Trump and Toyen: Top women from Czechia who have conquered the world

Designer Blanka Matragi clothes the richest women on the planet

This world fashion icon is called Blanka Matragi. She comes from Czechia, lives and works in Lebanon after moving there with her husband, and dresses some of the world’s richest women. Her life story is often compared to a fairy tale. Her clients include European aristocrats and the richest Arab princesses. Her distinctive style, which makes lavish and artistic use of glittering crystals and light materials shows an obvious Oriental influence, which makes Blanka Matragi's fashion stand out unmistakably from other designers.


 
Academic painter Blanka Matragi comes from a family of glassmakers, and so she grew up amongst glassworkers. Although she went on to study this art, her heart led her elsewhere. To fashion. However, as a designer she never forgot her glassmaking origins. In fact, she turned it to her advantage and made it part of her signature style.
 
Her work can be seen at the exhibition entitled Timeless at the Municipal House in Prague. If you want to have one of her beautiful pieces hanging in your wardrobe, visit the Blanka Matragi boutique in Prague 's Old Town, right next to the Municipal House.

Toyen the surrealist: the most expensive Czech painter who dazzled Paris

The most expensive Czech painter of all time is called Toyen, whose paintings are sold at auctions these days for tens of millions of Czech crowns. She’s often referred to as a child without a family, a poor artist, and a woman of mystery. She herself claimed that she had no family. However, that wasn't true, she just didn't acknowledge them.
 
She grew up as the young anarchist, and before she began studying art, she made a living as a labourer in a soap factory. She made a name for herself among the surrealists, and enjoyed a lifelong friendship with André Breton in Paris. She lived much of her life in Paris, liked to dress as a man, and even talked about herself in the masculine gender for a while.


 
In Prague, you can visit the National Café, where she used to go with her artist friends, the Café Louvre or Slavia; she exhibited her works in the Topič Salon. Toyen's works can be seen in an exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace in Prague.

The divine Emmy Destinn sang in New York

A truly gifted talent, an immortal diva and the "dark" soprano whose voice carried across the Vltava. That was Emmy Destinn, a woman who also loved fishing. Emmy Destinn's journey to becoming an opera singer was far from easy, even though she came from a very wealthy family. In 1897, she applied for a position at the National Theatre and was rejected, as she was later in two German theatres. At one of them they even advised her not to bother trying to get into opera at all - they said she had no voice, and was ugly. However, Emmy didn’t give up.


 
She applied directly to the Berlin Court Opera and was accepted. She completely won over audiences in Berlin and the Prussian royal court with her title role in Bizet's Carmen. This was followed by other roles, further success, and guest appearances in Paris and London, which for a time became her second main stage. She sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she was just as a big a hit as she had been in Europe. She and Gustav Mahler also performed Smetana's Bartered Bride at the Metropolitan Opera.
 
She died suddenly at the early age of 52 on 28 January 1930 during an eye operation. She was given a lavish funeral in Prague and was buried alongside other famous figures in the Slavín tomb in Prague's Vyšehrad district. Today, her face features on the Czech 2,000 CZK banknote.

You can follow in Emmy Destinn's footsteps by visiting Vyšehrad in Prague, where an exceptional performance took place in 1923. It was there that Emmy Destinn sang Bedřich Smetana's Libuš, which we are now celebrating as part of the Year of Czech Music and the Smetana 200 project. She sang with such energy that her voice could clearly be heard right across the Vltava River.

Czech-Polish pop star singer Ewa Farna

Ewa Farna is a Polish-Czech vocalist from the Czech part of the Těšín region in Silesia, who sings in Czech and Polish. She has won one award after another, and is a big star in Czechia and Poland. She sings pop and rock, and became famous when she was thirteen with her radio hit Měls mě vůbec rád (Did You Even Love Me).
 

She is a Polish national and holds Czech citizenship. She loves extravagant fashion. It is interesting to note that Ewa Farna sang the official anthem of the World Handball Championship in Qatar (LINK) and sang the title song in Polish for the Polish version of the new Disney movie Camp Rock.
 
You can meet her in Prague at the Fórum Karlín music club with an excellent restaurant and bakery ESKA, during a romantic walk at Prague Castle, The New World District or Letensky Park with a beautiful view of the whole of Prague.

Ivana Trump: a skier from Zlín, who set her sights on high society in America

Born in Czechia, Ivana Trump is famous around the world as the first wife of former US President Donald Trump. A leggy blonde, she seduced the then American real estate tycoon. In her early years she was a competitive skier and a model, then emigrated to the West and married well. That took her up into American high society, and she later became a successful entrepreneur herself.
 
The Trumps went into business together, building hotels and casinos. After a stormy divorce, she owned a chain of hotels and built skyscrapers all over the world: in Dubai, Qatar, Costa Rica and Australia. In 1990, she was named Hotelier of the Year in the U.S.
 
Four times divorced, mother of three and grandmother of ten, she died suddenly at the age of 73 after falling down the stairs at her home. You can follow in her footsteps in Czechia by visiting the city of Zlín.