On Life and Men's Fashion with Head Designer Pavel Křivánek

This craft runs in my family. My grandmother was already a seamstress, and just like me, my mother and sister-in-law are devoted to sewing traditional folk costumes, with an emphasis on the Brno and Kyjov regions. I then drew on folklore motifs when designing Paul Brun sweatpants and sweatshirts, and to this day I feel that my work is quite strongly influenced by traditional Czech patterns and history. As for university, for a long time I longed to study abroad, but in fashion design I unfortunately had very little chance of being accepted anywhere. That is why, after completing fashion design studies in Liberec, I applied to the Faculty of Business and Management at the Brno University of Technology, which enabled me to study in Germany; I obtained an engineering degree in that field and worked in economics for a while.

It was an interesting experience, but I was still drawn to fashion, in which I had been active ever since finishing my studies at UMPRUM as an assistant in the fashion design atelier, and then I joined Bushman as head designer, where after three years of collaboration I was at risk of burnout because it was extremely demanding work. I needed a change and began earning my living as a sales manager – an auditor of operating theatres. Two years later I registered the Paul Brun brand. Within it I started with underwear, because what was available here did not meet my aesthetic demands or my requirements for comfort. I had friends test the first pieces. They were so satisfied with them that they began to mention me more and more often, and so, gradually and without any advertising, I gained new clients and then also commissions for folk shirts and the aforementioned sweatshirts and sweatpants. And now I am head designer at Blažek.

Mr Blažek approached me following conversations with the previous head designer Jana Veselá Kuťková, who by coincidence is a former student of mine from UMPRUM. Designing men's clothing had been a great dream of mine, so I was very glad to accept the offer. While examining the brand's range in detail, I noticed that shades of blue dominated in the stores, and I decided to change that. That is why the very first Blažek collection I contributed to, namely spring/summer 2023, is rendered in earthy tones. Together with the team, we are now completing the autumn and winter collection and slowly preparing the collection for next spring and summer.

Absolutely wonderful. I like the fact that it is a thoroughly Czech brand that places great emphasis on quality. Few people know this, but we source all our materials exclusively from Italy and have almost everything manufactured in European Union countries. At the same time, I must also praise my team, which always performs at one hundred per cent.