Chapter 11 — Her Name in the Hem
The first garment returned in a refrigerated art van.
Ottilie watched two handlers carry Night Iris into the independent storage room Felicity had hired by the week.
The gown lay flat inside a conservation carton, its black-violet hem supported by rolls of tissue.
It had travelled four miles from Bell House accompanied by a solicitor, a condition report and a device that recorded every change in temperature.
No one had treated it with such care when they changed the label.
Felicity stood beside the examiner’s table while the conservator opened the carton. “We inspect, photograph and reseal. You do not remove anything today.”
“I know.”
“You say that as if I enjoy repetition.”
“You invoice for it.”
The conservator turned the gown under low light. The exterior label named Saskia Reed as creative director. Inside the hem, pale stitch marks showed where another label had been removed. Two threads remained: one dark blue, one white.
Ottilie had used blue cotton for temporary maker tags because white disappeared against workroom tables. She asked for magnification. Beneath the seam allowance, three punctures formed the left side of a V.
“Do not open it yet,” the conservator said. “The court order permits inspection, not destructive access.”
Felicity applied for permission while they examined the next garment. Its care label remained, but the paper production card recorded only Harcourt Atelier. Jean’s copy named four machinists and Devika’s dye bath.
Permission arrived that afternoon. The conservator lifted six centimetres of hem stitching and found a cut maker label folded behind the lining. OTTILIE VA remained. The rest had been sliced away before the new label was sewn.
The damage was small enough to hide inside a finished dress and deliberate enough to require scissors.
“Not enough.”
The conservator lifted the inner hem with a spatula. Beneath the lining, four tiny holes showed where Ottilie’s original production strip had been unpicked. The replacement label remained attached with black thread: SASKIA REED FOR HARCOURT independent machinists charged more for short runs; transparent record-keeping added paid time that Harcourt had treated as administration.
At six looks, the collection looked possible and said too little. At eighteen, it required capital Ottilie didn’t have. Twelve left no allowance for a supplier failure.
“Then plan ten and design twelve,” Devika said.
Ottilie refused. “If we advertise twelve, we produce twelve or explain what failed.”
They budgeted twelve with a cancellation reserve and no free labour from either of them. The first honest figure made the collection smaller than the drawings wanted.