The Real "Boho Chic"

On the first day of my internship the other two interns and myself were given the grand tour of the museum and its current exhibitions by our one boss Janos, who's the guy who keeps us on track because our real boss is far too busy (he's much more like our big brother who has to keep us on track, fix our mistakes and pretty much take care of us in every sense). Buy anyway, we were shown the exhibition on Mucha called "In Praise of Women", which was obviously great, when our real boss walked in a told us that we were supposed to attend the party to commemorate the exhibition on the coming Saturday. The party/fundraiser was called "Bohemian Ball" and she said that just like the exhibition, it was really going to be a celebration of women.

I really had to idea what to expect out of this event but for some reason I feared the worse. When I think of these types of evenings in Canada that often 'celebrate' or 'honour' women, they are usually so disappointing. Most of them are centered around this campy (Vagina Monologues) and hippie mush, or worse, they're filled with this uptight and conservative career mom (Sarah Palin) discourse that I find as equally unappealing. Aware that I might be tainted by these too common past experiences I reminded myself that after all, this was the "Bohemian Ball", but then I realized that in Eastern Europe this could take a derogatory turn for the worse.

I was however proved wrong on all accounts and the night ended up being quite lovely. There was really great Czech food, a station of hairstylists who were giving the willing women bohemian dos and many people even came in costume! Just like Mucha's own vision, the evening celebrated all the fine and sensual elements of femininity with grace and class. I also couldn't help but note the diverse and inclusive definition of female beauty that was presented during the evening and felt like for once, the "Praise of Women" was finally being sung on the right note.