Fashion Academy (9 page)

After the Runway Showdown, Mickey had two weeks to be home in Philly for the holidays. It felt both wonderful and strange to be back in her old apartment again, but she was looking forward to spending time with her mom and Annabelle.

Her mom brought her breakfast in bed, and they snuggled under the covers.

“I took the whole week off so we could hang out,” she told Mickey. “I know life here is probably not as exciting as New York City…”

“No,” Mickey said. “It's perfect. I love being home with you for the holidays. I just kind of feel bad leaving Aunt Olive all alone.”

“Yeah?” her mom asked. “Then I guess it's a good thing I invited her to spend Christmas Eve with us.”

“You did?” Mickey asked excitedly. “You're getting along?”

“Well, we're trying,” her mom replied. “I told her she couldn't bring her parakeet, and that didn't go over very well…”

Mickey laughed. “She'll get over it.”

Annabelle invited her over to help trim the tree and bake cookies.

“I've never seen a gingerbread man wearing a leather jacket and red high tops,” Annabelle commented, watching Mickey pipe frosting on her cookie. “You are definitely one of a kind!”

• • •

When it came time to go back to FAB, Mickey decided she should stop worrying what Jade or anyone else thought of her and dress the way she wanted. She chose a pair of purple paisley leggings and a black sweater and clipped a purple feather into her hair. As she as boarded the bus to FAB, all the students applauded her as she took her seat.

“Your collection was so cool,” a seventh-grader leaned over to tell her. “Way cooler than Jade's. You should have won Showdown.”

“Thanks,” Mickey said, blushing.

“Kenzie! Kenzie! Kenzie!” the boys in the backseat who had once pelted her with a banana peel were chanting.

Mickey watched out the window but couldn't help smiling. She felt positively famous—and not for being some faux Finnish socialite. For being true to herself and her designs.

JC was waiting for her when she got to her locker.

“Happy New Year! How does it feel to be a FAB celebrity?” he asked.

“Good,” she said. “Okay, great.”

“You know you'll win next time, right?” he said. “Jade's just a fashion fad. But you're going to be a design legend one day.”

“You really think so?” Mickey asked.

Madonna barked her approval from inside his bag.

“Madonna's never wrong about fashion,” JC insisted. “When Dom won season twelve of
Project
Runway
, she totally called it.”

Mickey laughed. “Well, I wouldn't want to argue with Madonna—or you,” she said. “But I'm late for Apparel Arts. Mr. Kaye will kill me. See you at lunch?”

JC grinned. “I'll save you a seat, but I might have to fight off all your FAB fans.”

Mr. Kaye arrived seconds after she took her seat and wrote the number one on the board. Gabriel groaned. “There he goes again,” he whispered to her. “Think you could help me with the next assignment? I can't fail this class again. No one deserves that much torture!”

Mickey chuckled. “Sure. I'd be happy to.”

“Welcome back,” their teacher announced. “You've survived the first semester, and now it's back to the drawing board—literally. Who's up for challenge number one?”

Mickey got out her notebook and got ready to take notes—then she noticed Mr. Kaye standing over her table. He held out a small, plastic rhinestone wand in his hand.

“This challenge is called Fashion Fairy Godmother,” he said. “I'd like to see how each of you reinterprets a fairy-tale princess like Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. Kenzie will be the judge.”

“Me?” Mickey gasped. “I get to judge everybody's work?”

“Just this one time,” he said with a wink. “Unless, of course, you win the next Showdown.”

Mickey couldn't way for her next chance to rock the runway. The possibilities were endless…

Order Sheryl and Carrie Berk's next book
in The Cupcake Club series

Sweet Victory

On sale October 2015

Zara happens to be one of my fave fashion designers—not only do I wear her skirts, leggings, and bags, but I have her giant cookie print blanket on my bed! She's known for her cool photo prints (stuff like doughnuts, paper clips, even SoulCycle bikes!) and bold colors, and was nice enough to tell me all about her line and her inspiration.

Carrie: How do you find out about the latest fashion trends?

Zara:
We take a lot of inspiration from the streets of New York City, where we design, manufacture, and produce all of our garments. We know what we like and what makes up happy, and we stick to that—which usually means any and all types of food, color, and glitter!

Carrie: How do you get your ideas for your designs? Does anyone or anything in particular inspire you?

Zara:
I get to design everything with my best friend from childhood, and it's like we share a brain. A rainbow/glitter/cupcake brain that is always churning with new ideas. We remind each other every day of the things that made us happy as kids and what continues to excite us as, well, bigger kids! The beauty of what I do is that there are no limits and the possibilities are endless. There are no rules in our world. That makes it really easy to come up with fun, new, exciting designs every day. Being able to always live outside the box.

Carrie: What makes “Zara Terez” different from any other clothing line?

Zara:
Everything!
We are not just another clothing line. We consider the Zara Terez brand to be a lifestyle. We encourage freedom of expression through fashion, individuality, and positive living. We are 100 percent made in the USA, and a big focus of ours is
quality
. We want to provide our customers with a product we are proud of and a product they feel amazing in. Nothing is more important than feeling good about yourself.

Carrie: What advice do you have for children who want to become fashion designers when they grow up?

Zara:
You go for it! Reach for the stars. Never doubt yourself. The sky is the limit. Anything is possible.

Carrie: What is your favorite part about being a fashion designer?

Zara:
Getting to see my designs walk down the street! It's incredible to know that they chose my design over anyone else's that day and that the garment I worked so hard to create is how they have chosen to represent themselves in that moment.

Carrie: What have you learned from being a fashion designer?

Zara:
Making mistakes is okay as long as you learn from them. No one is perfect, and things aren't always going to run smoothly, especially in a business like ours. But by keeping an open mind, working your butt off, and making sure you stay organized, focused, positive, and true to yourself, anything in the world can be done.

Many thanks to all our friends and family:

Daddy/Peter: you always make us smile—especially with your crazy party shirts!

The Kahns, Berks, and Saps: love you to the moon and back!

Kyle Rothstein: Now a Bar Mitzvah! We're so proud of you!

Lizz Errico: Carrie came up with the idea for this book in your fifth-grade class at PS6! Hope you love it as much as we do.

Ally Lax, Annabelle Haroche, Gaby Hirsch: hope you like seeing your names in print ;-)

Ms. Archer, Carrie's English teacher at TDS: thanks for teaching her this year and helping her make her writing shine.

A big thanks to the fashionably fabulous Zara Terez for her interview and to Stephanie Goldstein of Stoopher and Boots (our fave store for cool clothes!) for introducing us!

The folks at Sourcebooks, especially Steve Geck, Kate Prosswimmer, Alex Yeadon, and Elizabeth Boyer. We love how enthusiastic you always are about our ideas! Love working with you all.

Katherine Latshaw and Frank Weimann at Folio Lit: thanks for all your hard work and support.

Mr. Kaye was quite the master at inventing original—and perplexing—fashion design challenges for his students. Mickey had come to accept that she would never know what to expect when he walked through the studio door and drew a number on the SMART Board. Today, it was the number three.

“Clients can be extremely difficult,” he began. “And part of becoming a successful designer is learning how to interpret what they want and give it to them.”

Gabriel gulped. “I don't have a good feeling about this,” he whispered to Mickey.

“I'd like you all to meet your client.” A little girl strolled into the room and stood facing the students. She was dressed in an adorable smocked pink dress, white ruffled socks, and shiny black Mary Janes.

“Aww, she's so cute!” Mars cooed. “Hi, ya sweetie!”

The child stuck her tongue out and stomped her foot. “I am not cute. Cute is for babies! And don't call me sweetie! You're a dum-dum!”

The class erupted in laughter. “You tell her, kid!” Gabriel said, applauding.

“You're a dum-dum too!” the tot fired back.

“This is Miss Cordelia Vanderweil,” Mr. Kaye said, trying to calm everyone down. “If we could keep the name-calling to a minimum, Cordy, dear?”

“As in Victoria Vanderweil? The famous fashion designer who practically launched the designer jean craze in the seventies?” Mickey gasped.

“The one and only. This young lady is her granddaughter.”

Cordelia looked over the crowd of faces staring at her. “Granny Vicky isn't gonna like any of you,” she said. “You're all mean and icky!”

South flinched. “I've been called a lot of things before, but never ‘icky'!”

“You don't mean that,” Mr. Kaye insisted, taking the child's hand. “These lovely students are going to design you a pretty dress for your fifth birthday party.” He then turned to face the class. “And Granny Vicky is going to be the judge of who wins this challenge.”

“No way!” Mars shouted. “Victoria Vanderweil is going to grade our designs? That is amazing!”

“Well, that depends,” Mr. Kaye pointed out. “On how amazing your designs are.”

Gabriel raised his hand. “What are the guidelines?”

“You will have to ask Miss Cordelia that,” Mr. Kaye replied. “Cordy, they're all yours.”

“I want a fancy dress,” the child rattled off. “With bows and buttons! Oh, and balloons!”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You want balloons on the dress—or attached to it?”

Cordelia waved her hand dismissively. “I like pink and purple and red and yellow and orange and blue. I like twirly ballerinas. Oh! And the Easter Bunny!”

Mickey scratched her head. This was a tall order to fill! “You mean these are your favorite things you want at your party? Or things you want us to think about when designing your dress?”

“Rainbows! I love rainbows and spaghetti!”

“Do you all think you have enough information?” Mr. Kaye asked the class. “I do believe Cordelia has lunch at the Plaza Hotel with her granny shortly.”

“You better do a good job!” she said, leaving them with a stern warning. “Or else!”

“I second that,” Mr. Kaye said. “You have one week to complete your challenge. Good luck—you'll need it.”

• • •

When Mickey got home from school, she pulled out her sketchbook and began drawing. But instead of a party dress design, she found herself doodling a hot air balloon with Cordelia and the Easter Bunny sitting in it. They were eating a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs as the balloon wafted in the clouds.

She decided to call JC. If he could whip up clothes for his Chihuahua Madonna, maybe he'd have some ideas of how to design for a temperamental tot.

“Wow, that's quite a wish list to fill,” he said, listening intently as Mickey rattled off all of Cordelia's requirements. “Where does the spaghetti come in?”

“I don't have any idea,” Mickey said. “I was thinking a metallic rainbow fabric for the ball gown skirt, tulle underneath that evokes a tutu, and short puffed sleeves that are balloon-like. Then a faux fur stole that looks like a bunny rabbit?”

“Like I said, where does the spaghetti come in?”

Mickey flopped back on her pillow and closed her eyes. “I just don't see how I can work it into the design. It doesn't go. Everything is light and fluffy; spaghetti is long and slippery.”

“What about the accessories. Maybe you can put a plate of spaghetti on Cordy's darling little head?” JC suggested.

“You're not helping,” Mickey moaned. “This is a huge challenge. Victoria Vanderweil is going to see my design.”

“I say ditch the pasta and make her a purse instead.”

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off over Mickey's head.

“Say that again!”

“Ditch the pasta?”

“No!” Mickey exclaimed. “The part about making her a purse. How about a purse that has long strands of gold fringe, just like spaghetti? JC, you're a genius!”

“That I am,” her friend replied. “That I am.”