pants.”, to which she responded “Wanna bet it’s not only the ass that looks great?”. When she returned to her hotel room, she looked in the mirror and admitted to herself that she really looked great in that jumpsuit. From that moment the idea was born to create a street fashion brand for women and girls to look great. As one of her brother’s American friends said about her: “Your sister is a real riot”, the name of the brand was born right away. She was still working full-time at her corporate job and designing, brain-storming at the late time of the night. Now, her brand is a Polish sensation, with fashion celebrities like Anja Rubik being her regular clients. The clothes are made in Poland using high quality Polish fabrics, following the principles of ethical fashion. The store at Mysia3, although tiny in size, offers great selection of independent life-style magazines, books and accessories as well as unique fashion pieces.

The other Polish woman whose story became an inspiration for me is Anna Orska, jewelry designer and the owner of the jewelry brand, Orska. With academic background in architecture, she designed jewelry for such companies as Swarovski and W.Kruk. Creativity is the air she breathes, as she makes hundreds of sketches daily. She is a designer who is not afraid to get her hands dirty with the mundane physical jewelry production process. Her jewelry is made of materials like: fisherman’s net (from the Baltic sea), old coins, bamboo, scrap metal, tin soldiers, old watches and wood. Since she was a little kid, she was very resourceful, living in the house which her father was building for years, with the custom-made furnitures, in the times when in Poland you had to be creative to make up for lack of almost everything. If you are looking for a unique piece of jewelry, Orska definitely offers a great selection at various price points.

Those who love unique interior design and decor should definitely see the basement-based NAP store, which offers absolutely everything for the modern home. I really loved the New Year Wishes, which were written on white cardboards suspended by the ceiling: “Positive Energy, Smile and Calm Sleep”. I wish all my readers the same and also lots of safe and inspiring travels in 2016!!!!
Visit Warsaw, which is quickly becoming a European city with its own distinct style!