Loved In The Kingdom Of Beauty

25.

Saturday morning and the sun shone its blessing on the earth. The wind sang a gentle song of happiness and the birds chirped in answer. There was a sense of expectation hanging in the air, and it promised to be a good day.

Jacqueline stood in front of the door of her flagship store and double-checked that the windows were clean enough, and the displays on point. That was not the only thing she saw. She saw the long and arduous road she had traveled to reach this moment.

She remembered the late nights she worked with Andrea at Fabric Laboratories. She was Head of fabric development and had shown her the latest fabrics she was developing for commercial use. Some had passed their strict quality control tests and others were still in its infancy.

Jacqueline had in her quest for eco-friendly and responsibly sourced raw materials ended at the desk of Mr. Jenkins, CEO and owner of the Laboratories. He was impressed with her vision and had asked Andrea to give her access to the latest projects. It had taken a year of close collaboration before both were satisfied with the end results.

Next she had, through the research of her personal assistant, met Miss Sally Duval who was developing earth-friendly dyestuff which contained no toxic chemicals, and posed no threat to the environment.

Jacqueline had brought those two together, and through long meetings, trial and error, the three of them had brought new and innovative products to market.

Because of her willingness to take risks on new and untested products in the marketplace, Jacqueline had insisted and signed a year long contract for exclusivity, before it would be released for mass consumption.

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During her formative years, Jacqueline had kept the measurements of every single woman she and her staff had taken, and used it to develop her own set of standard patterns for both the regular and plus size figure. She was aware that the industry practice was to use a perfect size ten model and grade it up or down according to a standard grade rule. The industry also expected the plus size customers to fit into the bigger graded garments, or lose weight. During her experimental phase, she had made garments and used normal people, like her staff members, to wear it, and did not stop making changes until their feedback were totally satisfactory, because they were her market, not the perfect model.

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The city was slowly waking up and she unlocked the door and went inside. She walked through the dusky interior and checked the layout as well as the dressed mannequins lining the isles. The ground floor was dedicated to dressing the young, bold and trendy, and the clothes and colors reflected it. The first floor housed the outfits for the plus size customers who wanted to dress stylish and comfortable. Their colors were muted but still on trend, but the cut, fit, style and silhouette made all the difference.

She opened her office door and switched on the light and those of the store. When she looked up, she froze with a smile on her face.

On the wall facing her desk hung a Dereck Dreyer painting. It was the same one she had pointed to in the gallery saying, now that is something I can wake up to. She also remembered it having silently disappeared from the wall during the evening.

It was a painting of a golden sunrise against a clear blue sky and a roaring ocean at the foot of a tall mountain. A sunbeam grazed the peak of the mountain, throwing a broad band of gold dust across the waves.

Laurent, she thought with a soft look in her eyes. She dropped her bag on her desk, and her eyes caught the familiar black and gold embossed card inscribed with a personal message. She was about to phone him, when an unknown number appeared on her screen.