The Olympics are here: Czechs are already scoring

The Olympics in Paris, the biggest meet for all top athletes, will naturally include the Czechs. During the ceremonies, they’ll be wearing a collection that’s already reaping its first success. The organisers of the World Games have shortlisted the Czech Olympic collection by designer Jan Černý as one of the countries that they believe have best embraced the fusion of national pride and contemporary fashion. This has put Černý up there alongside brands such as Armani and Ralph Lauren.

Coat with a Rorschach pattern

The uniforms worn by the national teams at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games are always eagerly anticipated before the start of the Games. Czechia scored this year thanks to fashion designer Jan Černý, who designed a collection centred around dark blue, muted red and creamy white for sports brand ALPINE PRO, a partner of the Czech Olympic Team.

Czech Olympic Committee/Jakub Zeman (5) and Lasvit (2)

The most striking part of the collection combines the Czech ‘baloňák’ coat with the trench coat, a popular garment not only in France. The bright coat is decorated with an inky-blue Rorschach pattern as a nod to the work of the art world’s renowned graphic artist and painter Vladimír Boudník, who was born in 1924. The year the Olympic Games were last held in Paris.

Czech design talent Jan Černý comes from South Moravia, a region famed for its wines, biking trails, gorgeous countryside and sunshine. He has completed an internship with the French fashion brand Louis Vuitton, has won the acclaimed Czech Grand Design award and has redesigned the Czech Prestige brand of comfortable shoes. Prestige - together with Baťa shoes, which are inherently associated with the Baťa family and the city of Zlín - is a part of Czechia’s tradition of handicrafts.

Amulet made of Czech glass

The Czechs have skilful hands. The Olympic outfit is complemented by an amulet made of Czech glass from the workshop of the world-famous Lasvit, a brand famous around the world and which recently won one of the main awards at Milan Design Week 2024. The amulet is in the shape of a linden leaf. The linden symbolises protection and is also the Czech national tree. Each Czech Olympic medallist will also receive a beautiful trophy from Lasvit from Nový Bor.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Lasvit is up there alongside the elite in the world of glass. The Czech brand Lasvit has become famous for its stunning glass objects from New York to Tokyo, as well as for producing glass trophies for world-class sporting events such as the Tour de France and the Miami Open. For more about the best Czech glassmakers who can work wonders with hand-blown glass, see HERE.

Czechia loves design and fashion

Every year, Czechia hosts fashion events such as the Mercedes-Benz Prague Fashion Week or Designblok, the largest design and fashion show in Central Europe. Prague is not the only centre of design art; there’s also Brno, Zlín, Liberec, Olomouc and Plzeň, where you’ll find a wealth of design showrooms, jewellery studios and fashion boutiques.