Chapter 11

When we had finished the meal, Suzette and I packed the dishes in the washer while my mother chatted with our guests. May was regaling her about some of the odd ladies she had made dresses for and when she mentioned that a few had been men my mother said “Wouldn’t that be difficult?”

I said “Mother dear, have you looked at the photos in the window of the shop?”

She nodded so I carried on. “One is of a lot of local ladies at a celebrity wedding and the other is a group at a party.”

“Yes,” she said, “They all look beautiful, are they all wearing your creations?”

“Mother,” I said, “They are all wearing our creations and the party group are all men.”

“Never!” she snorted. “They all look wonderful.”

I tried another tack. “Do you remember the do we put on in the pub before Christmas?”

She nodded and I finished with, “At least a quarter of the women in that room were not women and no-one saw them as anything but women. That’s what we have been doing at the shop, on the side, and it is very well paying. Just ask Helen when you see her next and ask to see the back rooms.”

“That reminds me, Anna is here to get a new dress that she wants to make her happy. The rest of you chat and we will be right back.”

I led Anna out to my workroom where I had hung the new dress in a garment bag.

She had a look at my models. “I am devastated, there is not one of me,” she laughed.

“Anna, I have to admit that I have already made your new dress. It was inspired by your description, my imagination and a picture that a friend of mine used to have on her wall. She was a big fan before she found out about boys.”

I took the dress out of the bag and she gasped and then hugged me, saying “It’s glorious, just like the old stage outfit but much classier. Well, it would have to be as the original one was so short that if I bent down you could park a bike in my bum.”

Before I could say anything she was shucking her dress and put the new one on. “Just wait and watch Cliffs’ face when he sees me in this, I met him when I was in this band and he was a frustrated singer who worked as a roadie just to be in the industry.”

She opened the door and rushed out with me following with her own dress over my arm. She walked into the lounge calling, ‘Cliffee, what do you think of this? Do you think I could feel happy wearing it?”

I watched his face move from surprise to interest to total devotion as he went to her and kissed her hard.

As they kissed, oblivious of all around them, there was a knock on the door and I went and let Colette in. She came into the lounge just as the two lovers finished kissing, took one look at them and promptly keeled over.

“At last,” cried Anna, “I have met someone involved with you who acts like a proper girl. Cliff, darling, get the kit from the car, if you would, we have a normal girl in our midst.”

He went out and came back with a bag that had smelling salts, Aspirin and cold compresses that you could run under cold water. Anna looked at us, “We have learned to be prepared, this usually happens quite often.”

When Colette opened her eyes she was flapping her jaw like a fish. I helped her to her feet. “Colette, come and meet our guests, I can assure you they don’t bite and are usually friendly.”

Cliff pulled her into a hug and a peck on the cheek and then Anna did the same. I could see Colette get a little wobbly again so I sat her down and explained.

“Colette and I went to school but she was a couple of years ahead of me. It was her picture that allowed me to create the dress. She is a top-line make-up artist and it is down to a lot of her skill that our men were able to be turned into women.”

“Are all the girls around here as good looking as you lot.” Cliff asked, “I’m going to have to send some talent spotters down her to see if we can sign a few up for the industry.”

That caused a laugh and Colette finally found her voice. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, Colette, these people are as real as we are unless they are on the screen. We have been discussing a movie that Anna wants me to make clothes for.”

She looked at the dress that Anna had on. “My God, that is so much like the one you used to wear in the band, except longer and a different colour.”

We all had a laugh and Anna went to her again and gave her a hug, “Thank you precious, that is a great compliment to me as well as to Amity, who made it. I think I will wear it home, do you want the one I came in as a keepsake?”

Stunned, she just nodded so Anna took the dress from me and said, “Go on and try it on, you look about the same size.”

Colette went to my bedroom to change and when she came back she looked like a star and we all told her so. My mother got her camera and we spent a little while taking pictures.

Then Anna said, “Colette, Amity said that you are a beautician, do you think you could give me a look to match the dress?”

Colette was, by this time, back to her usual self and said she could, easily. I went and got my make-up case and she sat Anna on a dining room chair and proceeded to change her into an Egyptian Goddess. She took a brush and did a few things to her hair as well.

When we put a mirror in front of Anna she gasped. “Colette, my girl, you are a bloody genius. It would take two girls at the studio hours to get near this.”

She then looked at me. “Did I hear you right when you said that you turn men into women at that shop?”

I said it was so and she looked at Cliff. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, my darling?”

He laughed and told her he was already ahead of her.

She asked, “When can I see this photo you have on display?”

I looked at my watch and told her that the shopping centre would still be open as they had the cinema and food court.

“Right, I think I am going to give this look a public outing, it will be fun!” and she stood up. I asked that they wait a few minutes while I warned the centre management.

I went to the phone and called the security guy and warned him that he was about to have a riot of screaming girls on his hands and to prepare for it. I then rang Helen at home and asked if she could possibly go to the shop as I had an important client who had suddenly developed a wish to see it.

She said she would be there. My mother got the Audi out and I went with her and May. Suzette and Colette went with Typhoon Anna and the ’Hunk’ Cliff.

We parked near the closest entrance to the shop and when we walked in I saw Helen chatting to a security guy. I knew he was a film buff because as soon as he saw us walk in he was on his two-way, no doubt calling up reinforcements.

I led the merry band over to Helen and introduced them and Anna bent down and looked at the photos in the window.

“No way that these good-looking babes are blokes,” she exclaimed. “A couple look like horsey women and I’ve mixed with enough of the upper crust to say they would not look out of place at Ascot.”

Helen opened up and put on the lights and I showed Anna and Cliff the back rooms. It was the first time May seen my inner sanctum so was equally intrigued.

I showed them a couple of the notebooks as they only had the femme name on them. Along with measurements and notes and my original design sketch I also had an after picture taken in the food court for some of our ‘specials’.

Anna and Cliff looked at them and he asked, “So these are all men when they walked into the shop?” I nodded. “That does it,” he said, “I am certain we could get Joe, Billy and Eric into the picture now.”

Anna then explained that a few of their friends wanted to be in the project film but it was almost an all-female cast and, although all three were gay, they refused to act as one because they already had a career playing straight men.

Colette was with us and she put surnames to the list, and Anna said, “Yes, they are busting to do a film like ‘Some Like it Hot’ but do not want it known they are themselves in it. They would go on the credits under false names.”

When we went to leave there was a crowd outside the shop who all started screaming when they saw the film stars.

“Oh dear,” Anna said, “I think we may have started something, I just hope they don’t tear my lovely dress.”

I looked at my mother and she nodded so I got Colette and Suzette and the four of us went out the shop door and called ‘quiet, please’ as we cast a calming spell over the crowd.

As the noise died down I called out “We have some honoured guests in the shopping centre today. I know you are all excited but they are real people like us and will chat or sign for you as long as you keep it polite. Anything else and the security guys will call the police; the station is only five minutes away. I suggest that we all go over to the food court and allow them to get a drink while they talk to you.”

Of course, a small compulsion spell worked wonders as well so they opened a pathway for Anna and Cliff to go and sit down and the next two hours was very pleasant with everyone getting pictures taken by the centre management as well as the local paper.

Anna finally stood and called out, thanking them for their kind welcome to the Belfry and said that she would be back for the opening of a new movie that they were going to make as Redhill had made it possible. There was applause and cheering as we left before the two spells faded.

On the way back to the cars she walked beside me and said, “I don’t know what you four did in there but it was pure magic.”

I laughed. “You had better believe it, sister.”

Back at the house my mother put the kettle on and we all sat around for a quiet cuppa before they left.

Anna said, “I saw another picture you had, it was a group of girls on a stage and they looked fabulous?” I said it was Hector Livingstone and his troupe at rehearsal with the stage outfits we had made.

Cliff said, “Didn’t someone send us four tickets for their show?” and Anna said she thought so.

Anna looked at me and said “I’ll go with you and May, it’s not Cliffs’ thing.”

“Well, Kayla made all the dresses in the shop, maybe she would like a night out as well.”

“Done,” exclaimed Anna, “I will look for them when we get home and let you know the date. Come on, hubby of mine, it’s time to go home and you can recreate the first time you removed my Egyptian dress, but no tearing at it this time!”

He laughed. “It’s all right, my darling, I think I have learned a little decorum since those heady days.”

We walked with them out to their car and they both gave everyone a hug and a kiss before they got in.

As Cliff was getting into the driving seat, Anna rolled her window down. “I think that we are going to have fun with this film. Colette, if you can keep a secret about our three friends I want you to be their personal beautician on the set, are you up for it?”

I think Colettes’ squeal said it all.

Back inside, around the kitchen table with another cuppa in front of us, it felt like we had just survived a storm.

Suzette asked. “Sister dear, do you still want me to work for you?”

I went around and hugged her, “Of course, when I make promises I try to keep them. I know you will be great at keeping the finances in the black. Just you get your certification and we are off.”

My mother asked “How many of those photos of your designs are out there?” so I went and came back with the pile of pictures that I had bought and we looked through them with May pointing out some of the design features.

Colette came over to me and hugged me closely. “There I was, just thinking you didn’t care about me, and all the while you were working hard to build an empire. I’m sorry I doubted you and thank you for asking me round today. It was a bit of a shock at first but it became so much fun I don’t know if it was all real.”

The phone rang and when my mother answered it she held it out to me and said “I think it’s for you.” It was the centre manager on the other end and she thanked me for bringing a movie star to the centre but asked me to give her more lead time.

I told her it was on the spur of the moment and that Anna and Cliff had promised to come back when the new film was showing so she could have the chance to do a lavish reception then.

When I hung up my mother asked what was wrong and I told them that it was just that she was unhappy at not seeing the stars in person.

Before Colette left she gave May a hug and told her that she was the luckiest girl in the world to have snagged me.

She then hugged me again, saying that if I could let her have a label she would sew it onto the dress I made for her and she would have an instant classic. I took May home and we went to bed. I didn’t get back to my own until after midnight. It had been quite a day and it was just the beginning of the journey.

The next week I tried hard to concentrate on school work. I was in art class, painting Anna in the new dress, when I had an inspiration.

After that class I rang her at the studio and when she came on the phone I said “Anna, dear. I am sorry to be a pain but I have to come up with a fashion show at the end of term and I wondered if I could do one called ‘The ten ages of Anna’ using recreations of some of the clothes you have made famous. I could work from slides if you could send me a few?”

She said she could but I could borrow the originals if I wanted so I told her that we had to make everything from scratch, including all the jewellery and accessories. She asked me to keep her in the loop and after I hung up I went to see Judith to tell her what the next fashion show was going to be called.

She was in her office with a magazine in front of her alongside a steaming cup. I told her that the end of term fashion show would be called ‘The Ten Ages of Anna’ and she picked up the magazine and passed it to me.

“Perhaps this has something to do with that. You are going to be the centre of attention around here if that works out.” The headline read ‘Chelsea Student to Make the Entire Wardrobe for the Next Anna Oubis Block Buster’.

The article was basically the interview and pictures of my work for Jules but the bulk of it was the chat with Anna and her offer. I quickly scanned it and passed it back to her.

“Ouch!” I said, “That is going to make life difficult, isn’t it?”

She laughed. “Not difficult, bloody impossible! The Head has been on the phone already and so has the Dean of Arts and the Dean of Design. You are the first fashion designer to make it big while still at school, all the rest have been actors or sculptors. They have asked me to arrange a meeting this afternoon so it is good to see you now. I will give their secretaries a call and arrange it now.”

I sat and looked through the magazine while she was on the phone and, when she put it down for the final time she said “Freshen up, we are on deck in twenty minutes.”

So a half hour later we were sat in the Heads palatial office with tea and biscuits in front of us. The Head mainly wanted to know if I was going to drop out now I had fame and fortune and I assured her that I would finish my courses to the best of my ability.

Both the Deans said that I was a star student and I blushed a lot. The upshot was that I would be given even more leeway to continue my career as long as I kept my marks up.

The Dean of Design did make one suggestion that resonated when it was mentioned that there was still another eight girls in my course and all were very good at what they did, especially what they had come up with for the two fashion parades we had done so far.

The idea was that they would have their own final assessments included with what they could come up with at the fashion parade. Judith said she would put a note in all our cubby holes to arrange a class meeting to discuss the show and I was allowed to go about my business.

Firstly was to go and talk to admin about my copyrights and the path to creating a company name. They gave me a form, which I filled out and paid them the fee. I was told it would be submitted and I may have to alter the name if it had already been used.

My own magazine would be delivered to the house so I went and bought one at a newsagent to look at in depth. I saw that there were a number of pictures I wanted so made my way to the publishing house and fronted up to the photo desk to place my order.

The girl behind the counter told me that I was entitled to a free copy of any that I was in and that, if I wanted, I could see the entire shoot proofs and choose from ones that had not made it to print.

That took up an hour or more and when I walked out they told me they would send the thirty pictures I had chosen but only charged me for twenty that I wasn’t in.

By the time I got home my mother was there already and had my magazine open in front of her. The phone was off the hook and Suzette was sitting looking through a sheaf of papers from a local industrial property office.

I put the phone back where it should be and it rang almost immediately. It was the local paper asking for a comment and I told them that I would talk to a single reporter in the shopping centre tomorrow morning.

As soon as I hung up it rang again and it was Jules, absolutely over the moon at the coverage. I told him I would see him next week. This time I hung up and left the phone off the hook. I needed to get a number that only a few people knew. Perhaps it was time to get one of those mobile things if they had got smaller than a house brick.

Actually, I didn’t have to bother as a courier knocked on the front door just after my mother and Suzette had gone to work. He had a fairly big package for me and I signed for it and took it through to the kitchen and opened it up.

It contained six boxes of mobile phones, with chargers and a note from Anna that said, ‘Amity, these are property of the studio. One each for everyone involved with the film. Let me know which one everyone gets and I will get the numbers recorded in our call record. They all have been charged and are connected to the network. Choose one and ring me on my number below so I can get in touch. I knew that your home phone will be useless for a while, I’ve been through that myself.’

I pulled one out of the box and looked at it and realised that it could fit in my bag and did not weight a ton. I had a quick read of the instructions and turned it on. Once it said I had a connection I dialled Annas’ number and she answered straight away. She told me that they were all paid for by the studio and remained their property until the film was in the can and then they would be written off.

She told me how to access the phone book on it and there were a lot of names and numbers which she told me were people I would be dealing with in the future. As I gave the others out I was to tell them to ring her so she could add them to the list and told me to read the instructions so I could add them to my own list. It all seemed complicated but I was sure I could work it out.

I set to and turned all the phones on. I made post-it notes with names for the other five and stuck them on the boxes. Looking at the instruction book I added the five numbers to my phone book and went through the same process with the others. We would now have ready access to each other.

When I finished I rang the House of Jules. When I got on to Jules I told him that the house phone was off the hook and gave him the number of my mobile, asking him to give May the number as well and that I would have a phone for them both the next time I came in.

That done I made myself ready and took the Audi to the shopping centre, along with two of the phones, leaving one on the table for Suzette.

I parked and took one into the Viva Salon, giving it to Colette and telling her why she has it. The other one I gave to Helen as I thought that she may well have more involvement in the movie. This was firmed up when I asked her about getting bulk supplies of simple designs made by a third party and she said she had a few friends in the trade that did just that.

I then went and sat in the food court to await the reporter. He arrived and I insisted he buy me a cup of tea and a bun before we started. He got one for himself so we sat and chatted instead of a hard-nosed interrogation.

He asked about my early life and I told him what I could, always hoping that the magic had changed all the paperwork and records involved. When we got to the film part of it he said that he was unhappy that one of his colleagues scooped him the other day with the story about film stars here.

He then asked me about the weird control we four had over the crowd as his colleague had said that they all seemed too polite and well behaved.

I just told him that we had just let them know that they could have a couple of minutes of mayhem or a much longer time if they calmed down and that the crowd had obviously taken the peaceful option.

I pointed out that just about everyone had got a picture taken and that Anna and Cliff had been very open with their answers to some very odd questions. “It was a win for everyone, so what do you find strange?” I asked. He was at a loss to answer that one.

I told him that it was more likely that the film was going ahead and it was up to the studio to give out any more information. I had nothing to add because I had not yet been told of the scope of my involvement, only that I was to design some outfits for the main characters.

He seemed happy at what he got and gave me his business card if I had anything that he could use and I told him that I would be sure to let him know. After he left I went back to the shop and sat down with Helen to discuss bulk manufacture.

Over the next week I went to see Jules and May at the House of Jules and gave them the phones, telling them that they should be used for film business only and to limit the calls to those on the phone book.

I spent some time with May, who was a little miffed I hadn’t seen her for a week but calmed down when I explained that before long we would be spending a lot of time together.

I also had the meeting with my class mates. Anna had been true to her word and had sent me a batch of stills and slides of her career in the bands and some of her better films.

We chose the ten that we thought we could work with. The early times were picked by a few of the more ‘poppy’ girls, leaving the movie outfits for the rest of us. I had decided that I would wear a recreation of the first dress I had designed for her. With the photos at hand, everyone had a project to do.

Marianne Gregory © 2022