The Ghost of Greenwich Village

by Lorna Graham

  Before Eve could reply, Russell took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes roughly. “They’ll forget it in a day or two, most likely. It’s short-attention-span theater around here. And by the way, your intro was quite good. I enjoyed the ‘Summer in Marseilles’ angle. Very Eric Rohmer.”

  Quirine smiled archly. “Your screenplay-writing class is making you a one-note.”

  Just then a woman came around the corner. She seemed to be hiding behind a mass of copper hair and a tangle of folk-art-style accessories.

  “Nice of you to join us,” said Russell. “Cassandra Martin, this is our new recruit, Eve Weldon. Cassandra covers entertainment.”

  “Culture,” said Cassandra. She offered her hand to Eve but, unlike the others, did not offer even a perfunctory smile. She pushed open the door of her office and disappeared.

  “Well, we’re off for coffee,” said Quirine. Eve would have liked to go with them, but they did not invite her.

  Inside her office, she sank down on the chair, placing the folder on the desk. She stared at it, running her palm over the surface. What did it contain? It was like a game of roulette. It could be a scientist booked to talk about some complicated discovery. Or a financial wizard to talk about the recent stock market dive. Given her powers of personal budgeting, that would be a disaster. She crossed her fingers and opened the folder, feeling like she was pulling a trigger. She skimmed the booking sheet: “Metropolitan Museum of Art to host lifetime retrospective of legendary German designer Matthias Klieg.” Eve brought a hand to her mouth.

  Matthias Klieg was renowned for his architectural clothing that doubled as installation art. For decades, society women had been convincing wealthy husbands to spring for a Klieg original on the assurance that, after wearing it to a certain charity event, it could grace their formal dining room and function as an investment. The Met had gathered dozens of his most famous pieces from living rooms and museums all over the world for an unprecedented display.

  Inside the folder, Eve found a series of articles about Klieg and photos of the pieces that would decorate the set. But she hardly glanced at them; she didn’t need to. She knew Klieg’s career almost by heart, thanks to Penelope, who had worshipped him. Klieg had not only created pieces of radical beauty, he had invented a hybrid medium all his own, which, despite the copycat nature of haute couture, no other house had even attempted to mimic.

  Eve had seen a Klieg only once, when she was seven, during the family’s trip to France. She and Penelope had spent an afternoon wandering around Paris, a fairy tale of a city. They’d had a picnic by the Seine, captivated by its strange blue-green hue, a color neither could quite remember seeing before. Later, they found the gallery her mother had been looking for. It featured six “dresses,” each more audacious and intricate than the last. When the guard wasn’t looking, Eve reached out and lightly skimmed “The Ball Gown” with the tip of her finger. It was like touching a bewitched object from a children’s story. “The Ball Gown” was Klieg’s celebrated, spherical see-through evening dress that, after attending Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball on the person of Merle Oberon, had lived its second life as a terrarium in Berlin.

  What a job! To think that on her very first day, she was going to talk to Matthias Klieg himself. Then she remembered. Klieg was a notoriously difficult interview. Taciturn and grim, he had long since stopped working and now lived like a recluse. Eve rubbed the spot between her eyebrows, thinking of the freelance writers who would soon finish their stints at CNN and be available again.

  • • •

  An hour and a half later, it was time to call the designer at his studio. The phone glared at her like a many-eyed monster, daring her to try. She dialed. A woman answered and put her through.

  “Jah?”

  “Mr. Klieg? Hello, this is Eve Weldon. From Smell the Coffee? We’re scheduled for a pre-interview? Is now a good time for you, sir?”

  “You are an hour late.”

  Her heart beat fast. “Really?” Eve fumbled with the folder. “I thought I was supposed to call at five-thirty.”

  “Your booker told me four-thirty. Perhaps you cannot tell time?”

  Eve flipped through the papers wildly. Was there a note about a change in the time? Had the booker listed on the sheet, someone named Kel Zimmerman, forgotten to tell her? Or, Eve wondered with a sinking heart, had this been some kind of payback for this Katrine person’s firing?

  “I’m very sorry about the mix-up, sir. I just need a few minutes of your time.” This wasn’t true but it was the only way she could think to placate him.

  “It is impossible. The photographers are here.”

  “But, but …” Eve sputtered, trying to think of something to keep him on the phone. “It’s just that I’m curious about ‘Peer-Amid,’ ” she said. “Peer-Amid” was Klieg’s landmark piece from 1969, worn by a British countess to President Nixon’s inauguration. It was a pyramid-shaped gown (the head of the wearer popping out of its top) of highly burnished gold resin, sprinkled with jeweled hieroglyphics. Since the designer didn’t hang up, she continued. “The dress will be on our set tomorrow, as you know, and I’ve always wondered about your inspiration for it.”

  Eve had hoped Klieg would pick up the ball and run with it, but he remained silent. She grimaced. What would her father do if this were a deposition? He certainly wouldn’t quit. He would apply kind but firm pressure till he got what he wanted, using just the right detail to tease out someone’s story. She cleared her throat. “More specifically, my mother used to get British Vogue and I read in there once that this dress was based on a pyramid built by Imhotep for King Zoser? But, well, that doesn’t seem to be right. Imhotep built pyramids with steps, and yours is smooth-sided. I was thinking yours reminded me more of Cheops’s in Giza.” She hoped she was remembering correctly her notes from junior year’s Art of the Ancient World.

  “This is a fair point,” he said, his words clipped and precise. “It was Cheops’s pyramid I sought to evoke. I wanted the modern woman to know that ancient splendor.”

  “I see,” she said, struggling to take down the last of his response with fingers that had grown clumsy in the weeks since she’d stopped working. “And what about this one with the holes—the one everybody calls ‘The Swiss Cheese Dress’?”

  “I detest that appellation,” he said.

  “I understand. Actually, sir—actually, it doesn’t look like Swiss cheese to me.”

  “Well, what then?”

  “Maybe I’m making presumptions,” said Eve. “But to me it seems like you were thinking of Henry Moore.”

  “I—well. Yes.” There was a note of surprise in his voice. “I met Henry in London. I thought his pieces were so sensual that they would feel divine on the body. So I created this dress. What?” There was some noise on Klieg’s end. “Oh for heaven’s sake. That’s very expensive! Excuse me, Miss Weldon, the photographer from ArtForum nearly knocked over a Lalique.”

  “That’s quite all right.”

  “Out. Out.” There was some heated discussion and a sound like a door being closed quite firmly before Klieg spoke to Eve again. “I tell you, most of these philistines don’t know me from Max Ernst.”

  The interview began to flow. Though Klieg remained reserved, he showed flashes of humor and humility. He told her his most “alive” period had been as a young man in Paris in the sixties, when he ran with a diverse crowd of artists, poets, and philosophers, drinking pastis and eating ham sandwiches at the Deux Magots.

  “Sounds like a dream life,” said Eve.

  “It was, eventually. But when I first arrived there, I was, what do you call it? A ‘fish out of water.’ I did not have many friends and had to work as a dustman before creating my first collection. Things were difficult for a long time before I found my way.”

  Nearly two hours after they’d begun speaking, Eve came to the end of her questions.

  “Goodness,” Klieg said. “The booker said we would speak for no more than fort
y-five minutes.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It is all right. This was less painful than usual.”

  “It was an honor for me,” said Eve, feeling suddenly compelled to reveal something about herself. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you this, but you’re my first interview. Ever. I’m a fish out of water, too.”

  “This I would not have guessed,” conceded the designer.

  After they hung up, Eve rubbed her ear and scrolled through her notes on the computer. Every one of her questions had produced an interesting answer, but she’d have to cull a handful of the best to fit the four minutes allotted. Luckily, her paralegal experience again came in handy. She’d long since mastered the art of boiling down complicated documents and producing pithy summaries. And she was excellent at explaining the ins and outs of difficult cases to laypeople, so much so that her father had put her in charge of the entire firm’s client correspondence. In less than an hour, she’d shaped what she hoped was a comprehensive yet streamlined interview.

  Then she turned to the intro. How to interest a Phoenix soccer mom in dresses that resembled trapezoids or Calder mobiles? She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to clear the decks. She pictured her mind draining like a swimming pool, becoming a clean, light blue space—one of her tricks for dealing with Donald when he got nosy. Dancing into the space came iconic images of Klieg’s dresses on Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace, Catherine Deneuve. Maybe that was a way to go, Eve thought. Maybe she should focus on the wearers to spark interest in the clothes. She spent the next hour fashioning and refashioning her copy till she couldn’t look at it another second.

  She had to wait a good hour before Mark could see her; other writers had finished first. Eve used the time to read the papers and leave a message with Vadis, telling her that she had been hired after all and would do everything she could to make sure Spoilt Picnic would get a spot on the show. Not that she had the slightest idea how to do that.

  • • •

  Eve swung her crossed leg while Mark read her script, making the odd mark with his red pen as he went. When he was done, he looked up with what seemed like a hint of respect in his deep brown eyes. “Well. The booker said Klieg was a tough interview, but I guess not. This is good. The questions are fantastic. Quite scholarly, for a segment about dresses. Make these few changes and you’re all set.” He handed back her work.

  “Thanks,” she said. “So do I get to come back tomorrow?”

  “You get to come back tomorrow. And if you do well again, the day after that. But like I said on the phone, you’re freelance, which means no benefits, no contract, no nothing. After you’ve worked a certain number of days, I think it’s thirty, you’ll be eligible for the Writers Guild, which will give you some protection, but you still always want to be on your toes,” he said, leaning forward.

  “Got it,” said Eve. All she had to do was do what she did today—thirty more times.

  “Now get out of here,” he said, with a small but genuine smile. She turned to walk out, sensing his eyes on her. It was not a bad feeling.

  It was nearly 10 p.m., but Eve felt so energized she walked home. Thirty blocks, in kitten heels.

  • • •

  The next morning, at exactly two minutes before seven, Eve sat up in bed as if pulled by a string. She padded into the living room and switched on the old black and white she’d found on the curb outside the tenement next door. For all its expense and toughness, New York could be extraordinarily generous. It coughed up regular goodies on stoops and sidewalks, ranging from books to blenders to dining room sets. She’d come across her love seat on Bank Street and a street person had even helped her carry it home. Some items came with droll signs attached. The television bore a Post-it reading, “A good slap turns me on.”

  She watched the segments executed by the other writers, impressed by the evocative prose of their intros and how much information they worked into the three or four minutes of the interview. She made coffee but couldn’t drink it. She drummed her fingers on the bar, then did some stretches and jumping jacks as she waited for 7:48. Finally, the moment arrived. The commercial faded away and Hap McCutcheon appeared.

  “Shall we begin ‘The Numbered Story’?” boomed Donald, with his impeccable timing.

  “Shhhh,” said Eve, rotating her shoulders to burn off nervous energy. “My work is about to be televised to the nation.”

  “What, my dear? Have you—”

  “Shhhhh.”

  (HAP:)

  THIS WEEK, THE METROPOLITAN

  MUSEUM OF ART CELEBRATES ONE

  OF THE LEGENDS OF THE FASHION

  INDUSTRY. HIS DRESSES HAVE

  BEEN WORN BY EVERYONE FROM

  QUEEN ELIZABETH TO MADONNA.

  BUT UNLIKE OTHER CREATIONS,

  THESE GOWNS DON’T RESIDE IN

  THE CLOSET WHEN THEY’RE NOT

  BEING WORN.

  “You used the phrase ‘being worn’ twice. Watch that—it’s not only repetitive, it’s passive voice,” said Donald who, annoyingly, was right. Eve hadn’t realized he’d be able to hear the TV through her brain.

  NO, THESE DRESSES ARE MORE

  LIKELY TO BE FOUND ON DISPLAY

  IN THE DRAWING ROOMS OF THE

  FAMOUS AND THE BOARDROOMS OF

  FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES. JOINING

  US NOW, THE MAN WHO HAS

  SPENT FORTY YEARS CREATING

  HIGH DRAMA IN THE SPACE

  WHERE ART AND FASHION MEET—

  “Now, that was nice.”

  “Thank you, Donald.”

  —LEGENDARY DESIGNER

  MATTHIAS KLIEG.

  The camera pulled back, revealing Klieg. Tall and lithe with solemn gray eyes and gleaming white hair receding from a patrician forehead. He nodded at Hap.

  Eve leaned forward and watched as Hap followed her line of questioning precisely. He and Klieg chatted their way through the succession of dresses as if they were old friends. Hap even had Eve convinced he was an authority on Cheops.

  “So what did you think?” asked Eve happily when it was over. But Donald was long gone.

  • • •

  That afternoon Eve decided she could risk the elevator and walk to her office through the gauntlet of Smell’s front offices. She noticed or imagined several hard stares as she threaded her way among the cubicles, and her heart started to pound. After the long hike down to writers’ row, she saw Mark, Quirine, Cassandra, Steve, and Russell with their heads huddled together. They stopped talking when they saw her.

  “Well,” said Russell, peering over his glasses at her with new interest. “You certainly know how to make a second impression.”

  Eve slung her bag off her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  Quirine bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. “Go in your office. Now.” The others nodded in unison.

  Eve pushed open the door. Inside, taking up most of the small room, sat a Matthias Klieg original, threaded onto a slim Lucite pole atop one of the designer’s custom platforms.

  “Klieg’s people sent it over this morning after the interview,” said Steve. “I heard it took, like, three guys to get it in and out of the freight elevator.”

  Eve opened the card taped to the pole, her heart racing.

  Dear Miss Eve,

  From one “fish out of water” to another.

  I hope you will do me the honor of wearing this to the exhibit’s opening gala on Saturday. Please feel free to bring a guest.

  Regards,

  MK

  “It’s got to be worth hundreds of thousands,” said Russell.

  “But, Mark,” said Cassandra sharply, “she can’t keep it. We’re not allowed to accept gifts. Conflict of interest. If she keeps it, we’ll have to tell Giles.”

  What’s her problem? wondered Eve. “He just wants me to borrow it,” she said. The shimmering teal gown was, in Klieg fashion, a marvel of engineering: Over a silk underdress, a resin shell had
been constructed, consisting of a series of waves that surrounded the wearer from the bust down to the knee. The dress sparkled under the fluorescent lights, winking at its drab surroundings. Its surface was awash in seed pearls, crystals, semiprecious stones, and enormous, jewel-encrusted fish.

  Quirine approached the dress. “How does he do it?” she asked, peering closely at the place where two waves met. “He’s a magician.”

  Cassandra flounced out of the room. The others, smiling politely, mumbled various things and filed out behind her. Mark stopped in the doorway. He looked at her quizzically. “First the bouillabaisse, now this. Do you always attract so much attention?”

  Thinking back over her life before the last few days, Eve almost had to laugh. “Uh, no,” she said.

  Chapter 6

  Eve asked Vadis to be her date at the gala and suddenly it was as if the two failed jobs and anchor vomit had never happened. Eve couldn’t contain her elation. She counted the days, then the hours, then the minutes before the party. She was going out on the town in New York.

  Because of the elaborate costume, she was allowed to dress in one of the museum’s executive offices, and she took special care with her appearance: She put her chin-length hair up with turquoise seahorse pins she’d bought at one of the antiques stores on Bleecker, applied pearly eye shadow that brought out the greenish flecks in her eyes, and swept a deep red lipstick across the pointed pucker of her lips.

  “A Klieg’s never looked so good,” said Vadis as they stood at the entrance to the fete. “Of course, the fact that you’re the only one in a Klieg under sixty doesn’t hurt.” Eve enjoyed the curious looks of fellow party guests. Only five or six other women were wearing Kliegs; the rest were on display around the room, lit from within like multicolored planets, orbited by tuxedos and caviar blini.

  Vadis, in a black jersey gown with a plunging neckline, curled her left hand around an imaginary glass and held two fingers of her right straight out as if clutching a cigarette between them, her signal during college that she was ready to party. They made their way over to the bar, accepted two champagne cocktails, and toasted each other amid the churning social whirl.