Király Színház

Tamás Király (toh-MAHSH keer-EYE; 13 September 1952 – 7 April 2013) was a Hungarian underground avant-garde fashion designer active beginning in the 1980s. In many cases, Király used found materials, took clues from queer art, and employed geometric forms in a "decadent" manner; in at least some projects of the period, he took additional inspiration from previous experiments within the Russian avant-garde scene. Though not expressly political, his work sometimes flaunted the artistic conventions permitted by the communist regime; authorities tolerated his shows, which came with performance art elements, but did not promote them. He relied on self-promotion, establishing an unconventional store in Budapest and living in poverty. Throughout his life, he was opposed to selling his creations as wearable clothes. Beyond his cult following in Hungary, Király achieved international fame after he participated in the 1988 Dressater fashion show in West Berlin, as the only designer from the Eastern Bloc. This allowed him to live from his shows in post-communist Hungary. Though he remained focused on Budapest—he had a studio in Józsefváros, and was affiliated with the NA-NE artists' collective—he would sometimes showcase his work in provincial Hungarian towns. He was murdered in 2013 by a man with whom he was possibly having a sexual encounter. Academics have posthumously given additional attention to his work, much of which is preserved by the Museum of Applied Arts.