Rachel Lindsay - House of Lorraine (1959) by Rachel Lindsay

Author:Rachel Lindsay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2010-11-04T19:57:53.203000+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

SOON after Nicole reached the salon on Monday morning, Pierre arrived with Janice and her father. As Nicole walked across the room to meet them, nobody would have guessed from her calm demeanor that she was as apprehensive as a schoolgirl at the sight of Pierre. He greeted her formally and then introduced Mr. Gray, a thickset man with a bald head, shrewd grey eyes and a small mouth which he kept pursed round a large cigar.

"Glad to know you," he said warmly. "Your collection has certainly set the fashion world on its toes. What time do you show it?"

"It's shown every day at eleven and three."

"Then I guess maybe we'd better stick around until———-"

"That won't be necessary," Pierre cut in. "Mademoiselle Herriot's arranged for you to see the collection privately."

"Well, I sure appreciate that." Mr. Gray smiled at Nicole and Janice tugged his arm impatiently.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Dad. Even Balenciaga would cut off his nose to get an order from us, and here you are acting as if——- "

"That'll be enough, Janice," her father said sharply, and Nicole realized that beneath the man's amiable exterior lay the strength and authority that had taken him to the top of his own profession.

Sitting on a gilt chair that looked as if it might collapse beneath his weight, Mr. Gray watched with critical eyes as the models paraded before him. Occasionally he stopped one of them to examine a dress more closely, but for the most part he watched without comment, only his cigar, moving up and down as he chewed rapidly, giving any indication that he was not asleep.

When all the clothes had been shown, Nicole suggested they talk in her office, and once there she took her place at the desk, ordered coffee and passed round cigarettes.

Janice perched on the arm of Pierre's chair and occasionally let her hand rest on his shoulder. It was a deliberately intimate gesture that irritated Nicole, and whenever she had to speak to Pierre, she was careful to address her remarks to a point beyond his shoulder.

"I can see why English Rose is such a great success," Mr. Gray said expansively. "It's fabulous, Mademoiselle, fabulous."

"I'm glad you like it."

"That's an understatement," Mr. Gray laughed. "I like it so much that I'm gonna give you a complete order. I own the largest group of chain stores in America. We cater for the young girl and the housewife with not much money to spare, so any dresses that we take from you would have to be simplified — considerably simplified — in order to bring down the cost. But the one thing I don't want to do is to show a modified version of a Lorraine dress. I want to show a copy of the actual model. I want my customers to believe they're ordering a proper Lorraine, not something that's been adapted and altered and cheapened. In other words, Mademoiselle, I'm asking you to design a complete new American collection for me."

Mr. Gray

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.