Chapter 2
Thea at hand:
Slouchy, navy cashmere V-neck
Silver taffeta pencil skirt
Navy sueded high-heeled pumps
Silver chain bracelet
Silver tassel earrings
It was 6 p.m. when she finally hugged Connor goodbye because they both had places to be, other people to see and anyway, they had downloaded all their current issues and given each other thoroughly good advice.
‘Isn’t it amazing how much easier it is to solve other people’s problems!
’ Annie had laughed. And she promised to follow at least some of the good advice that Connor had offered.
Now, she was back on the busy pavement in her favourite part of central London, still basking in the glow of warm early evening sun at the very tail of the summer.
She walked with a brisk step on heels a little higher than they should be for pavement walking followed by a long journey on the Tube.
But it was her thing, her mantra, her raison d’être even, if you were going to go all French about it, to be always a little overdressed.
Interesting things happened when you wore interesting clothes and that was a fact.
Hadn’t the late, great Dame Vivienne Westwood herself decreed that: ‘You have a more interesting life, if you wear impressive clothes’?
And Annie had seen these words in action both for herself and for the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people she had shopped for, styled, made over during her long career as a personal shopper, now a TV fashion guru and in future… in future…
Those words seemed to get a little caught in her mind.
In future. Realistically, she wasn’t going to be on TV forever, was she?
Realistically, every season felt as if it was in danger of being the last because the show might not be recommissioned or she might be replaced by someone much more excitingly new and nubile.
This was fashion after all, if she was going to live by the sell-by-date then she would also die by the sell-by-date. And then what?
Increasingly, she was giving this a lot more thought.
She had ideas, of course – become a much more private, exclusive personal stylist, maybe to a starry list of clientele; or set up her own channel online, giving advice, selling lovely things, counting on the continued loyalty of her very own fans.
But she also loved the idea of being just a little closer to the real, beating heart of fashion.
What did she mean exactly? She didn’t even know.
She was just a little obsessed with the idea of fashion shows and new collections…
advising designers on whether their ideas were amazing or too off-the-wall…
being able to have a say in what was in, what was out, knowing exactly what colour was going to be all over the socials eighteen months from today.
She wanted to be much more a part of the fashion industry, that was the truth.
TV was not lighting her creative fires. The TV show was about looking for nice clothes on the high street and wearable separates and affordable, practical things…
and sometimes she could hardly remember that she used to pore over Vogue as a teenager and had taken herself off to art school because nothing else would do.
And, in truth, even though she wasn’t quite sure what it should be, she wanted a proper career.
Her husband, Ed, had been at his school for many years.
He had risen up the ranks to become head of department, maybe one day in the future he’d been deputy head or even head or move to another illustrious London establishment.
Whereas, all that faced her at the end of many successful TV years was a boot in the bum and a ‘sorry, no thanks, we’ve found a foxier number.
’ To add insult to injury, while Ed had paid holidays, sick pay, a pension plan, Annie swung from short-term contract to short-term contract, always beset with the worry that the next contract would be her last and she wasn’t going to get renewed.
In her time between TV contracts, she scrabbled about, working for Svetlana’s dress company, personal shopping for some long-term clients, buying and selling on Vinted and scrambling to pay her share of the bills.
This had once been exciting and filled with potential and ultra-flexible for her life as a mother of young children, but…
Annie had lately come to realise that she was a growing weary of all the insecurity and the pressure of having to sing for her supper every moment of the day.
She wanted something more solid. She wanted to be part of something bigger and more… reliable.
But she seriously doubted this was a problem that she was going to solve today.
So, she let her tense shoulders drop a little, despite the weight of the many bags.
Then she deliberately smoothed out the worried crease that she knew was settling in between her eyebrows and she tried to look around, at the people, at the lavish shop windows, and enjoy the fact that she was strolling in beautiful shoes and a well-loved summer dress, through the beating heart of fashionable London.
She admired a tall woman with flame-red hair strolling past in an elegant charcoal linen jumpsuit.
Copper and charcoal, gorgeous. And there was a Serena Williams lookalike, artful braids caught up in an impressive bun, rocking the kind of shocking pink satin blouse that had launched designer Elsa Schiaparelli to fame almost 100 years ago.
Annie was just intending to glance at the graceful, wooden framed windows of the Ralph Lauren shop, you know just turn the head, glance, nod with approval and keep on walking, but, oh, now…
that was catching her eye. She was going to have to stop and walk over and take a closer look at that completely stunning pale gold dress.
Just one month from now, she was supposed to be a major part of what she still hoped could be the charity fashion event of the season.
It had occurred to Annie more than once that she needed something new and fabulous and of this exact moment-in-fashion to wear.
And this dress… it was silky, slippy, fluid and drapey.
It had a very flattering V-shaped neckline, a twisted front and, oh, she loved, make that, adored, the built-in cape effect.
She could twirl and swish and she would have her very own, almost-to-the-elbow cape.
Gold with a cape – she could be the show’s very own super heroine if she had a gold, caped dress.
To be honest, she did already feel like the show’s heroine – all those mountains of clothes she had sorted from Svetlana’s wardrobe, persuading her what to sell, what to have re-tailored, what to donate.
Then all the clothes she had sourced from past clients, friends, pretty much everyone she’d ever known.
She’d also lined up models, brought Paula on board, done the guest list, written commentaries for the compères to read out…
She loved to be a fixer, but this show, she was just about all fixed out and there was still one whole month to go.
So much could still go wrong… that’s what her gut was telling her. That was the endless niggling feeling.
Ideally, the show still needed some show-stopping items of clothing.
Ideally, another three professional models would also make a huge difference.
Ideally, there were a lot of other things required between now and October 1st to make sure that this really would be the hottest ticket in town.
And… never mind, she was going in to see about that dress.
Because a gold dress with a cape would definitely make everything better for Annie. This she did know.
* * *
In the changing room, she took a long, appraising look at herself in the dress.
It was very, very good – this dress. The twisted design that let fabric drape very flattering over offending lumps and bumps at the front.
If you’d had four children, despised the gym and really if it came to a choice between svelte and pastry, would go pastry every time, you did appreciate some flattering drape.
And she had the perfect shoes and bag to go with this beautiful friend, no doubt about it.
The cape! She gave a little swish and a swirl in front of the mirror.
She would go out and talk it over with the shop assistant.
In a store like this, the shop assistant would want to be consulted.
And Annie would enjoy talking about shoes, bags and whether to wear tights and Spanx or not with a trusted expert.
From her own days as a personal shopper in The Store, she knew that it could be a long and quiet day in a high-end shop, so when a customer was trying and buying, then most assistants loved an in-depth chat.
‘What do you think?’ she asked as she swished open the curtain and stepped out of the changing space.
‘Absolutely loving that on you,’ the assistant gushed. In fact, her face split into a smile and she actually clapped her hands together.
‘It’s so beautiful, so flattering and I love, love the cape,’ Annie told her. ‘I’m Annie by the way.’
‘I’m Thea. Nice to meet you and we all love this dress. As soon as we put it in the window, we’ve had so many people come in and ask to try it on. It is so statement-y but flattering and so comfortable to wear.’
‘I have bright pink strappy heels, so that’s what I’m thinking,’ Annie confided. ‘And bag choices… another colour? Gold? Or maybe something darker.’
‘I can suggest some options, just to hold, just to get you thinking,’ Thea offered.