How Slovak brand Nehera dressed the Karlovy Vary festival staff

The Slovak fashion brand Nehera, run by husband and wife Bibiana and Ladislav Zdút, has for the first time in the history of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival dressed not only the stars on the red carpet but also the festival's own staff — and the partnership is planned to run for several years to come.

The idea came about by chance: last year, while attending the festival as a spectator, Ladislav Zdút noticed how mismatched and old-fashioned the staff uniforms were. As a joke, he asked film producer Zuzana Mistríková to find out from festival executive director Kryštof Mucha whether the eclectic look had been a deliberate choice. It turned out it hadn't — nobody had ever really worked on the staff's clothing in any systematic way.

After that conversation, the Zdúts, who have led Nehera — one of the region's most successful fashion brands — for more than a decade, quickly reached an agreement with KVIFF's management to collaborate. The brand's creative team was given complete freedom and came up with practical designs: oversized, unisex, simple and functional silhouettes able to withstand a gruelling festival schedule. They used lyocell denim, cotton and silk taffeta.

The uniform is built around black with white details, inspired by analogue film stock, while a bold red element on the back — a nod to the Najbrt studio's identity and to the red carpet — helps the staff stand out quickly in a crowd. In total, Nehera produced around 700 items of clothing for the festival.

According to Bibiana Zdútová, it was precisely the brand's own production infrastructure that allowed it to agree on the project quickly and offer a complete package — from design to finished product. Even so, the order wasn't easy: producing several hundred garments forced the brand to push back production of its regular collections, and partner workshops worked even on weekends.

For Nehera, the collaboration with KVIFF is not just a branding exercise but a strategic move: earlier this year the brand already designed dresses for the hostesses at the Czech Lion awards ceremony, and by the end of the year it plans to open its third showroom — this time in Prague — which should strengthen the brand's presence on the Czech market.