Breakdown of W modzie ważna jest przede wszystkim jakość.
być
to be
w
in / on (a day)
ważny
important
jakość
quality
Questions & Answers about W modzie ważna jest przede wszystkim jakość.
Could I use zwłaszcza or szczególnie instead of przede wszystkim here?
You could, but it changes the nuance. Przede wszystkim means "above all" or "first and foremost", suggesting quality is the absolute top priority. Zwłaszcza and szczególnie just mean "especially" or "particularly". If you said szczególnie jakość, it would mean quality is important, but perhaps just as a standout among other equally important things. Przede wszystkim elevates it to undisputed number one.
Why is the subject jakość at the very end of the sentence rather than at the beginning?
Polish uses word order to show emphasis. The most important or "newest" piece of information in a sentence usually goes at the very end. By placing jakość last, right after the focus particle przede wszystkim, the speaker builds anticipation and puts the strongest possible spotlight on "quality" as the answer to "what is important in fashion?".
Why does przede wszystkim have an extra "e" on przed, and what case is wszystkim?
The preposition przed (in front of / before) adds an -e to become przede to make pronunciation easier when followed by a difficult consonant cluster, like the wsz- in wszystkim. Wszystkim is the instrumental case of wszystko (everything) because przed requires the instrumental case when talking about position. So, literally, the phrase means "in front of everything".