Welcome back to “Off the Page,” where we spotlight the editorial leaders behind Hearst’s global brands. Our latest interview features Zuzanna Krzątała, Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s BAZAAR Poland, which makes it official return to the market tomorrow.
For Zuzanna, the timing couldn’t be better. Poland’s creative scene is more exciting than ever, with growing attention being paid to both international and local culture. Her vision for BAZAAR reflects that energy: a magazine with a distinct point of view, where fashion exists in conversation with art, cinema, literature, architecture, and travel—and where global access is paired with an identity that feels “unmistakably ours.”
Ahead of the first issue, Zuzanna shares what it means to start with a blank page, the lessons she’s carried from a career spanning fashion, academia, arts, and nonprofit work, and her ambitions for Harper’s BAZAAR Poland in this next chapter.
Harper’s BAZAAR Poland returns this September after several years away from the market. Why do you believe now is the right moment for its comeback? How has Poland’s fashion and media landscape evolved since then?
Poland feels very different today than it did even a few years ago. There’s more confidence, curiosity and a real appetite for fashion and arts—both international and homegrown. People are looking outward, but they’re also paying much closer attention to what’s being created here.
That makes this a very exciting moment for Harper’s BAZAAR to return. I see it as a magazine for a woman who already knows what she likes and doesn’t need to be told how to live. She wants to discover something new, be challenged a little, and come away inspired.
What was your reaction when you learned you would be leading Harper’s BAZAAR Poland as Editor-in-Chief?
A mixture of excitement and mild panic! I knew immediately what an extraordinary opportunity it was, but also what a responsibility. Harper’s BAZAAR has such an incredible history, and launching it again rather than simply taking over an existing title gives you a rare chance to pause and ask yourself: what is it that I really want from a magazine?
That was the part that excited me most—starting with a blank page.
As you prepare to launch, what is your vision for Harper’s BAZAAR Poland?
I spent a lot of time asking myself who the BAZAAR woman is today, and the answer is that she can’t really be reduced to one type. I don’t think our readers separate fashion from art, cinema, literature, architecture or travel. I want the magazine to move naturally between those worlds and to introduce people and places our readers might not have encountered elsewhere.
You’ve spent many years in the fashion industry, and earlier in your career you worked as a model in New York. Looking back, how has the industry changed? And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
When I started modeling nearly 25 years ago, the industry was much more opaque. Today, there is much more conversation around power, working conditions, representation, and responsibility. It is far from perfect, but people are much more willing to question the systems they work within. I think I would tell my younger self: have an opinion and don’t be afraid to voice it.
What’s one lesson you’ve learned throughout your career that you bring to this new role?
Stay curious and surround yourself with people who know things you don’t. I’ve worked across very different worlds over the years—academia, non-profit organizations, arts, and fashion—and the most interesting things have almost always happened when points of view collided. I don’t think an editor’s job is to have all the answers. It’s about finding the right people to explore it with.
Polish textile designer Agnieszka Owsiany and Zuzanna in front of a work by Magdalena Abakanowicz, one of Poland’s most celebrated artists.
In an increasingly competitive media landscape, what will set Harper’s BAZAAR Poland apart from other fashion titles? And how does being part of Hearst’s global network help strengthen that vision?
We are not trying to be everything to everyone. I would rather publish fewer stories and make each of them worth someone’s time. I want our writers to have a voice. For too long, media has rewarded a kind of anonymous neutrality. I want readers to feel there is a real person behind the story, someone with taste and an opinion.
Being part of Hearst gives us access to an extraordinary global archive and network of contributors, while giving us the freedom to make BAZAAR Poland distinctly our own. It shouldn’t feel like an imported magazine translated into Polish—it needs to feel unmistakably ours.
Launching a magazine is no small feat—I’m sure it’s been an incredibly busy summer. How do you balance work with your personal life? And when you do have time to yourself, what’s your favorite way to unwind?
At the moment, I’m not sure balance would be the most accurate word! But I’m learning to put my phone away after hours or walk somewhere with no particular destination—my last name, Krzątała, means exactly that in Polish. I spend so much of my working life looking at images and consuming information that I increasingly value doing the opposite in my free time. I would say a few days in nature in a hammock with a stack of books and very little internet is pretty close to perfect!
Quick-Fire Round…
Your ultimate style icon, and why?
Lauren Hutton—back in the 70s and her 70s! Nothing ever looks too considered.
The one wardrobe staple you can’t live without?
My 70s vintage bell-bottom jeans.
A book everyone should read?
Ways of Seeing by John Berger. It changes how you look at almost everything.
The one beauty product always in your bag?
Lip balm. I lose them constantly and then find one in every pocket and handbag.
A place that always inspires your creativity?
New York. I lived there for 11 years, and it will always feel like home.
One thing people would be surprised to learn about you?
Even though I’m very social, I really need my time alone to reset—preferably with rhubarb green tea and a long read.
Finish this sentence: The first issue of Harper’s BAZAAR Poland will make readers say…
“Consider me astonished”
Looking ahead, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave at Harper’s BAZAAR Poland? Beyond the magazine itself, what impact would you like to have on Poland’s fashion and creative community?
I would love Harper’s BAZAAR Poland to become a place where photographers, writers, stylists, and illustrators want to do their best work and where established names can exist alongside names a reader may be discovering for the first time.
Magazines are at their most exciting when they don’t simply document a creative scene but participate in it: commissioning new work, bringing unlikely people together, giving someone their first big break.
If years from now, people can look back at BAZAAR during my time and see not only what was happening in Polish culture at that moment, but some of the people and ideas that went on to shape it, I would be very happy!
