Front Row by Jerry Oppenheimer

Author:Jerry Oppenheimer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429907637
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2005-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

twenty-three

Mister Big

A new man had come into Anna’s life, one who would have an immense impact on her emotional and professional life.

The first indication that Anna and Michael Stone’s relationship was on the rocks was heralded by bouquets of flowers from the other man that began arriving for her at the desk of Laurie Schechter, Anna’s second personal assistant in little more than a year. Anna’s world was her work, she had few close friends, so it was usually her office colleagues who first got wind of changes in her personal life. Schechter’s radar caught the first blip.

With enough things on her plate working for a driven boss, Schechter now had to discreetly juggle two bouquets arriving daily—one from Stone, who had always sent a bouquet a day to Anna, and one from the new man. To Schechter, Anna was a “very powerful presence” with “a sexual power . . . an attraction, an appeal” to men.

Schechter was an intense, hard worker whom Anna hired away from the Dianne B. boutique in October 1982. At twenty-four, she was loyal and well liked by Anna, who would become her mentor and help her in the fashion world, where she later became a top stylist and editor in her own right. The two had first met when Anna came to Dianne B. to shop or pull clothing for fashion shoots when she was at Savvy, and Anna saw what a detail-oriented, compulsive worker Schechter was—a virtual Anna clone in terms of dedication and devotion to her job.

A graduate of Wesleyan University, where she had been an art history major, Schechter was intrigued by Anna, too. “She was this kind of mystery,” she says, “enveloped in the Wayfarer sunglasses, the Comme des Garçons, or layers of Issye Miyake, the bob in her face.” Unlike other personal assistants who would toil for Anna over the years and eventually leave or be fired, Schechter had incredible staying power, a strong personality, and “a passion for fashion.” Most important, she was a no-nonsense workaholic with unquestioned devotion to do whatever Anna needed, around the clock if necessary.

“There was no basic training,” Schechter notes. “Anna’s not someone who takes you in hand. It’s more she throws you in the water and you’ll either sink or swim. If you swim well, you’ll do well, and if you don’t, you’re not long for the position or the association.”

The first day the twelve-thousand-dollar-a-year Schechter showed up for work, Anna seemed surprised to see her and immediately sent her out for coffee. Schechter was convinced that Anna had “forgotten I was starting” and “wasn’t quite prepared” to deal with her.

By the time she returned, though, Anna began tossing out orders for things she required for a scheduled weekend shoot. “I need a van . . . call Brian Bantry . . . I need Sam McKnight for hair . . .” The list went on and on. Schechter had no idea what was what and who was who, and Anna wasn’t telling her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.