Covered in beer bottles: Aňa Geislerová walks KVIFF red carpet in unique dress
Beer is notoriously interwoven into Czech social fabric, and thanks to the work of designer Jan Černý it is now also interwoven into the fabric of Aňa Geislerová’s dress. The Czech actress, covered in shards of “Pilsner green”, was one of the main highlights at the red carpet of the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
The one-of-a-kind dress weighs between 8 and 9 kilograms, and includes around 300 beer-glass droplets, each carved out and sanded by hand, alongside roughly 10,000 Preciosa crystals. The garment project was introduced by Czech beer giant Pilsner Urquell – a long-time partner of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
To bring the ambitious idea to life, the brewery approached Czech designer Jan Černý. The young craftsman has most recently worked on collections for the Czech Team at the Paris Olympic Games last year, or for the ongoing EXPO in Osaka. His work on the showpiece dress was met with high praise, especially from its recipient Aňa Geislerová:
“I like that it’s different. It has a bold, almost rock star-like colour scheme, which I enjoy. I was a bit scared of the dark green, it can be tricky to pull off at times. But in combination with the pattern and glass effect I think the dress is beautiful, daring, and innovative,” the actress told Vogue Czechia.
“I expected the dress to be heavy, but in fact it is surprisingly light. On the other hand, it is quite ‘loud’, because the glass droplets clink with every move. At first sight, I was amazed how different this dress was to the previous one.”
Geislerová also wore a Pilsner Urquell inspired dress to the festival in 2023. On that occasion, a special fermentation process was used to turn Pilsner beer, mixed with some of its side-products, into thin cellulose sheets, which then served as fabric for the elegant robe.
The actress was named an Honorary Connoisseur by Pilsner Urquell earlier this year, and also appeared on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Geislerová attended as leading actress of the movie ‘Caravan’, directed by Zuzana Kirchnerová – the first majority Czech feature at the festival in over 30 years.
The Festival in Karlovy Vary is hosting a number of world-renowned movie stars this year, including Michael Douglas, Dakota Johnson, and Stellan Skarsgård. Until Saturday, visitors will be able to enjoy both a wide range of movies and Czech beer. The latter has won over hearts of several big names in Hollywood, including Orlando Bloom, who has been a brand ambassador for Prague-based brewery Staropramen since 2023.
