Fashion Frenzy (14 page)

W
hen they stepped out of the ladies’ room, they were greeted by a small, flashily dressed young woman with short, platinum hair and a lightweight camcorder balanced on her shoulder. “Hi there, I’m Karen Schorr from New York 1, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You two are interested in future careers in fashion? I love that!” she chattered.

Before Maeve or Katani could even reply, the reporter continued, “All day long I’ve been looking for an angle that is a little more original than the typical ‘girl goes to NYC and makes it big as a model’ thing. I mean, BORING, right? Then I’m talking to Michelle and she told me about you two and why you were here and I said ‘Shut up!’ and she said ‘No, I can’t, because it’s true’ and I thought that you would be the perfect interviews, do you know why?”

Katani and Maeve looked as each other and Katani asked nervously, “Um, why?”

“Because our viewers just love stories about proactive young women. Girls who want to get a head start on their careers and who dream big, you know? This is perfect! It’ll be right up their alley!”

Both girls stood there not knowing what to do with Karen’s supercharged professional energy and nonstop chatter. Katani looked like she had been plowed over with a steamroller. But Maeve, captivated, whispered under her breath, “Someday I want to be just like her…”

Michelle squeezed both girls’ shoulders reassuringly. “Excuse me,” she said tactfully, “but I have to go tie up a few loose ends before the show. You girls will be just fine.” She winked at Katani and Maeve and asked Karen, “Can I help you find a place to set up backstage?”

“That would be great,” said Karen. She and the girls followed Michelle to the backstage area, and Michelle led them to an empty corner out of the way of the fashion show hubbub.

“How does this work?” Michelle asked. “I figured it would be quieter than anywhere else.”

“Yes. This looks great,” Karen said cheerily.

“And you’ll want the girls made up for the camera, right?” Michelle turned to Katani and Maeve. “Come with me. I’ll get Andre to squeeze you in while Karen’s setting up.”

“Thanks, Michelle!” Karen called. As they walked away, she pulled a tripod out of her backpack and began to set up the camcorder on it.

“Andre,” Michelle said to a man standing behind a makeup chair. He quickly brushed shaggy strands of bleached blond hair out of his eyes and looked up. “I need you to make these two up ASAP. Nothing drastic—just a little powder, blush, and lipstick, all right? They’re doing a TV interview. And remember, dearest, they’re only twelve.”

“Michelle!” Katani was mortified.

Andre laughed and kissed Michelle on the cheek. “Only for you, darling,” he said, flicking back his hair and nodding for Katani to get into the chair. “Honestly, Michelle, if I hear one more word from one of these stuck-up models about me designing personalized eyeshadow to match the exact shade of their eyes, I will freak out. I’m telling you! This one is missing a shoe, that one has bags under her eyes, blah, blah, blah—I’ve never seen such unprofessionalism in all my life!” He signed and inspected Katani. “Look at this one! Great skin tone. Hmm. Piece of cake!”

“Excellent. Okay, see you soon, girls.” And with that, Michelle was off to work. Andre began by wiping Katani’s face with a clean sponge and then proceeded to deftly apply foundation to her cheeks, blending it in with his fingers. It seemed like he needed only a few strokes to get the effect he wanted. He dabbed a little more onto her forehead, dotted some on her chin and throat, and then stood back, pleased with his work. Another minute and he had matched a perfect pink hue to Katani’s natural cinnamon skin tone and lightly dusted her face with blush.

Katani kept stealing glimpses of herself in the mirror, astounded at what she saw. It wasn’t that she looked
totally different from how she normally looked. She had the same eyes, nose, hair, and everything. She just looked older somehow, more graceful, and composed. All it took was a few flicks of Andre’s wrist—and bam!

Maeve watched, awestruck, as Andre traced the outline of Katani’s lips with a subtle lip liner, and then used a shimmery gloss to make it really zing. He handed her a tissue and made a smacking noise with his own lips to demonstrate what she was supposed to do. “Blot it off and it looks just right, yes?” he instructed. “Much better for young ladies. Too much lipstick or dark eyeliner—blugh!”

Katani stared at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe the transformation. She felt like a princess. At this moment, she could be anyone from a famous fashion designer to a no-nonsense businesswoman! And she
liked
the way she felt!

From a corner of the room they heard, “Will someone please find my shoes before I go completely
mad
?” From another corner one of the girls wailed, “Geri? Where is Geri!? These straps are too tight!”

“This dress…,” growled another girl, “looks absolutely
hideous
on me!”

“All right, your turn, missy,” Andre said to Maeve, ignoring the shouts and shrieks around him. Katani slid off the chair and Maeve hopped up obediently. “Love, love,
love
the red hair,” Andre enthused as he wiped her face clean and worked in a cream-colored foundation. He picked a soft bubblegum-pink powder for her cheeks and glossed her lips with subtle berry.

Andre pointed to the mirror in front of Maeve. “Eh—voilà!” he said with an exaggerated bow. “You like?”

Why was it that when Maeve tried to do her own makeup, it never looked this good? With her red locks cascading around her face, which had been kissed ever-so-slightly with glitter, Maeve thought she looked magical. “Oh, yes!” Maeve said. “I love it! You are so nice to do this.”

“Not a problem,” Andre answered with a flourish. “Makeup is important in the fashion world, and I think of myself as a painter…a painter of faces. It’s what I do and I love my job…unless I have to deal with spoiled divas. Rude, rude, rude!”

“Thank you again, Andre,” Katani said more formally. She didn’t want Andre to think she was an ungrateful diva. Although with all the chaos surrounding the show, Katani could understand how some models might get carried away. Katani was so overwhelmed with everything that was happening she felt like she might float away. First, she had her makeup done by a real New York City makeup artist, and now here she was about to have a news interview about her dream of a career in fashion—what more could this day have in store?

Karen reappeared, still a tornado of energy. “Done? Yes? Fabulous! You girls look amazing. Okay, let’s get this show on the road!”

Karen had already set up her camera on the tripod and quickly herded the girls in front of it. She peered through the lens to check the picture. “Just making sure all three of us fit in the frame. There, that’s perfect.”

She turned on the light, adjusted the angle, and walked in front of the camera with her microphone. The nervous, over-excited energy suddenly disappeared. In a second Karen became low-voiced, level-headed, and more like, in Katani’s opinion, a professional reporter. “So you are Katani Summers and you are Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, right? Just checking. This is going to be a short segment, but I’ll make sure you get copies, all right? It’ll be a nice souvenir to take home. Remember, look at me, not the camera, okay? Good. All right, here’s the countdown, girls, ready? Three, two, one…”

Maeve and Katani squeezed hands for good luck as Karen launched into her spiel. “Hello, I’m Karen Schorr from New York 1, and here we are at the
Teen Beat
Magazine Fashion Show. There has been a lot of excitement about this show, as it is the first fashion show sponsored by
Teen Beat
—the magazine of the moment for teen girls across the globe. We will get an exclusive look at debut lines from hot new designers! Plus it’s
the
place to see and be seen this afternoon in New York. If you’re lucky enough to get past the paparazzi, you’ll surely be rubbing elbows with all kinds of exciting people, including a certain heartthrob all the way from London. But first I have two special young ladies from Boston, Maeve Kaplan-Taylor and Katani Summers.” The two girls smiled at the camera. Maeve beamed comfortably and tossed her curls behind her back as she tilted her head to the side. Lights, Camera, Action—she was in her element. Next to her, Katani sat stiff as a board. The tight, nervous grin pasted on her face was very unlike her normal smile.

Karen went on. “These ambitious young girls are interested in careers in the fashion industry. By participating in this show today, they are taking their first steps in that direction. Tell me, ladies, is modeling your first choice?”

Katani looked astonished. Modeling? She wasn’t expecting this, and she didn’t have a clue how to answer.

Unlike Katani, who sat flabbergasted without a thing to say, Maeve seemed to have plenty of ideas. She didn’t even need to think before casually responding, “Good question, Karen. To be honest…no, I’m not planning on becoming a model. I love fashion though! And I think the most exciting part for me…and my career…is just to be at this show in the first place!”

“Oh?” Karen prompted her. “Why?”

“Well, Karen,” Maeve went on, “I’m an actress.”

“Really?” asked Karen in a fascinated voice.

Really
? thought Katani.

“Yes, Karen. I mean, so far I’ve only done a few independent productions…locally, you know, but eventually I plan on bigger things. Broadway, for instance. Also, Hollywood is another goal of mine. But when you are an actress, it’s really important to meet other people in the industry. So it’s really exciting that so many famous actors and actresses are here at this show today.” Maeve smiled again and repeated her head tilt/hair toss.

Katani could not believe her ears. Maeve
sounded
like a major movie star. Where was all this confidence coming from? She suddenly felt very foolish. Why couldn’t she think of anything to say? Had she lost her brain all of a sudden? She was Katani Summers, one of the best
students at Abigail Adams Junior High, and she felt like a moron with nothing to say. She began to feel faint.

“Wow, Maeve, you really know what you want! Now let me ask, is there anyone here today that you’re especially excited about meeting?”

Katani shifted awkwardly, unsure of where she should be looking. Karen didn’t seem to care one bit about talking to her. Katani felt frozen, trying to think of some way to enter the conversation. This was her passion, after all. Karen was completely ignoring the person who came here because of her love of fashion as she chatted away with Maeve…as though they were lifelong friends!

Katani decided to impress Karen by telling her the offbeat designers that she was excited about, but before she could get a word in edgewise, Maeve was at it again. “Hmm, who am I excited about? Well, of course, Simon Blackstone is here, star of
The Swashbuckler
! I’ve been a fan for a while of course, but today I got to spend some time with him one-on-one and he is really an awesome guy.
Very
down-to-earth.”

“Wow, one-on-one with Simon Blackstone. That is exciting,” Karen said as though she really meant it. “He’s one of my favorites, too. I guess this means it’ll be just as much fun watching the audience as it will be watching the runway!”

“Totally!” Maeve agreed. “I know I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled in both directions!” She and Karen laughed.

Katani couldn’t believe how comfortable Maeve was in front of the camera. She sounded as though she was having a regular conversation with the BSG back home,
instead of talking to a real reporter.
That’s her star quality
, Katani thought.
I feel so out of place just standing here
…

When Karen asked Maeve what she was doing to prepare for a stage career, Maeve explained how her father ran the Movie House and how she got to watch movies there all the time. “You can learn so much from the really great, classic actors and actresses. I feel like just sitting with my popcorn in the theater is like getting an education in film!”

“Wow, that’s a great way to look at it!” Karen complimented her. “You sound pretty serious about making a big splash someday. Perhaps here in the Big Apple?”

“Well, Karen, maybe you and I will be talking again in a few years,” Maeve said with a wink and a warm smile. Katani was astounded and coughed out of shock. How was her friend such a natural?

Karen seemed to remember suddenly that she had another person on camera. She turned to Katani. “Well, Katani, what about you? Do you see floor lights and stage curtains in your future?”

Katani felt her stomach flop as she opened her mouth to speak. “No, no,” Katani said, laughing nervously. “I am very interested in fashion. Actually, I want to start my own fashion business someday.”

Karen nodded. “Oh?”

Feeling a little looser, Katani continued, “Yes. I’m really excited to be helping backstage at the show this weekend. I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot here about how the fashion world really works—”

“That’s great. Well, it looks like you girls are right where you need to be!” Karen interrupted.

“Oh yeah!” Maeve gushed.

“Actually I—” Katani was about to explain that she wanted to see the thought processes behind making the clothes, but Karen immediately jumped in.

“Well, that’s all the time we have!” she chirped. “We have been hanging out with Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, a girl I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of, and Katani Summerville, from Boston. Thank you, girls, and have a great time at the show.”

Karen waited a few seconds as the girls held their smiles for the camera, then announced, “And—cut! Thanks a million, girls. That’s going to be great.” In a minute, she had taken the camcorder apart, stored the tripod in its case, and cleaned up the rest of the equipment. She gave the girls a friendly wave as she bustled down the hallway.

Maeve beamed at Katani. “That went well, don’t you think?” she asked.

Katani shrugged and looked dazed. “Didn’t you hear what happened? She got my name wrong.”

“Oh I missed that…”

“And she barely even talked to me. The whole interview was about you becoming an actress,” Katani choked. She didn’t mean to let it all slip out like that. She knew she sounded envious but she couldn’t help herself. It was her big break and she blew it. No one would ever want to hire her when she grew up if she couldn’t even utter a coherent sentence on camera. This was all so upsetting. Katani stifled her tears.