In lieu of superficiality, Eszter Polyák casts the enchantment of obscurity upon the runway. Her collections spring forth from the darkness that most are reluctant to confront, drawing inspiration from the cultural fringes. As a former costume designer for the Budapest Capital Circus, resourcefulness is integral to her style.

Eszter was born into a family with artistic inclinations. Her father, initially a sculptor, embarked on a journey that led him to Australia and Japan, where he delved into martial arts before returning to Hungary to lay the foundations of karate in the country, and he began laying the groundwork for the inaugural stunt team. He also earned recognition as a bodyguard, attaining a place among the world’s top ten in the 90s. His clientele included luminaries such as Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and La Toya Jackson. Eszter’s mother, too, was a pupil of her father, engaging in both stunt work and karate.

During her high school years, Eszter contemplated a future as a lawyer or doctor, influenced by her sister’s legal studies and her mother’s work in a hospital. However, in 2012, a transformative summer spent with her brother, Peter Polyák, an artist, painter in Key West, Florida, awakened her passion for fashion design. Under the tutelage of “Sushi,” a renowned Drag Queen known for crafting exquisite costumes, and through active participation in New York Fashion Week’s backstage scene, Eszter’s commitment to the world of fashion solidified.

Before her sojourn to the United States, Eszter’s creativity found expression in altering her own clothes to infuse them with uniqueness. However, after her American experience, while sitting in a classroom in Hungary, she found herself sketching daring dress designs in her notebook, eschewing her immediate surroundings. This marked the inception of her debut collection, “Frst Cllctn,” inspired by her international adventures, dreams, and aspirations.

Those who laid eyes on her creations, including teachers, professors, and established designers, either passionately embraced or fervently rejected them, underscoring her capacity to evoke powerful emotions—precisely her intention. Not only did she craft her thesis around the theme of aliens, but her diploma collection revolved around this enigmatic subject. Images from the collection, when shared with Leslie Barany, H.R. Giger’s manager, drew this response: “Congratulations, Eszter Polyak. H.R. Giger continues to inspire the next generation.”

Upon completing her university education in 2018, she pursued her ambition to become the costume designer for the Budapest Capital Circus, the sole stone circus in Central Europe. After a year, her responsibilities expanded to encompass not only costumes but also set design and props.

Simultaneously, she embarked on a career in the film industry, working closely with the Oscar-nominated costume designer Györgyi Szakács and the renowned Hungarian costume designer Krisztina Vavrinecz. Her journey also brought her alongside Oscar-winning costume designer Michael O’Connor in the movie “Lee,” where she served as Kate Winslet’s dresser. In 2022, when Disney undertook the production of a new Alien movie, “Romulus,” Eszter seized the opportunity to collaborate with the Emmy winner costume designer Carlos Rosario as a Costume Workshop Coordinator. She also took on the role of a costume coordinator alongside the Oscar-nominated costume designer Bina Daigeler for “Rumours”.

Eszter boasts movie credits as both a costume and production designer. Additionally, she has nurtured her own fashion brand for over a decade. In 2022, she had a prestigious fashion exhibition titled “/NOT2B – The Last Fashion Show.”
The /NOT2B collection pushes the boundaries of “fashion design”, with its unique models creating the phenomenon of a static and dynamic fashion show/exhibition. Getting out of the body. Stripping off everything that makes you different from others. All character, nation and gender, skin, colour, flesh. Everything. Then come the dreams of the dread of something after death, “The undiscovere’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns”. We now look behind the scenes of Non-Existence, where only one body remains of what was once Man, and the Last is about to surrender to Non-Existence. The short film “ORNOT2B” won the Best Art Film award at the 2022 Experimental Festival.

She was the costume designer for the short film called “swapID,” which was a competitor in the 48 Hours Film Project in 2023. The short film won Best Movie in Eindhoven and also won the Best Costume Design award. On the international platform in Lisbon, the movie was nominated for Best Costume Design and made it into the top 10 movies, which were later screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

Her most recent project was a charity exhibition titled Borrowed Bodies, created in collaboration with an all-female art collective called Dopea. This exhibition was an interdisciplinary showcase that combined photography, fashion, and social-scientific perspectives. Through various media, it explored how social media impacts the human body and our relationship with it, while sharing the stories of individuals observed by hundreds of thousands.