Chapter 3

Walter drove us back to the agency in the bigger car, with me in the front and the others in the back. Before I got out, he gave me his business card and I told him my mobile number, which he entered into his own phone, ‘so we can coordinate the shoot details’. I stood on the pavement, and we watched him drive away. Janice laughed.

“I wonder if there are more like that at home?”

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the arts room, working on the storyboards and getting our minds in tune with how the shoot would progress. We were booked on a flight out of Heathrow on Thursday, and Yvonne told us that we had a salon session on Tuesday and would be spending Wednesday evening at the airport hotel for an early flight next morning. The salon was at a shopping centre, so I could take the others there in my car. Wednesday, we would be picked up to go to the hotel.

When we got back to the house, Tracey was there and was introduced to Monica, then told that she would be alone for about five weeks while the three of us were off in the sun. On Tuesday, we had a clean through and packed our main cases for the trip, just leaving our overnight ones for the hotel. At the salon, we were given the works, from top to toe. By the time we were finished, we definitely looked like three models. We all had new hairstyles with a distinct curl hanging on one side, with the stylist having pictures from the catalogues to work to.

Back at the house, Tracey wanted pictures of us that she could show Jemma when she saw her at work. Then we went to the Volunteer for a meal. Wednesday was our tidying up, final packing and trying to remember everything day, with the agency sending a minibus for us. We loaded up and then went to pick up the other three models on the way to the airport. Janice had met them all, so was able to smooth the introductions. I could see that there could be some friction with a couple of strangers hogging the limelight, so explained that Monica and I had been in the original campaign that we would be emulating with this shoot. They had all been given the treatment, with their own curls. I think that there were a few pictures taken of the six of us as we had our dinner in the hotel.

The flight was good, and we arrived in Barcelona to be picked up by three drivers who loaded up our luggage and took us south to the Grand Hotel Rey Don Jaime, a little to the south and next to a lovely pine forest. It was a large building, with an attached restaurant, the Torre Barona. We had three twin rooms, with Monica and I sharing one with Janice sharing with one of the other models. The drivers had told us that we were having a meeting the following morning and to relax for the rest of the day. We explored the hotel, with Janice and I pleased to see that they had an art gallery.

Our bikinis had their time in the sun at the hotel pool, and it was good to feel the warmth on your face. During the course of the day, we were joined by others in the crew. The two photographers both had lighting assistants, there were three make-up artists and one hairdresser, there to make sure our locks remained good as we would not be changing the overall look. We knew that we would have local drivers and transport and that there were arrangements in place for us to have clear spaces at different attractions. Walter was the last to arrive, armed with a big briefcase with the shooting schedule and all the local contacts. We all had a big table at the Torre Barona that evening and got to know each other. Walter told me that he had replaced the intended supervisor, so had been busy getting up to speed with the shoot details.

The three weeks sped by, with us spending time looking great in various tourist attractions. We did bikini and beachwear shots at the hotel pool, with the old tower in the background, as well as at the beach, where we splashed around in the sea. There were evening sessions in the pine forest in flowing gowns, time in the great churches in our Sunday best, and we even had a day at the airport, looking like first-class passengers about to fly to wonderful destinations. We had one full day at the Moll D’Espanya, where we were photographed on a luxury yacht and also in the arched viewing passage in the aquarium. That was a long day for us, as we finished it with a fleet of luxury sportscars at the GTRent establishment. We did get the Sundays to ourselves, which I spent downloading all the pictures I had taken onto my trusty laptop. There would be a lot of ideas for future paintings.

When we flew out to Florence, we were picked up by a coach driver, who took us to the Villa Cora, a lovely old building with great charm. Our time there was spent in great churches, at the Ponte Vecchio, the Uffizi Galleries, and several different Piazzas with wonderful buildings as backdrops.

I could see the campaign in my mind. Wear the new-look Hokem by Solon and go to places that you could only dream of. Walter told me that the ‘Girls with Curls’ were going be shown as successful ladies who lunched in scenic places, swam in the Med, dined in five-star restaurants, and saw the world. It would attract the new generation of women who had survived Covid and thought that they could take on anything. It was almost a recreation of the feeling after the first war and the flapper period. A lot of the outfits were modern versions of the slinky looks and exposed legs of that period. It was a concept that Robert could never have considered.

The whole time we were away, Walter was the perfect gentleman, the one who was the boss of the shoot and the one to go to with any questions. He may have spent a little more time with me as one of the lead models, but he never made any untoward moves. At our final Sunday dinner in Florence, one of the photographers raised his glass and proposed a toast to Walter as the best director he had ever worked with. At that table, Walter was sitting between Monica and I, and we both leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek while everyone cheered.

When the meal was finishing up, he asked Janice and I to join him in the bar as there was something he wanted to discuss with us. We sat at an alcove and clinked glasses to a job well done.

“Ladies. The photographers have been sending the best pictures back to head office after every day, to let them know what we were achieving against the plans. My cousins are very happy with how things have progressed and have told me that I am to be in charge of future shoots. They have elevated me to board level as an associate. I have input but no voting rights.”

We congratulated him on that, then he got a little more serious.

“I am in charge of the putting these sessions into an advertising campaign. I will have to run it by the board but have been given the authority to put together a team. I have spoken to Yvonne by phone and have asked her if I can buy the time of the two of you until the launch. Like me, you two are graphic artists and I think we can do something that will be prizeworthy. That will fill your time before you’re needed on the catwalk for the shows.”

We were stunned. To be able to steer the shoot to the final launch will be a feather in our caps. When we didn’t say anything, he carried on.

“You’ll get your salary from the agency, but I will organise for you to have parking spaces and also you will have Solon Brothers ID and employee discount cards. The lunches are free for the staff. There is an office which we can use, on the floor below the one you were at for the meal. It’s equipped with computers, printers and will have the latest software. What do you think?”

“Do you have oversight? A director in charge of advertising?”

“We do, her name is Moira.”

“Right. Moira should have the say about which picture is used from a proposal we put forward to her, before it goes to the board. I don’t want to be accused of pushing myself to the front, every model should be given equal possibility to star. All six of us worked hard on this trip, and I think that you could pick any one of us and build a campaign around her.”

“That’s good. Moira will be talking to us as soon as we get together. I have to tell you, I always thought that models were paid too much to stand around looking beautiful. These past few weeks have shown me just how hard the job is. Especially having to repeat shots without blowing up.”

Janice had been quiet up to now but asked her question.

“Let me get this right. We will be working at the Solon building and will still be paid by the agency. What happens once the Spring Season is launched?”

“You do the Summer Season campaign, as well as modelling as required in the bigger stores. Then we go off and do the Autumn Season, with the Winter one possibly added on. After that, perhaps we may be putting the campaigns into some sort of order, then, next year, we do it all again. By that time, I expect that you might be Solon employees full time and we’ll buy your contracts from the agency. That will likely include Monica, if this campaign is a success. We’ll need the three of you as the face of the store.”

We had a drink to the future and Janice said that she needed to get to bed, giving me a wink as she left. I was here, sitting with Walter, in a bar, late in the evening. We were quiet for a moment, then he reached over and took my hand in his.

“Trixie, it has been wonderful to be seeing you every day for the past five weeks. It has been hard for me to equal out my time as I’ve wanted to drag you away and be alone. It has been a big learning curve for me, and I think that the experience has been good. It will be even better with you working with me. Perhaps I might be able to take you out for dinner, some time.”

“I’d like that, Walter. I know that we’ll be working hard on the campaign, my own experience with Hook and Hokem will help, but that was only small exposure until we went live with the internet. We had small adverts in magazines, but Solon have full page ones in the front-line magazines. It will be a different world.”

We sat for a little while longer, until I said that I needed my own sleep as I would need to pack in the morning. We both stood and he took my hand and led me outside, in the warm evening and a half a moon looking down on us. He bent to kiss me, and I put my arms around his neck. I’ve read about toe-curlers, and this was up to the description. He pulled me to him as we kissed again. I pulled away.

“Goodnight, Walter. We have a plane to catch.”

“Goodnight, sweet Trixie. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

He stood and watched me as I went back inside. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked. I could also feel the dampness in my groin. I think that my hormones were reaching full potential.

Monica gave me an old-fashioned look when I got to the room.

“Nothing happened! We talked about taking the shoot to the campaign launch.”

“By the look on your face, he must have kissed you.”

“Did it show? He did, actually, but that was as far as it went.”

“About time too! He’s been giving you lustful looks for the whole shoot. I don’t know where he got the self-control. Most men would have given in weeks ago.”

I got myself cleansed and moisturised, used the ensuite and got ready for bed. As I put the light out and started to doze, a small voice game out of the dark.

“As long as I get to be a bridesmaid, Trixie.”

I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

We all met for breakfast, then brought our luggage to the lobby. I had picked up a very nice Italian leather coat in the city, which I thought I may need once we were back in London. It was a bit of a shock to leave the relative warmth of Italy and go back to the cold of mid-February. A minibus took the photographers and their assistants, while Walter was collected by a car with a company driver. All of us models and dressers were in another minibus to go on a tour to drop everyone off. At least the heater was working, but I was getting tired of sitting on a hard seat by the time we arrived in Tottenham.

We took our luggage to our rooms, freshened up, and met in the kitchen to bring Monica up to speed with what had been discussed the previous evening. Her part in the future was still up in the air, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be for long. Janice rang Yvonne to tell her we were home. She put it on speaker so we could all hear.

“Yvonne, it’s Janice, calling to let you know that the shoot has finished and we’re home safely.”

“That’s good. I don’t have anything for you three for the moment. Solon have spoken to me about reserving you all for their own use for a while. Why don’t the three of you take the rest of the week off and I’ll get back to you once I have definite news.”

“Thanks for that, we need a rest after all that hard work. Can we get our hair back to normal?”

“If you want. Solon may want to have the curl back in place for their fashion shows. I’ll give you a call at the end of the week.”

Janice then rang the salon to make an appointment for all three of us, Wednesday afternoon.

We spent the rest of the day unpacking and putting away our things. There was very little for laundry as we had been well serviced by the hotels. We had enough in the kitchen to make breakfast, so, as soon as Tracey got home, we all went off to the Volunteer for dinner, telling her about our adventures in the sun. We found out that Jemma had set a date for her wedding and had asked for Janice and me to be bridesmaids, details to follow later.

Tuesday, we did some shopping for essentials, and I sat with my laptop and organised the pictures I had taken into themed groups for painting ideas. In the afternoon, I set up my easel with a canvas and sketched out a picture showing the Egyptian furnishings in the Solon building. On a whim, I added the figures of Walter and I in silhouette against a background window.

Wednesday, we all had new hairstyles, taking away the curl for the moment. We took my car, then went off to Greenwich for a visit, somewhere that Monica wanted to see. It was good to be away from the bustle of the city, beside beautiful buildings without a camera crew recording your every move. Mind you, I think that there may have been a few tourists who took pictures of the three of us, just in case we were famous.

While we were having afternoon tea in a café, my mobile rang. It was Walter, asking if the three of us could go to the Solon building at ten, next day, for a meeting. He gave me a number for the barrier at the management section on the car park, and asked if I could ring him when we arrived. I wrote it in my notebook, and we finished the call.

That evening, Monica and I cooked the evening meal. It was almost like being back in Southampton. Tracey told us that we could open a restaurant. Janice and Tracey did the washing up and we all sat in the lounge to talk. It was getting to be like a family.

On Thursday morning, we took extra care with our appearances, and I drove us to the Solon building. At the barrier, I punched in the number and parked. We sat in the car while I rang Walter. He told us to go to the lift and press the button under the one without a number. When we stepped out of the lift, it was into a large, open-plan, office with guys and girls at desks. Walter was there to welcome us and led us to a meeting room, where a woman in her forties was waiting for us. She rose as we walked in, and we were all introduced to Moira, the advertising director.

The meeting was interesting. Moira had already chosen three piles of photos from the shoot. One was her ‘definitely use’, one was her ‘probably use’, and one was her ‘maybe’ pile. She had several taglines that her group had already brainstormed around ‘girls with curls who buy Hokem by Solon.’ It was very productive, with me having experience from the catalogues, Janice having experience from her time selling, Monica having experience with seeing previous shoots that had made it into magazines. Between us, we impressed Moira with our level-headed comments. Walter was left in the dust as far as a lot of it was concerned but did make comments that I thought showed more knowledge of dresses than was usual.

We had a break for lunch in the company canteen, which was really good. When we finished, Moira took us to a large office where she ruled the roost, showing us where we would be working from. We had a ‘cell’, with four desks, all with computers.

“These computers are linked to a dedicated server with all the publishing software you may need. They are internet enabled but are locked out of social media sites. When you have created the campaigns, you will put them on a portable drive and bring them to me to authorise. After that, I take over the placement of adverts and will send a copy, by courier, to Marilyn and her team in Southampton to create the website pages. They will already have a full listing of the products and prices, along with the suppliers pictures, so will create the on-line catalogue with the front and rear pictures and an order number. This server has every picture taken during the shoot, so you can browse them to see if there are any that can be used beyond the ones I’ve already chosen.”

Walter smiled.

“The biggest desk is mine, as I will be also planning the following season’s shoots, after seeing what the supplier has in store for us. Alphonse has spoken to Yvonne and you girls will start with us, here, Monday at nine. Is that all right with you?”

We nodded and all gave him and Moira a hug. She took us back to her own desk, where she had three lanyards with our photo ID and a barcode.

“The barcode gets you into the carpark. There will be the one marked space on Monday with ‘Model Parking’. It also gets you into the employee entrance should you come in on foot. On top of that, it is your company discount card. We expect you to be here at least six hours a day, but your start and finish times are flexible, as long as you put in thirty-six hours a week. The others in the office are on staggered nine-day fortnights. Any questions?”

We had no questions at the moment and sat at the other three desks to open up the computers and see what we had to work with. Moira showed us the different publishing and graphic packages we had to use. It was all up to the moment and the server was very fast. Janice and I both experimented with a picture while Monica looked on to see how we did it.

We spent a half an hour working with the various packages, adding from the text that Moira had left with us. She had a look at what we ended up with and laughed.

“You’ve just done what a newbie would take a week doing. I think that I’m going to enjoy working with you. I’ll see you Monday morning.”

Janice and Monica went off to powder their noses and Walter took the opportunity to ask me out on Friday evening. When I said that he could pick me up at seven, he smiled and gave me a hug. The three of us went down to the garage and I drove us home. The others must have seen Walter hugging me, as they gave me a bit of cheek on the way. I had to tell them that we were going out on Friday evening. That shut them up!

On Friday, I worked on the picture that I had started earlier in the week, sketching in more detail and then using oils to create the colours. I had it close to finished by the time I needed to start getting ready for my date. I had to pinch myself to believe that I was awake. Me, going out on an actual date with a guy! Not just a simple guy, but one who is likely to be pretty well off, although that had yet to be proved.

He had said that it would be dinner and dancing, so I wore one of the Hokem creations that I had picked up in the Plymouth sale, one that was the forerunner to the current range of twenties recreations. I had shiny stockings and a pair of heels that I had bought in Italy and would wear the faux fur that we had got for the agency Christmas party. I thought about a large bag with flats and a nightie but ended up with a clutch to match the dress.

When he arrived, Janice was downstairs and let him in. He was carrying a bunch of flowers which she took and put into a vase in the lounge. When I made my appearance, his face lit up and we said our farewells to the assembled girls and went out to where his Bentley was parked. He helped me to sit and pulled the seatbelt out for me, then went around to the drivers’ side and got in. The car didn’t just start, it almost purred as we pulled away, with the faces of the others at the front window.

“This is a nice car.”

“I think so. It was my father’s, and he gave it to me when I graduated from uni. The sports car is my everyday vehicle, but this is the one when I want to impress.”

“Walter, you don’t have to try and impress me. I know you too well and am impressed enough. Mind you, it would have been difficult to get into the sports car in this dress.”

“You look beautiful. Is that one of the new line?”

“It’s one of the Hokem range from a couple of years ago and shows the direction towards what we were modelling.”

“Keep that under your hat if anyone asks you about it. Be vague and let them think that it could be from the new range. Where we’re going, there may be paparazzi on the lookout for celebrities.”

Marianne Gregory © 2024