Chapter 4 #3
“I like that look too.” Her grandmother smiled at her, and then the two younger women went to bathe and change after the overnight flight, returning to Marie-Aurélie’s study a little over an hour later.
She was reading the newspaper and looked up with a smile.
They were dressed for cold weather, with boots and heavy wool coats.
“Do you want to eat at home tonight, or do you have plans?” she asked them lightly. “Don’t feel obliged to dine with me, if you have something more amusing to do.”
“We’d love to have dinner with you.” Marie-Aurélie smiled. “Would you have dinner out with us one night?” Dominique asked. Her mother didn’t go out often in winter. She felt the cold acutely and was afraid to fall.
“I will if it’s not snowing or too cold.”
“Why don’t we wait until Violet arrives, and the four of us can go somewhere nice.” Marie-Aurélie looked pleased and Dominique and Felicity left a few minutes later to begin their search for the perfect dress.
They started at a few addresses on the Left Bank that Dominique had, the studios of young designers she’d been told were talented, and Felicity didn’t like any of them.
She said their dresses looked too fluffy and too grand, and her mother agreed.
They moved on to the Right Bank then to the important designers they knew well.
They looked at sketches of wedding gowns from the archives of dresses that had been made before.
They were beautiful and the sketches were fascinating.
At Chanel they looked at a dress with a big skirt and long train.
It wasn’t what Felicity had in mind but it was spectacular.
Felicity tried it on for the fun of it, and smiled at her reflection, standing on an elevated round platform with the saleswomen holding the train.
It was a wedding gown fit for a queen. They went to Dior and Schiaparelli, and looked at Givenchy’s couture line, but nothing matched the simple style Felicity had in mind.
Dominique and Felicity were both exhausted by the end of the afternoon when they got back to the house. Marie-Aurélie was happy to see them.
The three of them had dinner that night at home, prepared by Marie-Aurélie’s excellent chef, and Dominique showed her mother photographs of the gowns they’d looked at, and she enjoyed seeing them.
They had dinner early, since Felicity and Dominique were tired from the time difference and their mission, and they were ready to continue the search after breakfast the next day.
They were going to see two more young designers that Dominique had heard about.
She wasn’t hopeful, but it was worth a look.
The next day, Felicity was subdued and lost in thought in the car on the way, while Dominique responded to texts from her assistants, who were up early trying to catch up.
They rode up five floors in a freight elevator in an industrial building where the designer was waiting for them. She was honored by Dominique’s visit, and Felicity explained to her what she had in mind. The designer looked pensive while she listened, and then had an idea.
“I like what you have in mind. I found a sketch of a dress like that a few years ago, to inspire me, but all my clients want big gowns. I prefer a smaller silhouette too.” She went to find the sketch, came back ten minutes later, and showed Felicity, whose face brightened immediately.
It was the 1925 wedding dress of a British marchioness.
It looked dated, but the designer pointed to things she could change to modernize the design, without sacrificing the overall look and elegance of the dress.
It was a very slim silhouette that could look beautiful on Felicity.
“Let me make a muslin, and see if I can catch the spirit of the dress. Can you come back tomorrow?” she asked them, and Dominique nodded. They had two more days in Paris, or they could stay another day if they needed to.
The designer looked hopeful and excited when they left, and they went shopping for ordinary clothes for the rest of the afternoon.
Violet was due that night on the Eurostar.
She was going to be dining at the house with them.
Dominique had made a reservation at the Ritz for the next day since she knew her mother liked it.
When Violet arrived that night, it was as though a gust of fresh air had entered with her.
She was wearing a vintage fur coat she’d found at a London flea market, had brought her grandmother a beautiful set of old books and a vintage Hermès bag in perfect condition, and had found lots of great things for her shop.
She and her grandmother were happy to see each other. Violet was always in good spirits, excited about something, meeting people she liked and having fun almost everywhere she went.
She’d seen old friends in London, went to a party with them, and had met several new people she hoped to see again, and she arrived in Paris full of life.
Dominique always marveled at how different her daughters were.
The one so quiet and retiring, with her introverted nature and huge talent in art.
The other extroverted, funny, always seeing the light side of things.
She put an atmosphere of fun and levity in every situation.
Felicity had been the better student and had a serious artistic gift, and Violet enjoyed her life more.
She had a knack for turning bad situations around, found unexpected solutions to problems, and made the best with what she had.
Violet came to the studio to see the muslin of the dress with them that the young designer had promised.
Felicity tried it on, and even the muslin version was beautiful and suited her.
They could already see that it would make an exquisite dress, with silk panels in the straight slim style of the 1920s, overlaid with antique lace.
The designer had a bolt of it that she’d been saving for a project like this one.
All three of the women smiled at each other.
Felicity was beaming. It was exactly what she had wanted, as though the designer had read her mind.
She was going to add a short train. It would have long lace sleeves, and a cathedral veil to go with it.
It was going to be a work of art, created just for her.
It wasn’t showy, but it was exceptionally beautiful, and she would have to come back to Paris for a fitting, possibly two.
They took all of her measurements, and Felicity felt relief wash over her like a wave.
For the first time she felt truly excited about her dress and the wedding.
She felt ready. And all three of them were in high spirits when they left the studio.
They had lunch at a little bistro on the Left Bank, and told Marie-Aurélie all about the dress when they got home.