The day had finally arrived, Millie's first London fashion week. She felt nauseous, her stomach ached with nerves for the entire two and half hour drive to London. She'd been working on this for months, it still didn't quite seem real that she was going to have her designs on the runway, it had been her dream since she was a young girl.
Since she used to dress up her sisters in their mums clothes and make them walk a pretent runway from the dining room, through the double doors into the lounge whilst Millie narrated their outfits to the crowd, usually the cat. She never thought she would get here.
As Ricco pulled into the car park of Somerset House, where it was being held. He turned off the engine and turned to her, breaking her out of her childhood reminiscence.
"Here we go" he smiled, raising his eyebrows and rubbing her on the knee excitedly.
He was excited for her, she deserved this. She was such a talented designer and with all the drama in her life right now she deserved one day to go right for her.
"Let's just go for pizza instead" smiled Millie.
"As tempting as that sounds... uh, no!" Replied Ricco
"Get out of my car!" He joked
Reluctantly Millie got out of the car, gathering her things from the boot. She took a deep breath before walking towards the entrance, it was as busy as she remembered Milan being when she had attended Milan fashion week. People coming and going, taking suitcases, hanging rails and suit bags into the venue, cars dropping off celebrities and crew members running around getting everything ready.
At the entrance a young guy with a clipboard approached her.
Ricco stepped in front of her, knowing she didn't like having to talk to people she didn't know and he'd done this a hundred time before.
"Mr Salvatore and Ms Vine, for Salvo's and A.Rose" Said Ricco
The man looked up and down his clipboard for a few moment
"Ah yes, thank you sir, if you make your way inside, go to the left where you'll be given your passes" he explained
"Thank you" replied Ricco, Millie followed him inside
Her nerves had intensified by 1000, she knew she was going to have to locate a bathroom soon or the contents of her stomach was going to be all over the floor. There was no way it was going to stay down.
She nervously scanned the room, there were world famous designers, supermodels, celebrities, she'd never seen so many famous people in one place and she felt pretty insignificant amongst them. They got their passes and went to find their backstage area where all their staff and models would be getting ready.
Millie clocked Mr Salvatore and his wife some way ahead of them.
"Hey there's your parents" said Millie, nudging Ricco who was completely engrossed in staring at a muscular, Mediterranean looking model across the room.
"Stop dribbling over the male models!" Teased Millie
"What? Sorry?" He replied, snapping out of his stare, realising what she had just said he rolled his eyes at her.
10 minutes until her collection took to the catwalk, the models were ready, Millie and Ricco went to take their seats along side the runway, next to Mr and Mrs Salvatore. Ricco hugged and kissed them both, and said something in Italian. Millie really needed to learn Italian!
Ricco's mum gave Millie a hug and kissed her on both cheeks
"Bravissimo Bella" she said with a big smile, Ricco's mum loved Millie, she always wished Ricco had been straight and that he and Millie would get together. She was completely accepting of Ricco being gay but being an only child she longed for a daughter in law.
The compere walked back onto the stage. Millie inhaled deeply, this was it. If this went well it could catapult her career to a whole other level. She could be a would renowned fashion designer, at nearly 27 she'd be one of the youngest to ever reach a global level! It was like a dream she was expecting to wake up from soon and find herself still making coffee for Mr Salvatore.
"Next, Italian designer high street brand 'Salvo's' with their fall collection called Sussurri
Millie watched intently as the first model took to the catwalk, noticing some of her input in the outfit she was wearing, she felt a sense of pride wash over her and a smile crept onto her face. She knew watching her own collection next was going to feel incredible, she only had 4 models dressed compared with the 20 or so Salvo's and the other big designers were showing but it was a start, a foot in the door, her own creations in front of the world, in front of the most famous fashion houses, big name celebrities and the worlds press. It was a huge deal for her.
Savlo's collection was nearing the end, Millie watched the reactions of people on the other side of the catwalk, there was lots of whispering amongst them and smiling, it seemed to have gone down pretty well with the crowds and Millie was confident it was a really great collection.
"Next up, designer Amelie Vine with her fall collection Arose announced the compere. Ricco put his hand on her knee and squeezed it gently in support. Millie closed her eyes for a couple of moments 'Please let this go well' she said to herself. Her body was tense, she felt frozen to her chair, her back ached with rigidity.
The first model appeared on stage, a petite curvy young girl of about 19 years old took to the catwalk, her black jersey pencil dress hugged her hourglass figure, she was wearing white knee high socks with a black sports band around the top of them, black glittery heels and a white glittery baseball cap, she was carrying a black and white striped oversized handbag with red stitching, similar to a baseball, with a gold glittery 'D' on the front. The bag was named after Dex, Baseball was his favourite sport. She watched the faces of the crowd on the opposite side of the runway, trying to gauge their reactions, there was lots of whispering, she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. She was nervous, her style was quite different to all the other designers in the show.
The second lady appeared at the end of the catwalk, a tall, slim lady in her 30's with short blonde hair, she reminded Millie of Cat, dressed in baggy harem style khaki trousers with a black glittery stripe down the side of each leg, she had a small gold scarf tied round her neck with a black crop top that showed off her perfect washboard abs, she worse a cropped leather jacket with gold heels, all of her bags had a single letter as a name, she carried the 'R' bag, named after Ricco, a gold clutch bag with a black rose print and glittery gold hanging rose shaped keyring attached to the zip. As the third model appeared Millie felt her rigid body relax just a tiny bit, it was nearly over. Just one more and she could breath normally again. Her last model came out from back stage, this was Millie's riskiest look, she watched as some of the front rows smiled disappeared from their faces as her final model appeared at the end of the runway, she was wearing really baggy jeans that hung from her waist by a black belt, the knees ripped and the ankles shredded, she had no shoes on, a white tight tshirt hugged her frame, just revealing a tiny bit of her flat, milky bar white stomach. Her hair was long and dark, almost black and hung straight down the sides of her face, her make up was subtle, dark eyes and nude lips. She was carrying a large black bag, with the word 'Rose' in a graffiti style font embossed in a white ink. It reminded Millie of her youth, in her teens she loved to wear huge baggy jeans that hung off her hips in some kind of homage to TLC. It was a gamble, this look hadn't been in style since the 90's, she wondered if her confidence was misplaced and that assuming she could bring the style back was perhaps a couple decades too late. Ricco and Salvo's design team had approved the designs and were confident she could pull it off but she wasn't so sure. Scanning the audiences faces she couldn't gauge any sense of popularity.
But it was done now. Too late to take it back, her last model walked back up the catwalk, disappearing backstage.
"And that was Amelie Vine with 'ARose" repeated the announcer.
Millie exhaled deeply, her stomach in knots, she rubbed her sweaty palms down her black wide leg trousers.
"That looked incredible" Whispered Ricco, kissing her on top of her head
"Fabulous job Amelie" whispered Mr Salvatore, leaning past his wife to be heard.
"Thank you Sir" she mouthed back.
Millie took a few deep breaths and tried to focus her mind back to the rest of the show. The hard part was done.. for now, she could watch the rest of the show without her heart in her mouth!
An hour later and the show was finished, Millie headed backstage to pack up her stuff, they still had a nearly three hour drive home yet and Millie was already starting to feel knackered.
"Thank you girls, you were amazing!" Gushed Millie as she approached her models, giving them all a hug one by one. She took some photos of them on her phone before they got changed so she could send them to her mum, her sisters and Dex later on.
Just as she stepped back to take another photo someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh Mr Salvatore" said Millie as she turned around
"Congratulations my dear, it was sensational" he beamed, Millie smiled.
"Thank you Sir" she replied
"We'll have a proper talk tomorrow at the office" he added before walking off towards Ricco who appeared to be following a male model again!
Millie helped the staff to pack all of the clothes and accessories up, she really wanted to get on the road home, it was coming up to 6pm and all she wanted was her bed! She was fairly certain her staff and models wanted to get home too judging by the speed they were going at.
Within 15 minutes they were ready to leave.
Millie waited for Ricco in the foyer, hoping he hadn't got his way and gone home with the model!
If he's left me here I'm going to kill him she thought, getting her phone out to call him.
"Come on! You're holding everyone up!" Joked Ricco, laughing, as he walked straight past her and out of the doors, Millie walked quickly to catch up, clutching an arm full of bags she struggled through the heavy doors of the grand venue, trailing after Ricco.