Chapter 19
Jayne at the desk:
Green cord shirtdress
Multi-coloured flower necklace
Green and white trainers
Annie came out of the exit to the Tube and took a little moment to admire the street scene around her.
She knew she’d been in these parts before, but she couldn’t think when it had been.
Years ago. On this autumn morning, there was cool sunlight slanting off the shop windows and that first rustle underfoot of dried leaves fallen from the nearby plane trees.
The kind of bright autumnal day that called for your cosy woollen coat or statement faux-fur jacket – sunny but cool with little chance of rain.
She turned up the collar of her jacket and made some tiny adjustments to the artfully wrapped scarf.
This was fashion, after all, darlings, fashion.
She had standards to maintain. It was a brisk ten-minute walk to the Gallery of Textiles and Annie did not need much persuasion to decide that fortifying herself with a takeaway coffee en route was a good idea.
She was more than a little nervous. What if she didn’t like the place?
What if the dimensions just weren’t going to work?
In Annie’s mind, it was never going to replace the marquee and she was finding it hard to let go of all the thoughts and plans she had made for the marquee and those precious gardens in Mayfair…
fairy lights, trees rustling in the dark, the special sense that you were being let into a secret place at night.
The gardens had inspired the whole show, she thought bitterly.
It was just so infuriating that Svetlana had messed up and now they were having to suffer the consequences – even if she had got a home-made Ukrainian biscuit and a citrine ring out of it.
The ring was lovely, she thought as she ran the fingers of her other hand across it now.
Maybe it would do as Svetlana had promised and bring them energy and success.
She took a bracing gulp of Americano with a dash of milk.
Ah! Well, that was at least bringing some energy to the party.
A few minutes later, and she was standing in front of the Gallery of Textiles.
It was immediately lovely to look at from the outside, a beautiful stone building, well kept, with generous windows and substantial garden grounds.
Maybe this building could look just as twinkly if the grounds in front were all strung with lights, what about outdoor torches, she wondered, and an enormous arch of flowers over the door?
Yes… she was trying to let go of the marquee, the Mayfair residents’ garden and focus instead on the possibilities that here might be able to offer.
Feeling her spirits a little more lifted, she walked towards the pale green double doors and stepped inside.
First impressions were very encouraging, pale honey-coloured stone floors, check, dramatic chandelier hanging from an ornate ceiling, check, showstopping staircase flowing down from the heavens into the entrance area, check.
Yes, she could see a flock of fashionistas milling around here with cocktails in their hands, refusing canapés.
She walked over to the reception area and asked the woman behind the desk to show her to the rooms that had been booked up for the event.
‘Oh yes,’ the woman pushed her reading glasses onto her head to take a closer look at Annie. ‘Now that sounds very interesting, just the kind of event we should be hosting here. We’re all very excited about it.’
‘That’s nice to hear. I’m Annie, by the way, and you…’ she glanced at the woman’s lapel badge, ‘must be Jayne.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ Jayne told her.
‘Likewise.’
‘So, the show is in the ballroom, it’s not occupied right now so feel free to go and take a look around. The four smaller rooms, two on either side, have been booked for the whole week before the event, so you can set up rails, shops, little side events… it all sounds so much fun.’
Annie could feel her shoulders relaxing a little. It was good to feel some enthusiasm and encouragement coming her way as usually, she was the one who had to generate it and radiate it out in everyone’s direction. ‘I’m so pleased you’re all feeling so enthusiastic.’
‘We are! So, straight down this corridor,’ Jayne demonstrated, ‘the ballroom is at the end and your other rooms are on either side. Enjoy!’
‘Thank you.’
The corridor was nice, too, she noticed. Lots of potential for little tables with big vases of flowers, there was good wall lighting… maybe they could hang garlands or bunting or have something full of life and colour hanging from the ceiling.
Should she go into the little rooms first, she wondered.
No, she would go straight on ahead and check out the main event first. Pushing open the door, she felt another bubble of anxiety float up again…
was this going to be the right kind of place?
Was she going to be able to work with it?
Would it have any of the charm or magic of the marquee in the gardens?
This was Svetlana, she reminded herself.
The woman did have taste… and buckets and buckets of cash.
Annie pushed the door aside, opened her eyes wide and let out a breath…
this was… plain was her first thought. Very plain…
but in a tasteful way. It was a substantial, square room with palest grey walls, elegant windows, a wooden parquet floor, four separate sets of elaborate ceiling lights, but nothing else… this room was bare.
They were going to need to create a catwalk, a full backstage area, and then seat the audience all around it.
They would need lighting, it occurred to Annie for the very first time.
You couldn’t just dim the chandeliers in a room like this…
if the chandeliers even dimmed. No, there would need to be lighting professionals, spotlights, TV lights, crew, lighting rigs…
this was a whole element she hadn’t even considered.
Oh God, there was a lot to do. She could feel the tension rising in her chest just at the thought of it.
A lot to do. The positives, she thought, focus on the positives.
This room was big enough, could definitely be made to look impressive enough, if she started right away, today.
No time to lose. She took one last gulp of the coffee, gah, already lukewarm, and headed out of the room to go and check out the other spaces that Svetlana had booked.
Opening the door on the first adjacent room, she was delighted to see Paula already in place with a mountain of clothes on a table in front of her. ‘Babes, I did not know you would be here already!’ Annie greeted her. ‘And I am so glad to see you!’
They hugged, Annie trying not to care how much of a dumpy frump this six-foot Brixton goddess could always make her feel, completely without trying because Paula was a lovely person who wore her gorgeousness totally casually.
‘These clothes are not going to organise themselves now, are they?’ was Paula’s opener.
‘So, how is it going?’ Annie asked her.
‘I am trying to make myself at home,’ Paula said. ‘I am trying not to panic that I still have about three shipping container’s worth of stuff to get through and so far, the biggest category of donations is “outdated ladies who lunch outfits.”’
‘We will style them so irresistibly that we’ll get them right back in fashion again,’ Annie reassured her. ‘Basically, if everyone isn’t wearing a tight jacket with a matching miniskirt and coordinating hat next season, then we will not have done our jobs properly.’
Paula chuckled but didn’t stop her work of sorting, folding and dispatching items into the categories of hangers, rails and bins that she’d already set up and was powering through.
Annie took the hint and set her bags down carefully in the corner, then took off her coat and folded it on top of them.
She didn’t want finest Jigsaw tailoring to end up on a sale rail, however much she supported the cause.
‘OK, explain the set-up you have going on here and I will get stuck right in.’
‘You could at least have brought me a coffee,’ Paul complained.
‘I didn’t know you were going to be here. I’ve already said that!’ Annie retorted. ‘But, sorry, I should have brought along a spare, just in case. So, tell me honestly what you think of the new venue?’
‘One, I am glad I’m not working in a garage right now, there’s a plus point.
But, Annie, that enormous room next door is just empty space.
We are going to have to work hard to fill it.
Very hard. I think you need to talk to some professionals.
We only have the room for the day of the show, the day before and the day afterwards, plus a few hours here and there for rehearsals.
They’ll have to build a catwalk and a backstage area in the morning of the pre-show day, then we’ll have to do our full run-through in the afternoon and…
if I know anything about models and fashion shows, it will last well into the night. ’
‘You’re right, you’re right.’ Annie could feel the tension bubbling up in her chest again.
‘And we’ll need professional lighting,’ Annie said.
‘I was standing in the room, looking up at the chandeliers and thinking, we can’t use these, we’re going to have to have proper stage lighting and that was another thing I hadn’t even thought of before. ’
‘And what about our compère? Are we really going with that guy?’ Paula wanted to know. ‘I mean, I don’t know him obviously, but isn’t there something hanging over him? Rumours? I always thought he was kind of too much.’