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for her<br />

luXuRy FAShion<br />

The Josefov district, especially Pařížská Street, hosts numerous<br />

boutiques stocking luxury labels (Miu Miu, Acne, Chloé) as well as<br />

flagship designer stores. Pařížská Street’s glossy offerings include<br />

Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Burberry. The city’s first “concept<br />

boutique”, Simple Concept Store, was inspired by the Colette boutique<br />

in Paris. Obsession is a multi-brand, two-level boutique selling Stella<br />

McCartney, Viktor & Rolf, and Jill Sander.<br />

Prague’s shopping strong point has always been in the area of luxury<br />

accessories: bags, jewelry, watches, and shades are particularly<br />

prominent here. The streets in and around the Old Town house a<br />

collective of Czech designers including Timoure Et Group, Bohčme,<br />

Hana Havelková, Klára Nademlýnská, Tatiana, Jozef Sloboda, Navarila-<br />

Design, and Ivana Follová. Denisa Nová’s Old Town showroom is a<br />

rising fashion hotspot.<br />

HELPFUL VOCAB<br />

I’m just looking (jen se dívám), too small (moc malé), too big (moc<br />

velké), too tight (moc těsné), it’s damaged (je to poškozené), exchange<br />

(výměna), refund (vrátit peníze), store credit (poukázka), I don’t have<br />

a receipt (nemám účet), shoes (boty), t-shirt (tričko), blouse (halenka,<br />

blůza), dress (šaty), skirt (sukně), jeans (džíny), jacket (bunda, kabát,<br />

sako), hand bag (kabelka), bra (podprsenka), panties (kalhotky),<br />

nylons/tights (punčochy), swim suit (plavky), sale (výprodej), discount<br />

(sleva)<br />

oFFice liFe<br />

One of the most noticeable differences between offices in the Czech<br />

Republic and those in US or UK is the dress code. You may notice<br />

that “business casual” among your female co-workers means a lot of<br />

cleavage and leg. A good rule of thumb if you’re uncertain about what’s<br />

appropriate office wear is to take your cues from a female superior.<br />

No matter what you wear, clothes should always fit well and be neatly<br />

pressed as Czechs tend to be particularly fussy about these things.<br />

Sexual harassment, while a hot topic elsewhere is still acceptable in<br />

its mildest forms, though with EU accession many employers have<br />

established a workplace code of ethics. One refreshing difference<br />

that many women report is the no-nonsense approach to conflict<br />

management taken by their fellow female employees.<br />

dAtinG<br />

Czech men are known for being notoriously cheap, unhygienic,<br />

chauvinist, humorless and over-coddled mama’s boys. Ouch. Such<br />

negative stereotypes certainly aren’t true in all cases and if you’re<br />

on the hunt for a soul mate, and plan on sticking around the Czech<br />

Republic for a while, you shouldn’t rule out a Czech mate. In fact there<br />

can be some positive aspects of getting together with a Czech which<br />

include, in no particular order: their brutal honesty (they’ll always<br />

tell you how you look), affinity for PDA, lack of fear with regard to<br />

commitment, and their thriftiness, which, c’mon, is actually a good<br />

thing.<br />

Given all the diminutives in the Czech language, you can also be certain<br />

that Czech men will shower you with pet names! Moreover, Czech men<br />

are old-fashioned and tend to open doors and pay on dates. Speed<br />

dating has recently come to the Prague social scene and if you’re not<br />

into the loud and flashy club circuit, it’s an alternative way to test the<br />

waters of the Czech dating pool. You can also turn to our online server,<br />

at Expats.cz/prague/czech-classified-server.<br />

62 | expats.cz survival guide www.expats.cz

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