The Time-Traveling Fahionista

"As far as im concerned,'playing dress-up'begins at the age of five and never truly ends." Kate Spade, american clothing and handbag designer

Chapter 1

Karimar is alone in the forest and it is dark.She knows that she has never been to these woods before;she is in new territory.The pounding of horses hooves rumbles off in the background,and she stops walking and forces her eyes to adjust to the dim light.Out of the shadows,ten women in old fashioned velvet cloaks clasped at the neck approach Karimar and form a circle around her.She keeps still and alert,not wanting to show them how terrified she truly is.Inside she is shaking,but somewhere in her gut she knows that she is in charge,that these women are here to serve her.One of the cloaked figueres approaches her and pulls off the red velvet cape Karimar has protectively wrapped around her shoulders and lets it fall to the dirt.Karimar hears the faint roar of thunder in the distance.A storm is coming soon

They lead her into a makeshift wooden structure that is decorated inside like a fancy sitting room covered in royal blue brocade fabric,and Karimar now feels as if she is playing a role in a very old ritual.A miniature white shih tzu is following her,trying to hide itself in the folds of her long crioline skirts.Suddenly there is a frenzy of grabbing and pulling as the women tear off her clothing,ripping her beautiful ivory dress to rags, while she stands there helpless.STOP!Karimar shrieks inside her head as a women yanks the yellow satin ribbions from her hair.Another women scoops up the yelping dog and quickly hurries out of the room before Karimar can reach for it The women take everything from her and toss the items carelessly onto the floor,even the delicate gold-and-ruby bracelet from her thin wrist.LEAVE ME ALONE!SOMEBODY HELP ME!Karimar blinks back hot ,angryy tears as her words get choked down inside her throat.

The matronly leader of the women then motions for the others to stop as she reverently hands Karimar a new dress, a beautiful old-fashioned gown made of a fine powder blue silk that feels like liquid velvet,finer than anything she has ever owned before.Another lady gently pulls back Karimars hair with a long silk white ribbon,while yet another clasps a diamond-and-sapphire pendent on a sparkley silver chain around her neck.But despite her new luxurious adornments Karimar is still scared-alone in a strange place in the middle of the woods,far from home and all that is familiar to her.She knows that this has been planned and that her life is about to change forever.She is not the same girl anymore.

* * *

Karimar Jackson bolted upright in bed.She was safe.

The somber sound of classical music filled her bedroom.How was it morning already?She rubbed she-crusted eyes with the back of her hand and yawned.sometimes her dream life was so active that Karimar felt like she didnt even get a chance to sleep at all.she glanced over at her glowing clock radio 7:17am.time for another school day.

Karimar liked waking up to a symphony;that way she could linger in her dream world for a little longer,like she wasn't abruptly grounded in her reality quite yet.she could still be anywhere.she thought back to last nights nocturnal adventures and immediately felt like she was back in that blue brocade room,clinging to the ivory dress that the women had taken off of her that represented her old life so far away from home.but whose home,exactly?what old life?those women in the woods were creepy;they wanted to turn her into someone she wasn't.and yet,in the end,it wasn't quite a nightmare,because they dressed her up in an fanicer gown and jewels.she could almost still feel the tickle of their silk-gloved hands softly brushing back her hair.but it left her with a majorly weird feeling.where did that scene come from?Karimar wonder as she propped herself up on the feather pillows.she pulled out her cherry red leather bound journal and colored pencils from the top drawer of her bedside table and began drawing a rough sketch of the pale blue dress with its hoop skirt and fitted bodice before It completely evaporated from her memory.maybe she could find something similar in her illustrated vintage dictionary otherwise known as her fashion Bible.she started flipping through the dog eared pages of shopping for vintage the definite guide to fashion past the bright multicolored patterned missonis and the outlandish elastic schiaparellis.........."Karimar!Breakfast!"her moms shrill british voice pierced the quiet house.jumping up from her warm,cozy,canopy bed,she changed out of her white-and-red striped cotton pajamas and threw a mavi heather gray jersey dress(wishing it were an original by diane von furstenberg,the queen of the jersey wrap dress,from the '70),a black lace zac posen for target cardigan she had laid out the night before,and,as always,her neon pink converse.