Tamás Király: Dreaming in Parallel – Fashion, Art, and Rebellion in Socialist Hungary
Tamás Király: Dreaming in Parallel – Fashion, Art, and Rebellion in Socialist Hungary
By: Henry Primos Smith — September 19, 2024
Tamás Király existed as many artists did: in his own world of parallel politics. One where he was able to simultaneously live in his world and the world he was forced to conform to.
In 1973, Hungary experienced one of its most severe oil crises in history. The economic crisis that ensued would be the catalyst for Hungary’s eventual abolishment of communist rule, but this would not occur for another 16 years. In the meantime, Hungary existed in a very strange state called “the long tether,” a term used by Budapest-based artist Gyla Muskovics to describe the time between the fall of socialism and the rise of capitalism. Private industry and Western influence began to spring up while the government still remained under socialist control.
Born in 1952, Tamás Király was a cutting-edge avant garde fashion designer who began his career in fashion during the mid-to-late 1970s. Király created his art primarily in what was then known as the Hungarian’s People’s Republic, a late socialist governmental organization.
It was during this period that many believe Király achieved his finest work. Király’s art in many ways mirrored the world around him. He existed as many artists did: in his own world of parallel politics. One where he was able to simultaneously live in his world and the world he was forced to conform to.
One of Tamás’s most famous designs is his red star hat. The hat famously made no overt statement about the regime; it was simply a hat that looked identical to the dome of the Hungarian Parliament. This did not stop officials from stopping the designer and his model and requesting their papers.
Király moved in his separate world. He notably did not define himself as a designer, he was not permitted by the state to do so, so his formal job title was a state permitted window decorator. Without an artist's license, Tamás would have to find a different way of procuring a runway. Instead of fashion shows, Király would march through the capital in informal promenades, because while a fashion show would be illegal, dressing wildly and taking pictures in a public space would not.
In his later work in the underground scene, he put on runway shows at the Petőfi Csarnok, a popular concert hall in Budapest. Ironically, Tamás Király had never been to a fashion show. His shows were based on only the vaguest sense of a typical runway, collected from rumors and pirated media. His themes reflected his disconnection from the traditional runway in an unintentional yet rather poetic way. Tamás used the concept of dreams to disconnect his work from reality. His early shows titled Baby’s Dreams (1985), Boy’s Dreams (1986), Animal’s Dreams (1987), and Király’s Dreams (1989) were groundbreaking because the audience was given a rare opportunity to view someone else’s abstract mind. When fashion so often seeked to create instances of grandeur, the unique limitations and artistic expression of Tamás Király’s early work invited the viewer to live in his world. A world apart from reality, apart from socialism, apart from capitalism, apart from form, apart from product, and apart from material. Király simply allowed you to experience his dream, the parallel line which he lived, worked, and thought in.
Király continued to create until his passing in 2013 following an altercation with an acquaintance of his. As of 2023, many of Tamás’s designs are kept in storage in the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, their foam crumbling, paper tearing, and metal rusting. Built to be worn once, residing in abstract dreams of a brief world that once was.
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