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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