5 YEARS LATER
May 6, 2025
'I like the idea of doing both a boxy fit coat and a boxy fit jacket. People have more options that way, and the trousers will pair nicely with both.' I tell Tess and Sam. Recently, our design team - these two included, have been working tirelessly on the pieces for our latest collection. At the moment, they're sketching red corduroy jackets, coats and trousers, individually adorned with unique patches and appliques.
'I think you're right.' Tess replies, making a note on a separate piece of paper that says 'boxy'.
'It's in line with Bode to make different pieces with the same textiles and fit, and it gives a variety. The patches will make each piece unique anyway.' Sam, our lead designer, says, analysing some of the samples we've been given for the patches.
'I agree, I think it's variety, more than an oversaturation.' I nod, agreeing with Sam. While the three of us continue to discuss the three sketches laid out on the table, I hear familiar footsteps and my phone ringtone coming from behind me, and then Alanah's voice.
'Sophie, it's Niall calling.' She says, handing me my phone. 'I didn't want to bother you, but this is the third time he's called, and I'm getting sick of listening to the ringing.' She continues with a teasing smile. Alanah is Emily and my assistant, who is really much more like a friend who works for us.
'Thank you.' I laugh, taking the phone from her outstretched hand. 'I'm going to have to love you and leave you, but these look great. Let me know what the studio team says about the outerwear designs.' I quickly tell Sam and Tess, answering the phone and walking back up to the stairs to my shared office with Emily, who is currently somewhere other than here in preparation for the Met Gala tonight.
'Hi Niall, what's going on?' I ask, climbing the stairs and watching Alanah walk away to give me some privacy, blowing me a kiss as she does it. Living in New York means I don't get to see Niall as much as I'd like, but we always make the effort to stay in touch. However, he's usually not calling me in the middle of the work day and I have no idea what would have gotten him so hasty today.
'Soph, I'll tell you what. I've called you a fair few times, because this is really good news and it's taken you this long to get back to me.' He says, and despite the fact I haven't seen him in nearly a year, I can tell he's grinning. 'I'm really happy.'
'I'm glad to hear that. What's made you so happy?' I laugh. As I reach the top of the staircase, my eyes land on our corkboard where sketches are pinned for our Met Gala design tonight.
'Amelia and I are together again. Said we needed the time apart, but she misses me, and god knows I've missed her.' He tells me, and I break into a grin at the news.
Niall and Amelia are soulmates, they always have been and it's no secret he never got over her, but they've been broken up for the last year. During One Direction's second tour, Amelia was insanely busy with her work and wasn't able to visit Niall on tour. As a result, the distance took a toll on them. I think Amelia realised she wanted to settle down with Niall, but with him touring and being so busy, it wasn't something he could give her, and they slowly grew apart.
But now, a year later, One Direction has taken a break from recording and releasing music, after 4 years of working so hard, and Niall is ready to settle down too. In my opinion, it was the perfect example of right person, wrong time.
'Wow! Really? That's great!' I grin, so ecstatic and wishing I could see him and give him a hug. I've rooted for the two of them from the day he told me he liked her, and was just as disappointed as he was that they'd broken up. Niall and I spent hours on the phone for months after the breakup, from his hotel rooms all over the world. He was heartbroken, and felt like he'd never find someone as perfect for him as Amelia. 'Did you talk everything out and you're both on the same page?'
'We did. She's ready, and she knows I'm ready. I wouldn't say we're going to rush into anything right away, but we want the same things.' He clarifies. 'One day, Soph, I can see it..I'll be engaged like yourself. But it will be to Amelia, obviously.' He jokes, and I laugh, fiddling with the ring on my own finger. For as long as I've known him, Niall has always come up with the strangest one-liners, but that's part of what makes him so loveable.
'I know you will be, and I have no doubt it will be to her.' I smile, sitting down at my desk. I'm so glad to see him back with Amelia. For the last year, I've watched him miss a part of himself, and it seems as though they've finally found their way back to each other.
'Thanks, Soph.' He says, and then pauses. 'I hope you're as happy as I am with Amelia.' He adds in, a little more somberly, which takes me by surprise.
'Of course I'm happy.' I reply lightheartedly, wondering what has gotten into him all of a sudden. I look down at the ring on my left ring finger again, if only out of habit, and watch how its massive centre diamond sparkles in the sunlight.
'As long as you're happy, that's all that matters.' He replies. 'But, I'll leave you be. I know the Met is tonight, so I'm sure you and your counterpart are busy. Just wanted to share my good news.'
'I'm glad you shared the news with me. Really, I'm so happy for you. I told you that you'd find your way back to each other if it was meant to be, and it is meant to be.' I smile. 'And, we still don't know who the mysterious celebrity wearing our design is, and it's just more stress to add on top of my stress.' I laugh, using my laughter as a way to conceal the fact that I'm swimming in concern about the whole thing.
'Well considering your difficult set of circumstances, I'd be stressed if you weren't stressed.' He laughs too, 'I trust you'll tell me how the night goes?' He continues, as though I wouldn't tell him.
'Of course I'll tell you.' I reply, standing up and looking at that sketch again. 'Once this night is over and I'm not stressed out of my mind, I'll FaceTime you properly. I want a full run down on everything. You know I'm your biggest supporter.'
'You're right about that, Soph. You're our biggest supporter.' He jokes. 'But, we'll talk later. You have fun tonight, won't you?'
'I'll do my best, just for you and Amelia.' I smile, and after our goodbyes, Niall and I end our conversation there.
It's days like these, like the day of the Met Gala, when the gravity of my role at Bode really hits me. Never in my 31 years of life, did I think I'd be sharing an office with one of the most influential designers in the country, worrying about how a design I helped create will look on the steps of the Met Gala.
My whimsical story goes that two years ago, Emily Adams Bode asked me to move into a position as her partner at Bode. Working here has been an absolute dream, and nothing I ever thought I'd be able to do. I started out only helping her casually in between writing the blog and everything that came with it, but eventually she asked me to work for her as part of the Bode team. Slowly, through methods I'll never understand, I moved up until she asked me to be her joint CEO. It doesn't make any sense to me how I ended up here after not even going to fashion school, but I'm eternally grateful that she asked me.
Emily focuses heavily on the design and creation of all of our pieces, spending most of her time at the studio. I'm much more involved at the office, that we like to call the loft, working on Bode's branding, overseeing the sourcing of all of our textiles and materials, and meeting with future clients and buyers and taking their requests. Emily thrives in the studio, creating beautiful clothing, and I thrive at the loft, focusing more on everything her beautiful clothing impacts and requires.
Since becoming her partner, I've admired Emily in all her ability. From her creative vision to her raw talent, Emily is incredible and the only reason that Bode is where it's at today. And because of that talent, we have clients wearing Bode at award shows, events, in music videos and in magazines, and just on the street, as well as just regular customers buying off the shelf. Bode is worn by both everyday buyers and celebrities clients alike.
Emily's true passion boils down to her love of telling a story through a piece of clothing, and when we custom make pieces, her only focus is that our client likes what they're wearing, not the exposure Bode may receive. In the end, that type of attention doesn't mean nearly as much to Emily as what hearing that someone likes her design does. Emily is happy if the person wearing Bode is happy.
At the moment, our biggest focus has been on the Met Gala and the design for our one client this year.
Logically, we work with our clients for all their designs, regardless of what it's for. Clients often come into the loft or the studio, where we take measurements, get their input, suggestions and allow them to see their outfits come to life. But this year for the Met, our one client has done it differently.
In other words, we don't know who he is. From his team, we've received his measurements and a few requests for what he'd like, but other than that, we know nothing. As a result, we haven't been able to see how the suit fits on his body and for a custom designed and fitted piece, seeing it on the body is almost essential.
We don't know why we haven't at least been told who he is and we've never had a client like this before, but the more I've gotten to know Emily, the more I've realised how much she loves a challenge. She loves to push boundaries, so while it's been slightly stressful, something like this is right up her alley. Consequently, by association, it's also right up mine.
So all day, I've been trying my best to distract myself from the fact that the Met Gala is tonight, because it's no secret I'm stressed. Emily has the suit with her right now at the studio and is making sure it's perfect, so there's nothing I can do except pretend I'm not stressed out of my mind.
Emily and I are both going tonight, to meet the man wearing our suit and to make any last minute alterations and adjustments. We've got three hours before we meet our client at The Mark Hotel, where he'll be getting ready to walk the stairs.
Before I have enough time to slip into a full blown panic about the fact we don't know who he is, my phone starts ringing again.
'S, hey. I need a favour.' Emily starts, sounding rather excited.
'Yes?' I reply, mildly concerned about what this favour is going to be about.
'I've had an idea for the latest collection, and I need to make a sketch..a few sketches. I've come up with ideas for the souvenir pennant fabrics you found.' She begins, and I already know I don't want to hear the rest of what she's going to say. 'Are you able to go to the hotel..without me? Not for when he arrives to the suite, just for the preparation.'
'What?' I practically gasp, my heart rate increasing ten fold. 'E, that's a very reckless sounding idea.'
'Not really.' She almost laughs, as though I'm stupid for suggesting I'm unable to do this by myself. 'I'll get Alanah to come here to the studio, and she can grab everything to give to the team there, to put into the suite. All you have to do is just be there to make sure the suit has arrived safely, and you don't need me for that. I'll be there when mystery client arrives.' She explains.
'If there is one thing wrong with that suit, you know you're the only one talented enough to fix it on the spot.' I reason. Of course, working at Bode, I've spent the years learning how to design, make and alter our pieces, but my skills aren't particularly broad and I've got nothing on Emily, who can create a piece of clothing like it's second nature. I'm much better at coming up with a vision or a concept than actually executing it.
'You own 40% of Bode for a reason, S. The suit is perfect, I've made sure of that..you really only need to be there for appearances. We don't need two of us there before he arrives, because there won't be anything to do.' She reassures me, lightheartedly. 'I just don't want to forget these ideas, and I have such a good picture in my head of what we can make. I think you'll love them.'
'Love them or not, I might botch Bode's whole appearance tonight.' I basically complain, not trusting myself to do anything without the queen of Bode herself.
'You underestimate yourself, S. You run a huge blog, and basically run Bode while I hide in the studio, so babysitting a suit without me should be the least of your worries.' She tries, at this point just saying anything to make me go without her.
'This is not the time to persuade me with flattery.' I laugh. 'But, if you must do these sketches, I can go on my own.' I give in, deciding she's going to act as though I've jeopardised the future of this company if I don't let her sketch these ideas. It all ties in to her genuine passion and love for the design element of what we do, and I admire that, so I can't really be irritated by it. 'If I didn't love this stupid company as much as I do, I wouldn't have let you get away with this.'
'I take advantage of the fact you love Bode as much as you do.' She laughs smugly. 'Alanah and the team there will put everything in the room, so all you need to do is just arrive on time, and we all know you can do that.' She teases, knowing I have a great appreciation for being on time. I've always been an alarm person, and I always will be, because my worst nightmare is being late for something important.
'The devil wears Bode, E.' I quote, hearing her laugh on the other end of the line. With that, we end the call, and I'm left in our office contemplating how I let this happen.
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An hour later, I'm walking back through the door of the apartment, where my fiance and I live. It still sounds weird to say.
This apartment is much more his taste than it is mine, but it's beautiful nonetheless. We live in a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 53rd floor condo, with beautiful views right over Central Park and Manhattan.
The whole apartment has high ceilings, with floor to ceiling windows in the living room, white walls and ebony wooden floors. The apartment came fully furnished, but he wanted to hire interior designers to alter some of the furnishings and turn the spare bedrooms into offices for each of us, so he made that happen.
Once we hired our interior designer, she continued the established colour scheme by refurnishing every room with dark grey furniture, fixtures and decor, and created offices for each of us that match with the theme of the rest of the apartment.
It's all very sleek and modern, which isn't my particular style, but I've been obsessed with the soaring views from the day we toured this condo, and that makes it for me.
I put my keys down on our hall table, and rest my bags on the table legs. When I walk into the kitchen, I'm surprised to find him in the kitchen, looking through a cabinet.
'Hi petal.' He says, hearing and sensing my presence, keeping his eyes on the cupboard he's looking through.
'Hi.' I smile, walking over to him. 'I thought you wouldn't be here. Don't you have a meeting soon?'
'I do, but Mitchell and I wanted to hold it here.' He explains, still totally focused on whatever he's looking for in the cupboard. 'Is that okay with you?'
'Of course, that's fine.' I nod. I won't even be here while the meeting is taking place because I'll be at the hotel for the Met preparation, but I appreciate him asking. It's not uncommon for him to have meetings here. He says they're always more effective and productive if they're held here instead of in an office. 'Are you looking for something?' I ask, walking over to the sink to get a glass of water. He's quite obviously searching for something, and it's more likely that I'll know where it is than he will.
'My scotch..the Bowmore 25 year. Do you know where it is?' He asks again, now turning around to face me.
'I'm not sure.' I reply faintly, wandering out into the living room with my glass of water to where the bar cart is. There's an assortment of different spirits on there, but no Bowmore. I think about it for a few seconds but my mind comes up blank, with no idea where it would be. 'Did you finish it with Mitchell?' I offer, knowing they both like their spirits. It's very possible they just drank it all.
'We could have.' He replies thoughtfully. 'I'll call and get one of the assistants to buy a bottle and bring it over.' He decides, while I smile lightly at his quick problem solving.
I'm on a time crunch to get to the hotel, so I drink my water and then leave him to make his calls while I go get changed into something more professional. As I disappear into the bedroom, I hear the faint sounds of his phone call with one of his assistants, Alicia.
'Alicia, hi. Can you get me some of my Bowmore 25 year and bring it over to my condo? Yeah, leave it with the concierge, and they can bring it up. Yes..yeah, thankyou, Alicia. Bye.'
When I make it to our closet, I scan the racks and shelves to decide on something more professional to wear. Out of Emily and I, I'm definitely the more formal one, which comes in handy for events like these.
I decide on a pair of black cigarette trousers and black pumps, and one of Bode's button up shirts. Bode is a menswear brand, but I'm never opposed to wearing our pieces because the way we design our clothing makes it easy for anyone to wear.
This shirt is made up of an illusion of patchwork colours, and little illustrations of certain foods and how many calories they are can be found on each coloured patch. The patches are green, red, blue, orange and white, and feature foods like eggs, almonds, apples and carrots.
I asked Emily if we could name this shirt the Louie-calorie print shirt, after the one and only, Louis Tomlinson, and Emily agreed. Louis requested I name a shirt after him, and given that carrots appear on the shirt and I like to call him 'Carrot Boy' from time to time, it seemed to be the perfect fit.
While I grab each piece of clothing out of their respective places in the closet, my one and only fiance appears in the doorway.
'Sorry about that.' He shakes his head lightly, leaning against the doorframe. 'You know how I am with my spirits.'
'I do know how you are with your spirits.' I laugh, slipping the shirt on and beginning to do up the buttons. 'Emily has sent me into the lion's den. She wants to stay back at the studio to do some sketches, so I'm going to the Met preparation without her.'
'The whole preparation, when you meet the client?' He asks, completely shocked, and well aware of the situation with the mystery client.
'Not the whole thing. Just the set up before he gets there.' I reply, finishing buttoning the last button and looking in the mirror. 'Should I have the top button unbuttoned?' I ask, not really thinking that I've even asked out loud.
'Whatever you think looks better, petal.' He replies, laughing lightly. 'So Emily wants to do a sketch and is skipping out on part of the Met Gala preparation? For her own company?'
'Apparently so.' I reply, deciding on leaving the top button undone. I think it looks more relaxed with the button undone, and I've tucked the shirt into the band of my pants, so it sits in a way that doesn't expose my chest.
'Why would she want to do that? This is the Met Gala.' He asks, still baffled.
'You know how passionate she is about her designs.' I explain, walking into the bathroom to put on a light coat of mascara and concealer, and to curl my lashes. He follows, leaning in the doorway again. 'She just doesn't want to forget the sketches.'
'But this is the Met Gala. Why would she want to pass up on any of the time there? From a business perspective, I think the bottom line is that it's careless.' He continues, still confused by Emily's decision to miss a few unimportant moments of the Met Gala preparation. In a last minute decision, I decide to add a bold red lip to the look, leaning closer to the mirror to make sure it sits perfectly on my lips.
'This is why you two are different. You love business, she loves design.' I answer lightheartedly in between applying the red lipstick, and tying my hair into a textured low bun.
'Mm, it seems that way.' He hums, thinking over what I've said. 'You look beautiful, as always.' He adds in after a pause, and I smile at him in the mirror, before he disappears from the doorway. I imagine he's going to prepare for this evening's meeting, which seem to become more and more frequent the bigger he and Mitchell grow.
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By the time I'm at the hotel, I'm more nervous now than I am stressed. The time is here, so there's no point in being stressed, but I'm nervous. Nervous that something could go wrong that I can't fix if Emily isn't there, that we meet the client and the suit doesn't fit how he wants it to, or that it just looks terrible on the steps.
I make it to the reception, and I hastily show all the confirmation that I'm from Bode and here for the Met Gala. I'm directed up to the suite on the 10th floor, and as I listen to the click of my heels on the looby floor, I realise I'm looking around at every person in the lobby and wondering if they're the man we're dressing. Realistically, he shouldn't be here yet, and I doubt he'd be hanging out in the hotel lobby, but that's not stopping me from thinking he's just going to appear sitting on one of the couches out here.
I find my way to the 10th floor, where our Garden Suite is situated. In the past years, we've dressed a few different guests, but for this year, we've only got our one mystery guest, and from the photos we've received, this suite is beautiful.
When I swipe the key card and open the door, I'm taken aback to find a huge flurry of activity behind the door. I've seen this before, but I was so in my head that I didn't prepare myself to open a door to a room of at least 10 people, who all look like they've arrived in the last 3 minutes too. Bode didn't organise for any of this, so this must have been his team. There's a makeup crew situated in the living room, a hair stylist setting up by the window, and a man with a camera beside the TV. To my left, I notice two ladies setting up some sort of catering in the kitchen, and there's a nail team here too, unpacking by the couch.
The further I enter the room, people start to notice me and all turn around to greet me with friendly smiles. I think they all recognise I'm from Bode, and someone directs me towards a closed white door. I slide the door open, to reveal the bedroom - the only space in the suite that is empty.
As I look around, I find our silver clothing rack, facing the bed. On it hangs all the pieces to the suit we've made for this client, sitting perfectly spaced. That would be the work of Alanah. On the bed, she's put all the supplies Emily would've asked her to bring, and beside the rack sits our clothes steamer.
The lights are dimmed with only a lamp turned on and the window closed, and I turn around to close the door again. I'm not sure why I would need to close the door, but it was closed before I touched it, so I'll just close it and put it back to how I found it.
There's hustle and bustle and chatter in the other part of the suite, but once I close the door, I'm immersed in near silence.
I walk over to the rack, and examine the suit, in awe of how it looks exactly as we pictured it would. As always, Emily did a perfect job.
With our client's few requests and this year's Met theme, About Time: Fashion and Duration, we designed this suit, incorporating the theme as best as we could. Emily, as the matriarch of Bode, designed and created this suit almost all on her own, along with my suggestions, and the Bode team's minor inputs.
We decided on a millefiori style floral suit, with the pattern being relatively understated to contrast against the light blue of the rest of the suit fabric.
At Bode, the philosophy is to repurpose vintage textiles and create a sentimentality for the past, so we searched everywhere for the perfect vintage fabric for the suit. After weeks of looking, I found the perfect fabric on one of my many visits to France, which matched perfectly with the vision that had been created.
He'll wear a simple white collared shirt under the suit jacket, a lime green patterned tie, and we added a Flavor Flav clock to hang from around his neck.
Finally, I suggested white gloves with tiny black bows, flat black Mary Jane's and white socks to juxtapose against the clean cut suit. I think those three smaller details add an element of femininity to the largely masculine style, which I hope ties well into the ever increasing fluidity when it comes to gendered fashion.
So to tie in this year's theme, we have the clock, the vintage fabric and the progression of fashion through time, with the contrast of both feminine and masculine styles.
I walk over to the window and open the curtain, then moving back towards each element of the outfit hanging on the rack. I went over to the studio yesterday to have a look at it again, and I already knew exactly what it looks like, but it's so much more real seeing it sitting on the rack. In a few hours, it'll be on the steps of the Met.
There isn't even a crease on the suit except for the right sleeve, which could do with a steam, so I start meticulously steaming that sleeve.
The longer I stand here in the silence, steaming the sleeve, the more concerns start flooding my mind.
Fitting a piece of clothing to someone's body perfectly is not easy, and having never met whoever is going to be wearing this suit is such a high risk. There's so much room for error and if the measurements we were given weren't perfect, there's not time to make substantial alterations now, like that of altering the size of the suit.
And on top of that, this is the Met Gala, not a backyard barbeque. As much as it's not our focus, how our client looks tonight is a reflection on the quality of Bode, and it's a lot of pressure to create something perfect for the Met Gala without even knowing who we're creating it for.
Just as I finish steaming the sleeve and move the steamer to the far corner of the room by the bed to keep it out of the way, I hear the door slide open behind me.
I turn around to meet the man we've spent months creating this suit for, but every voice filtering into the room goes silent and my throat closes over when my eyes land on the broad chest standing in the doorway. And all it takes is my gaze falling onto the black fabric of his hoodie.
There, printed against the black in white block letters, is the word;
COLUMBIA
I don't have to meet those green eyes to know who it is.
It's him.
I can't be here if he's here. Not after 4 years, and not after what I did to him.
AUTHORS NOTE:
UPDATE: SEQUEL OUT NOW!
I trust you'll love me for this one xx
The important news - the sequel is going to be an alternating timeline, with one timeline following the storyline of where the last chapter, chapter 54 left off (October 14, 2020), and then another timeline following on from where the epilogue has left off (May 6, 2025). That way, you'll slowly piece together what happened between 2020 and 2025.
Also, all the clothing that Sophie, Emily and the Bode team discuss in this chapter, as well as in the sequel, are all going to be real designs from Bode (apart from the Met Gala suit - that was sketched as a prediction for what a certain someone would've worn at the 2020 Met Gala). For the most part, all the knowledge Sophie has on the company and their clothing is information I've pulled from Bode's website, Facebook and Instagram.
And to let you know now - the sequel is going to be really intense, and explore some really serious topics and themes that haven't been touched on in this book. It's going to be really difficult to write, and there's going to be some confronting things to read.
Finally, thank you for all your lovely comments on the last chapter, it means the world to me that you all took the time to leave such precious messages.
We'll see you all soon x