A FASHION FAIRYTALE: FINALLY WITH FLAIR

CHAPTER 3

Six months later, at The New Office at Flair.

Dana Lee's confidence might have been shaken after her hasty exit from Glossy and her subsequent hiding, but it was quickly regained by throwing herself entirely into her work at Flair. Dana had to start her life all over again working in the huge corporation that is Pulp Productions. It may seem to be the ultimate job in fashion but it’s actually very tough and political and her first weeks at Flair made Dana Lee question everything about her life. As the new girl on the block, she didn’t have a single friend there and no network of support. There wasn’t even a Mr Chan there to give her guidance or approve her initiatives. She couldn’t even get her coffee to be made right, and her suite of rooms was windowless. That means no growing green things: so much for glamour. 

But being the professional that she was, Dana prevailed, and before six months and two issues had passed, she, and her new office, was running like a well-oiled machine. “It’s really beginning to feel quite the same Mommy,” Dana assured Mrs Lee over the phone from her office, as she rolled up the sleeves of her printed Balenciaga jacket with the pagoda shoulders. “Please stop worrying so much darling. I’m a big girl now, didn’t you hear Bella say?”

This was a fairly typical office morning, where a kind of hush disguised a white-knuckled panic as yet another issue of Flair was born. So many things could go wrong! Dana was looking closely at the page proofs for a story on the city’s hottest new musicians with her assistants. The planned portraits were stunning – but for one. “Emma, and Queenie. This picture stands out for all the wrong reasons – this young man looks like a cadaver with no neck. Who put him in this ghastly brown thing? We have to do a re-shoot!” ordered Dana. Emma was the features editor and Queenie was her drag queen editorial assistant.  “Yes Ms Dana,” they answered in unison.

“That's Eli Kee. We will at once and see if he’s available, he’s particularly hard to locate you know, he’s so sketchy and elusive on the phone,” added Emma.

“And he did say he was busy composing songs this week,” said Queenie, clearly smitten. “He’s super talented, Ms Dana.”

“Well, you can tell Mr Eli Kee that he may be composing songs but we have a magazine to publish. And do remind him that this is Flair. And he looks like a neckless cadaver. That should get him back to the studio pronto!” Dana said. “Is that quite clear?”

When the two young ladies exited her minimalist office, Dana made a mental note: “Do they even know what they are doing? The most challenging, and rewarding part of my work is to groom new talent – but these are children. I shall have to go to the shoot to make sure things turn out the way I want. There’s no time for another mistake: Or else there’ll have two more cadavers here – Emma and Queenie.”