Fashionista (7 page)

Hugo spent New Year
’
s Eve day on a plane to Paris and the night with a flight attendant who was more than happy to welcome in the new year with a no-strings encounter with a handsome passenger. He
’
d spent the next week visiting Prince
’
s European stores and had returned to Chicago jet-lagged and in a foul temper.

When he walked into Prince
’
s upon his return, he
’
d practically had to fight his way through the throng on his way to the elevator up to the corporate level.

He
’
d spotted his father chatting up some people in line for the contest entry kiosk and almost did a double-take.

John Morgan out among the people,
he thought.
Never thought I
’
d see that again.

“
Your father is having a blast,
”
Bailey told him, following him into his office.

“
How nice for him,
”
Hugo said.

“
Does somebody need a cookie?
”
Bailey asked him, then said,
“
I
’
ll be right back.
”

She vanished and returned a few minutes later with a tin of cookies.

“
Seriously Bailey?
”

“
You have to try these,
”
she said.
“
Remember we were talking about finding the new Mrs. Fields?
”
She nodded toward the cookies.

“
Meet Mrs. Fields 2.0.
”

Skeptical, Hugo reached for a cookie.

“
There are two kinds, snickerdoodles and oatmeal.
”

“
Fancy,
”
Hugo said.

“
Shut up,
”
she said.

He took a bite of the oatmeal cookie.
“
Brown sugar and butter exploded in his mouth.

“
Is that not the best oatmeal cookie you have ever had?
”
Bailey asked.

“
It
’
s good,
”
he said cautiously.

“
The snickerdoodle is even better.
”

“
I
’
ll take your word for it,
”
Hugo said. He wasn
’
t much for sweets but still he found himself taking another bite of the cookie.

“
Has it been like this all week?
”
he asked.

“
Oh yeah,
”
Bailey said.
“
We
’
ve already got more than a thousand different products. It
’
s going to be hard to winnow the list down to ninety-four.
”

“
That
’
s an odd number. Why ninety-four?
”

“
Because each of them is going to get a chance at a five-minute pitch with our judge, and that works out to a little over seven hours. So one big day of judging with an hour off for lunch.
”

“
And who is this final judge?
”
Hugo asked.
As if I don
’
t know
, he thought.

Bailey just grinned at him.

“
You
’
re evil,
”
he said to her.
“
You should have gone into politics.
”

“
Couldn
’
t have stood the stress,
”
she said.

Two weeks into the new year the layoffs Mariella had threatened had come to pass. Everybody but Margot in the accounting department had been pink-slipped and she was told that after she prepared the company
’
s tax return she
’
d be out of a job too.

“
It
’
s much more cost-effective for us to outsource our accounting,
”
Julia had told her.
“
It
’
s way past time we streamlined the process.
”

Margot had wanted to quit on the spot, but she and her husband had a kid in college and she couldn
’
t afford to be impulsive.

Rumors about a move to China had morphed into speculation that Mariella was looking to offload the company altogether and that the mysterious Mr. Chu was not an agent but a principle. Allegra had never said more than a few words to him when she found herself coming up on the elevator with him once.

Allegra fed Gary Wisnicki every scrap of information that came her way, but even Ginevra didn
’
t know what was going on.

Allegra tried to carry on as if things were normal and began sketching out new designs for Zangari
’
s line of fall shoes.

She was working on her latest, a loafer in leather embossed with what looked like puzzle pieces, when Julia came into her office, looking more self-important than usual.

“
Sorry to bother you,
”
she said, not sounding sorry at all, and sat down in the office
’
s guest chair. She craned her neck to see what Allegra was working on.

“
Is that new for fall?
”

Allegra turned her sketch pad so Julia could see the shoe.

“
Interesting,
”
Julia said and then added without pausing for breath,
“
You need to get Sina
’
s little friends out of the conference room.
”

“
Tell Sina yourself,
”
Allegra said.

“
I
’
m not the one who said they could work here,
”
Julia said pointedly.
“
They
’
re your problem.
”

She stood up to go as Sina appeared in the doorway looking tense.

“
We don
’
t need the conference room,
”
Sina said to Julia.

“
Mother wants them out of here,
”
Julia said.

Sina looked like she was about to cry.

“
Nabil
’
s been designing buckles for the new Ottoman line,
”
Allegra said.
“
It
’
s part of our autumn collection.
”

Sina looked confused for a second, then her face cleared as she realized what Allegra was doing.

“
Ottoman line?
”
Julia raised her eyebrows.
“
I didn
’
t know we were doing an Ottoman line.
”

“
Something I
’
ve been working on,
”
Allegra lied smoothly.
“
I saw an article on Pop Sugar about the kind of business Boutique Ottoman is doing and realized that as a design concept, the Ottoman aesthetic would fit right into Mariella
’
s vision for making Zangari truly global.
”

Julia didn
’
t look like she was totally buying what Allegra was selling but she was engaged enough she didn
’
t notice Sina slipping out
—
no doubt to fill Nabil in on the existence of the
“
Ottoman Line,
”
so that if asked, his story would synch up with Allegra
’
s.

“
I was thinking camel skin,
”
Allegra improvised.
“
Line the handbags with silk printed like Turkish carpets. Have tissue paper printed with the same design to line the shoeboxes.
”

Julia nodded thoughtfully. She knew Allegra loved pretty wrappings for the merchandise.

“
He understands we own the rights to any design he comes up with, right?
”

“
Of course,
”
Allegra assured her blandly.
“
Grace has drawn up a contract.
”

“
Okay,
”
she said.
“
I
’
ll let mother know.
”

“
Thanks Julia,
”
Allegra said.

As soon as she was gone, Sina came rushing back into Allegra
’
s office.

You are the best,
”
she said.

“
I am,
”
Allegra said, but she knew she needed to talk to Sina about Amira and Nabil because she
’
d only bought them a small reprieve.

“
Where did you meet Nabil and Amira anyway?
”
she asked.

“
Amira introduced me to him.
”

“
And you met her where?
”

Sina narrowed her eyes.
“
Why are you going all Homeland Security?
”

“
I
’
m just curious.
”

“
She was working at Starbucks. You don
’
t need that much English to understand when someone
’
s ordering a flat white.
”

“
Must be hard living on a barrista
’
s salary.
”

“
Yeah, she and Nabil live with some lady who
’
s renting out her basement. They get a break on the rent because Amira makes clothes for the kids.
”

“
Does Nabil work?
”

Now Sina looked really annoyed.
“
Of course he works. He
’
s an orderly at Roseland.
”

Allegra winced. Sina noticed.
“
Yeah, they
’
re not too picky.
”

She looked at Allegra earnestly.
“
They
’
re good people Allegra. They just need a break, just like Great-grandpa Joe did.
”

Allegra could hear Ginevra snort.
“
Giuseppe would have liked this one,
”
she said,
“
but she
’
s no kin of his.
”

“
I know,
”
Allegra said, not sure which comment she was responding to.
“
We
’
ll figure something out,
”
she said.

“
Thanks,
”
Sina said happily and left.

“
This will not end well,
”
Ginevra predicted gloomily.

Allegra didn
’
t answer. Her story about an
“
Ottoman line
”
had started her creative wheels turning and she was deep into a one-woman brainstorming session.

Allegra had been feeling stale for a while. She kept abreast of what other designers who
’
d been with her at Ars Sutoria were doing and couldn
’
t help feeling she was coming up short. Emily Cooper of Meandher was designing fantastic shoes season after season and Allegra felt like all she was doing was repeating herself.

What if I stamped mandala designs in the toes of a simple flat? Is anybody doing that?
she wondered. Allegra did a quick Google search and found a Caf
é
Press site called Mandalas Footwear that featured fantastic flip flops with designs on the soles but nothing that was like what she had in mind. She ordered a couple of pairs of the flip flops for herself and Grace because they were less than $20, and then she ended up distracted by links leading to pictures of mandalas made of toys and household objects, but after a few minutes of that, she grabbed her sketchbook and went to work. An hour later, she had roughed out a whole line, from stamped vegan leather flats to a shoe covered in bright pink sari silk with a beaded mandala-shaped decoration. She gathered up the sketches and put them in a portfolio. She couldn
’
t wait to get home and dig out her Dr. Martin alcohol ink colors and do some proper illustrations.