Barbour Jacket. Theory Singlet. Decjuba Skirt.
“On your way to work today can you go past
Vogue and pick up our samples from the shoot?”. So off to Vogue I went! When I
arrived I was directed to the mailroom, which was around the back of the
building, safe to say it was the less than glamorous side of the offices. The
goods inside this room however, were far from standard. This room was the centre point of everything
coming in and out of the Vogue, Lucky, Glamour or any other Conde Nast Magazine. Yep that’s right the room held every piece of
clothing, accessory, shoe and anything else you could relate to fashion editorials in it.
After waiting in line with the other messengers
for 20 minutes I finally got the goods and was on my way back to the
office. With a slow morning consisting
of inventory reports and bank runs it was not until the afternoon that I was
out and about on the Upper East Side.
I had been asked to go and pick up the unwanted purchases from 'private clients', or Upper East Siders as I like to
call them. Hopping from one apartment building to another, I was told to collect goods that were the wrong size, damaged or merely unacceptable for the occasion.
One of the women on my list was the Japanese ambassador who lived in a beautiful town house in between
Fifth Ave. and Madison. I waited in the
lobby area for the client while she gathered the goods to be returned. This was one of the most beautiful houses I
had seen during my time in New York, it was "just like the movies". With a fountain in the lobby and floor to
ceiling windows, it was no wonder they didn’t have time to return the goods
themselves, why would you ever want to leave this place!
After collecting bits and pieces from two
other clients I returned to the office to be greeted by my boss and one of her
friends. They were playing dress up with
the sample sale products. It was not
until the friend said “here have this bangle from the new collection”, which perked my interest and I realised who
she was. Jennifer Fisher was in my
office!! I nearly fainted I absolutely love her jewellry and here she was giving
away a heavy gold bangle resembling a bone.
“You must take something from the rack if I’m going to take the bangle”
my boss replied. That’s when I realized;
this is how business in the fashion world is done. Kind of like a barter system, designers give
their products to one another as a form of respect or merely just so that they
never have to buy designer wear. I like
this system, a lot.
Another day another lesson learnt! I could
get used to this lifestyle that’s for sure!
Love Bella
xoxo
