But, don’t let an overused credit card ruin your holiday cheer, fellow fashionistas. Why? My dear readers ask me. Madison is sponsoring a must-see pop-up shop for Choice New Designers. And luckily for generous gift-givers (like me!), it’s a look-only event—just enough eye candy to make the season extra sweet.
Stop by and check out the amazing designers: Mario Guo, Kelso and Kiku, Allegra Biscotti, C. Leveille, and Ashana.
If you ask me—and you obviously have—this talented group will be featured in all the boutiques come spring...just in time for our holiday charges to be paid off.
See you there!
Paige Young
“Emma!” A young woman in her early twenties, with fringy black hair and a tape measure draped around her neck, grinned and waved, as Emma stepped into Allure Fabrics the next day. “Excellent you came today. We just marked down a bunch of stuff. I set aside a flannel for you. I know you were looking at flannels last time.”
“Thanks, Nidhi.” Emma hurried over to take a look. Nidhi was her favorite salesperson at the fabric shop. She’d recently graduated from fashion school herself and was working at Allure mostly for the employee discount. She knew that Emma had designer tastes and a discount-store budget and always tried to help her out.
Of course, today Emma’s budget was a little bigger than usual. Okay, a lot bigger. She reached into the baggy pocket of her army-surplus pants, touching the credit card her father had given her that morning. That way she didn’t have to wait for Mrs. Sinclare’s check to arrive before buying the materials for her pop-up collection.
“But listen, that’s not all.” Nidhi’s warm brown eyes sparkled as she leaned closer. “You’ll never guess who was in here yesterday. You’ve heard of Kelso McKay, yeah?”
“Um, sure.” Emma had definitely heard of Kelso McKay. He was half of the design team of Kelso and Kiku, one of the other collections being featured in the pop-up shop.
Nidhi swept her bangs to the side. “Well, he must’ve spent two hours here. Supercool guy! He needed to find the perfect fabric for a jacket they’re making for this pop-up shop Madison magazine’s putting on soon. Do you know about it? Paige Young has been blogging about it all week.
“Most of Kelso’s collection’s been done for ages, of course. But he was, you know, fine-tuning things and decided he just had to add this one last piece. So I helped him find this super new organic cotton we just got in, and guess what? He invited me to come to the pop-up shop on opening day and meet Kiku. He even said they might be looking for a design assistant soon and I seemed perfect! Isn’t that amazing?”
“Totally amazing,” Emma said. And she meant it. But she had to do her best to keep her expression normal because her heart was pounding so fast. She was dying to blurt out that she was making a collection for the pop-up, too. She knew the two of them would have a blast picking out fabrics together. But no, she had to keep the secret or Paige would kill her. She had to play it cool.
“This flannel is pretty great,” she said, setting the remnant on the cutting table. It was a toffee and chocolate flannel, much cooler than the scraps Emma had been playing with. It would be perfect for the panels and sleeves on Holly’s pink velvet dress. Emma thought about adding a little flannel Peter Pan collar as well.
“I’ll take it. And I also need a few other things today.” Hearing that other designers were putting the finishing touches on their collections while she’d barely started hers was threatening to send her into super-panic mode. She’d feel better once she had the fabric she needed.
“Hit me,” Nidhi said. “What can I find you?”
Emma reached into her coat pocket and touched the folded list she’d stuck in there, though she didn’t bother pulling it out. She’d looked at it so many times—adding, deleting, changing—that she had it memorized.
“I need something in bright candy colors. I’m thinking cotton candy, gumballs, swirly lollipops. Silky but with some weight.”
“Sorry, cutie.” Nidhi shook her head. “Nothing like that on the bargain table. How about a blend? Close enough, yeah?”
“Not really.” Emma cleared her throat. “Maybe I should take a peek at the full-price choices.”
Nidhi looked surprised. “You sure? That stuff’s pricey.”
Emma nodded. “I’m sure.”
“You’d better watch it, or you’ll lose the title of my best bargain shopper,” Nidhi joked. She turned and strode off toward the back of the store, speedy and sure-footed despite her four-inch wedges. “This way, yeah?” she called over her shoulder. “I guess if you’re going to spend all your pennies on something, what I’ve got in mind is worth it.”
As soon as she saw the gorgeous, subtly swirly, totally candy-colored silk Nidhi pulled out, Emma knew that it was perfect. “I’ll take four-and-a-half yards, please,” she said. One baby-doll mini down, thought Emma.
“Now I need a bunch of accordian-pleated silk. I want three colors that work together, but I’m torn between a citrony color scheme and a burnt orange.” Leaving Nidhi to pull bolts down for her from the packed shelves, Emma wandered down the aisle. She hesitated at a section dominated by pale shades of green and ecru but kept going, not ready to deal with that just yet. First, the fun stuff. The disaster of a party dress could wait.
After running her fingers over the sumptuous pleated silks Nidhi had laid out, rolling the bolts around and mixing it up on a big scale, she decided on burnt orange, pomegranate, and lime green for the tiers of the princess dress. The top would be a stretchy gold knit she stumbled onto while she was roaming the aisles. She took generous cuts of each of the fabrics, so she could play around with the layering and add more if she liked.
Next, she wanted to get what she needed for her version of the simple party dress. Even though Mrs. Sinclare didn’t like it, Paige had certainly sold Emma on the sapphire blue and black color combo. With Nidhi’s help, Emma found a gorgeous, shiny, stretchy satin in a blue so rich that it practically sparkled and the softest, drapiest black jersey in the sale section. Again, she bought more than she needed of both. Since she wouldn’t have time to make muslins of her designs—“practice” dresses using cheap fabric—she had to have some room for error.
Shopping without worrying about her budget was starting to make her feel better about Rylan’s dress after all, so she decided to tackle that next.
Emma knew that she would have to find a way to deal with Mrs. Sinclare’s changes. The seafoam green was horrible, but maybe Emma could just get the color a tiny bit wrong. Maybe she could edge it toward a pale turquoise. She looked for something shimmery—something that could possibly, in the right greenish light, pass for seafoam. And with Nidhi’s help, naturally, she found it: an iridescent turquoise-green. The beautiful stepsister of Mrs. Sinclare’s seafoam. It was worth a shot.
Each time Emma made a selection, Nidhi’s left eyebrow arched a little higher, matching the growing height of the pile she was collecting for Emma on her cutting table.
“You sure about this one?” Nidhi asked, pausing with her shears poised to slice into the iridescent un-seafoam. “I might be able to find you something similar a little cheaper.”
“That’s okay. I really need this one.” Emma could tell that Nidhi was curious but too polite to ask what was up. She wished again that she could tell her the truth. “Um, my dad’s giving me an early birthday present.”
Nidhi gave her a strange, searching look. “Happy birthday,” she said at last. “Need anything else today?”
“Just some trimmings and stuff. I’ll go get them.”
“Okay. I’ll start ringing up this stuff up front, yeah? It’s going to take a while.”
She gathered the pile as Emma hurried over to the trimmings wall, feeling elated and guilty at the same time.
Rolls of thread made an exquisite rainbow. Emma gathered an armful—cupcake pink, burnt orange, pomegranate, gold, lime, turquoise. The button section was dizzying, organized by color, and then by size and shape within eac
h color section. It took Emma nearly fifteen minutes to find exactly what she was looking for—a package of tiny, pink crystal buttons for Holly’s smock-dress makeover.
By the time Emma reached the counter with an armful of zippers, buttons, and thread, Nidhi had wrapped and rung up the fabric. She sorted expertly through the notions, adding them to the total. Then she ripped off the receipt and handed it to Emma. Emma gulped. The bill was more than she’d ever spent on fabric before. Way, way more.
But it was still less than what Mrs. Sinclare was paying for Rylan’s dress. Pulling out her father’s credit card, she handed it over. She had never used a credit card before.
Nidhi took the card and glanced at it. “Noah Rose,” she read. “Your dad?”
“Uh-huh.”
Nidhi bit her lip, shooting her a sidelong glance. “Sorry, cutie,” she said, sounding a little embarrassed. “I’ll need to call him for permission to let you use it. Store policy, yeah?”
Emma’s father had warned her that this might happen. Even so, her cheeks went hot. “No problem,” she mumbled. “Dad said to call his cell if there was a problem.”
Soon Nidhi was speaking to Noah. “Thanks, sir,” she said after listening for a moment. “I figured it was okay, but I had to check. Store policy.” She listened for another few seconds and then burst into laughter. “No way, you can’t pin this on me!” she exclaimed. “Your daughter has the fashion bug. Bad. She’d spend just as much time and money here if I’d never met her, yeah?”
Emma smiled weakly. Typical Dad. He loved to goof around with her friends, even ones he’d never met in person.
Nidhi traded a few more joking remarks with him and then hung up. “Sorry about that,” she told Emma. “Ever since some first-year fashion-school twit swiped her mom’s ATM card and emptied her account, Abe is super-paranoid about checking stuff. Especially when it’s, um, a larger order.” She shot a meaningful look at the overstuffed bags sitting on the counter.
“It’s okay,” Emma said, feeling more uncomfortable by the second under Nidhi’s frank, friendly gaze. “I understand.”
Nidhi quickly finalized the sale and then handed the credit card back to Emma. “So you making some good stuff with all this?” she asked. “I’d love to see how it turns out, yeah?”
It was a casual comment, just small talk, really. But Emma could hear the curiosity behind the words. She bent over the sales slip, quickly signing her name.
“Sure,” she said. “Thanks again for everything, Nidhi.” She gathered up her bags and scooted for the exit, fearing that if she didn’t get out of there, she’d break down and tell Nidhi everything. And she couldn’t do that. Even if it was difficult sometimes to remember why.
CLOTHES ENCOUNTER
What are you doing?” William stuck his head into her room on Sunday after lunch.
Emma glanced up, startled, her body wrapped in a length of the stretchy black jersey. Her new fabrics covered every surface of her room so that she could see them all at once. Get to know them. See how they draped and stretched and moved.
“What does it look like?” she replied, scrunching the material. She wondered if she should cut this dress on the bias.
“It looks like you’re playing girly-girl dress-up.” William pranced around in a little circle, fluttering his fingers.
Emma rolled her eyes. “Did you want something? Or did you just stop by to annoy me?”
“I just stopped by to annoy you.” He grinned and took off before she could respond.
She sighed, dropping the jersey on her bed. As tempting as it was to play with her new pop-up shop fabrics all day, she realized she couldn’t. She’d barely looked at Rylan’s dress—Mrs. Sinclare’s redesigned version of it—since Friday’s meeting. It was time to face the horror.
Gathering up the fabric hanging over her desk and chair, Emma sat down and flipped her sketchbook open. Mrs. Sinclare’s changes were still there. And still bad. But as Paige had said, Emma was going to have to make it work. Somehow.
She started sketching, incorporating the woman’s notes as best she could. Maybe she could make that scoop neck work. It wasn’t the ideal proportion. Maybe she could move it up a notch so it was more of a low crew neck. The problem was that nothing worked without the sash...
Her phone buzzed, and she grabbed it. It was a text from Holly.
Hey Em! wuzup? want 2 hit a movie 2day?
Emily quickly texted back.
Sorry. 2 busy. Some other time?
There was no response for a moment. Then the phone rang. Emma picked it up.
“Too busy?” Holly’s familiar voice exclaimed. “No way. Nothing could be more important than seeing that new movie with the cute guy from that hot reality show. It’s playing on 59th Street, and there’s a discount matinee. Maybe we could get a hot chocolate or something after.”
Emma doodled a sleeve design on a blank sheet. If Mrs. Sinclare wanted three-quarter length, would clingy and fitted work best? Or a flowy kimono sleeve? Or a fitted sleeve with a flowy cuff? Was it close enough to satisfy her? She was so distracted that it took her a second to realize what Holly was saying. Movie. Hot chocolate. Now.
“Sorry, I just can’t today,” Emma said.
“You sure? We can even swing by Bloomie’s if you want,” Holly pleaded. “I mean, I know we have that English test on Tuesday, and you’re supposed to be grounded, but—”
“Sorry,” Emma said again. “Not today. Maybe another time, okay? Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”
“Okay. Bye.” Holly sounded surprised.
Emma knew she didn’t have time for anything until she figured out how she was going to make this dress look great.
By the time she trudged through the school doors the next morning, raindrops dripping off her yellow rubber boots, Emma still hadn’t figured it out. She’d sketched every possible version of Mrs. Sinclare’s vision, but every sketch came out looking just as awkward as the next. What was she going to do?
Usually Emma loved a fashion challenge. Her favorite subway game was picking different pieces worn by her fellow riders and turning them into fabulous outfits in the pages of her sketchbooks. There was nothing she liked better than finding a vintage piece in a thrift shop and figuring out how to pair it with newer stuff to make it look trendy and current.
But this was different. How was she supposed to bring someone else’s vision to life, especially when that person had no...taste? Above all else, fashion was supposed to be beautiful.
She was so lost in thought that she bumped into someone standing in the Downtown Day stairwell. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled, glancing up as she prepared to step around.
Then she saw that it was Jackson.
“Hey,” he said with his casual half-smile.
“Um, hi!” she blurted out. “Sorry. I was just, you know, thinking about something. Really hard.”
“It’s cool.” He shrugged. “I get that way sometimes.”
“Cool.” Emma smiled tentatively.
He nodded. They stood there for a moment, neither of them saying anything.
It should have been another awkward moment. Only it sort of...wasn’t.
“Yo, Creedon!”
The shout broke the spell. Emma glanced back and saw several of Jackson’s soccer buddies loping toward them. In the lead was Clayton Vanderbeck, a big, beefy guy with a blond buzz cut and the world’s loudest voice.
“What’s up, dude?” Clayton bellowed. “Been looking all over for you.”
A skinny guy named Takumi eyed Emma up and down. “Yeah,” he said to Jackson. “Guess you were busy.”
The others snorted with laughter. Emma felt a flush of annoyance. Typical. Why did Jackson hang around with these jocks?
“I’m coming,” Jackson mumbled, biting his lip in that super-cute way of his. He glanced at Emma as he headed up the stairs with the others. “See you.”
“Bye,” she said, though she doubted he could hear her over Clayton
’s guffaws.
She watched Jackson disappear around the corner of the landing and then sighed. She had no idea what to think. Then again, he’d said less than ten words to her, so there was probably nothing to think. Especially since he was still Lexie’s boyfriend. Maybe Holly can make sense of it, Emma hoped, as she hurried to her locker. The first bell was about to ring.
“Hi,” Emma said.
Holly whirled around at the sound of her voice. “I just heard something fascinating over breakfast this morning,” Holly announced with a frown, not bothering to return the greeting. “My sister told me that you’re an intern for some hot, new fashion designer, Allegra Biscotti, who’s designing Rylan’s Sweet Sixteen dress.”
Emma froze.
“Is it true?” Holly demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Emma, her blue eyes flashing with anger. “Because I told Jennifer it couldn’t possibly be. If my best friend had landed a cool gig like that, I would definitely know all about it. Right?”
Emma opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her mind was spinning. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
But duh. How could it not? Everything Rylan Sinclare did was big news for the Downtown Day gossip mill. And Jennifer was one of her best friends. Of course Holly was going to find out. Emma had been an idiot to think otherwise.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “I should have—I mean, I guess I—I mean...” Her words faltered as the anger in Holly’s eyes turned to hurt.
“So it’s true?” Holly said. “That’s why you’ve been blowing me off lately?” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Why hadn’t she? Good question. And suddenly Emma couldn’t think of a single good answer. Holly was her best friend. She had a right to know. Everything.
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