Chapter 12

I spoke to the industrial building people that Suzette had suggested. I looked at a few places and one stood out as likely. It was at Purley, about halfway between the house and London and very close to the film studio near Croydon. It was set in its own fenced grounds and was a mixture of workshop, warehouse and offices.

We discussed the numbers to buy or lease and I promised that I would get back to them when I had a signature on a contract. I also spent many evenings with Suzette, going over the figures and projections. She was fast becoming excited about what we could do. I had always thought that the business with Jules would never make me rich, famous in fashion circles maybe, but never rich unless I broke away and formed my own studio.

What made Suzette excited was my concept of taking the basic designs for the film and turning them into High Street product that we didn’t have to make, only store and deliver.

Of course, once the effect of the film faded we would need to do things to promote the lines that eventuated but I was sure we would come up with something when the time came. After I had a lot of things straight in my mind, I rang Anna and asked if we could have a meeting with the studio as I needed certainty before going ahead with the new business.

That meeting was set up and May, Suzette, Colette and I met with Anna, Cliff and the studio bosses. I walked out of there with signatures on a contract to supply the outfits for the entire cast.

They had estimated, from the storyline, that the main characters would need twenty or so changes of the top shelf items while the minor characters only needed about ten and the extras would be able to get away with three each that they could mix and match among themselves for different scenes.

It was then brought home to me that we would be supplying all the small number of male characters outfits as well. The director promised to send me a listing of numbers, matched with the occasion that the scene was set in, so that I could start planning.

However, the bit that set Suzettes’ heart racing was that I had an up-front payment of two million pounds with the promise of another two similar payments as the film was shot.

The bit that caused May to smile was when I told them that the contract should read an agreement between the studio and Yamma Fashions, the registered name of the company.

Colette also had a contract to provide beautician services to the six main characters; Anna, her three make-overs and two other stars. She had enough money there to leave her job when needed and commit fully to the film.

On the way home from the meeting we stopped at my bank and Suzette organised a business account with the cheque. May had left to go to the city to tell Jules that we had the contract and that we would be moving the bespoke manufacturing to a dedicated site as soon as we had it ready.

We would still go to his studio to interview clients for the Asquith Design dresses. When May told the two girls who were working on these projects that we would be shifting the manufacture they both gave Jules their notice so they could continue to work on my designs.

Three other things happened before the end of summer. The first was that we had the fashion parade at the Chelsea and the second was Suzette graduating with honours.

The fashion show was an absolute hoot. We had all finished our costumes from the photos and I was talking to Anna and she wanted to see them. She sent a mini-bus to the school and the ten of us snuck out in our finery and was taken to the studio.

She greeted us and gave all of the students, and Judith (who was not in costume this day), a big hug, saying that they were all spot on but different enough to be new. She showed us through the sound stage where they were starting to set up for the film.

She was very interested in the accessories and the fact that all of them were made by the class. Then she got very serious. “If I organise it so that the accessories and jewellery in the film are all linked to your contract, could you other girls join Amity to make them for the film?”

They all looked stunned and then, one by one, they all said yes they would. I assured Judith that I would be able to pay them a wage and they could do the work in the new premises, rather than load up the school facilities.

Judith said “Well, that makes it easy for me to give you all passes next year as you will all be putting out products that everyone will see. I think the Head is going to love this.”

As we were boarding the bus, Anna then asked the date of the fashion show and, when told, thought a bit and asked if she could join us for it and talk about the outfits from her memories of them.

Judith hardly drew breath to agree and had a silly smile on her face as we drove away. On the way back I got the driver to stop at Purley so I could show them the factory that I now had the keys for.

It had the Yamma Fashions sign over the door and, when I took them in they explored the various workrooms and picked the ones that they could use. I asked the specialists if they could give me a list of the equipment they needed so we could fit the rooms out.

The day of the fashion show we helped Anna get into the building without being seen. The demand for seats had been huge as everyone wanted to see what we would come up with.

We all changed into our costumes and Colette, who was now working only part-time at the Viva Salon, did the make-up.

Anna had brought the Egyptian dress, which was going to be fun as the recreation of her original one was the first one on the catwalk. The big auditorium was packed and there was an audible gasp as Anna walked out.

This one would be going down in the history books.

She strode to the microphone in her new Egyptian dress. “Hello, fans. Anyone out there who has their head up their arse their whole life may not know me. My name is Anna Oubis and this fashion show is called the Ten Ages of Anna.”

We had organised a fellow student to do the projections of her in the original outfits and the first came up on the screen above us as our first girl walked out with our version of it.

Anna regaled the crowd with anecdotes about her time wearing it and did point out the shortness of the original outfit, saying, “Of course, I have more class these days.”

We then went through her punk phase with our model having enough fake metal hanging off her to make a few car parts. Then it was the band that got her into the film industry as she looked like a film star already when she sang.

We worked through the movie outfits and, by the time the eight girls were lined up across the front of the auditorium, she had the crowd in stitches. She then got serious and asked them to quieten down as she had something a little more serious to say.

“Some time ago I went to a fashion designer to get a dress. I got more than a dress as I walked out of there with two new friends who are going to help me, along with these brilliant girls you see before you, to make my next film. One of those friends could not be here today but the other is Amity Asquith who will now model that very dress she made for me.”

I walked out and did my thing to great applause.

She then said, “There is one dress you have not seen yet as we did promise ten. A couple of movies ago I played a royal pain in the arse – oops, make that a royal princess. In that film I had a scene that was set in a ball. I present to you one of the most influential teachers I have ever met, one of your very own, Judith Jericho!”

My lecturer glided out on to the stage area in a concoction of silk, lace, taffeta and billowing underskirts that I had made. It was very hard to walk in, I know as I had tried it. Her appearance brought the house down and we all took our bows as the applause continued.

In the end, Judith had to go to the microphone to say that we would be in the staff dining room for lunch, if anyone wanted to say hello. We filed out and Anna gave us all a hug as we passed her, waving to the crowd as she followed us to the side room.

I had made Judith a nice shift to change into as there was no way she could get through the doors to the staff room in that dress. After she had changed she gave us all a hug as well and had a very broad grin on her face as she took us to the staff dining room where we had a table set up for lunch.

The fact that the two Deans and the Head sat with us was enough to make the rest of the staff a little more polite when they came to talk. The Head was a great fan of Anna and they had a good chat about their favourite movies.

As it wound up, my class and I went back to change into normal clothing and Anna also changed back to the jeans and top she had come in. As she was about to go she gave me the three tickets for Hectors’ show, saying she would call me and let me know where we would meet to go in together.

Suzette graduated in a beautiful dress I had made for her and she was radiant. I had made my mother a new dress as well and I had my off-white shift I had worn before.

We now put Suzette to work to put together the new company, organising the management structure and allocating funds for employees. The three original stake-holders were me, May and Jules and then Anna said she wanted to be in it and put up some money.

That worked through, we needed to put the two extra seamstresses onto the books, as well as my eight classmates as casuals so they could still do their course work. We had the factory painted out in nice neutral colours and all the extra equipment was ordered.

There would be mark-out tables, cutting benches, sewing machines, irons, stocks of material and all the odds and ends that we would need. I recreated my ‘interview room’ in one of the offices and got a big box of notebooks and sketch pads.

The other thing was leasing a couple of cars, one for me and one for Suzette, as well as van fitted with clothes racks for when we started deliveries.

Our third occasion came along one Saturday evening when I took Kayla with me to pick up May. I had made Kayla a long gown for the evening and another for myself. May had made her own, the last one of hers that would come out of the House of Jules.

We rendezvoused with Anna and transferred to her limo after I had parked and locked mine in a secure car park. At the theatre we were treated like celebrities and shown to a box by Hector himself.

The full show was good, the theatre was packed, something he had told us happened every night, and the gowns looked stunning. The cast did their mime acts so well you could swear that they were the ones doing the singing and the comedy routines were pretty funny as well. Kayla lapped it all up as it was a good night out for her.

At the end of the show, after the applause, Hector came out on the stage and said that tonight we had some special guests. He told them to look up to the box and he called out that Amity Asquith, the designer of all the costumes in this show was here and Anna said “Stand up dear, and wave” which I did.

He then said we also had Kayla Jones from Helens Boutique in Redhill who made all of the dresses. Kayla was embarrassed but also stood and waved. He then introduced Anna Oubis, the famous actress and she also stood a waved regally.

When she sat down she said, smiling, “Bloody third in line to a couple of dressmakers, I can't believe it!” and then cracked up laughing.

I managed to get good marks in all of my subjects and a few of my pictures were chosen to be hung in the school art show, alongside our ‘Ten Ages of Anna’ costumes on mannequins.

The Dean of Design had requested that the school would keep them and each of us was given our next terms fees as payment. The other girls were very happy at this.

They also spent the summer break working in Yamma and sitting with Anna to come up with the jewellery and other accessories that she thought we could start with. I had a list of the sorts of general outfits that would be needed and it didn’t take long to draw these up and get the dressmakers working on them. We had a photocopier and copies of these went to Helen to source in different sizes and different colours.

The big thing that I had to work on was the better creations for Anna and the other stars. I already knew what she liked so I could work on hers without needing to interview her again so we made appointments to go and see the other female stars in their homes or at the studios where they were working. Gradually we built up the range that we would need.

The three guys were a different matter. I asked each of them to come in one at a time. Eric was the first one to come and see me. He was very anxious about playing a woman and said he had never done anything like it before. However, when I asked him about the sorts of dresses he liked to see on women his mind pictures were so detailed I could have made his dresses from photos of his images.

I did a number of sketches and when I showed him he blushed. “How did you know? I only ever did this in total privacy and have never even been outside.”

I got him to strip and took his measurements and when I asked what size bra he usually wore he told me. I asked him to come back at the same time next week and to bring his femme underwear, shoes, hose and bag as we would supply the rest.

When he came in for his next visit we had Colette on hand and got him into our own little salon. When he left it he was hairless from the eyebrows down and smelt nice. He put on his own underwear, which was all up-market, and we fitted him into his first outfit.

Colette did his make-up, nails and added a well-fitting wig which was then styled. We had shoes in his size that went with the outfit and when he was ready I showed him what he looked like in the mirror.

To say he was shocked was an understatement as we had to get him sat down for a little while and bring him a glass of water.

I cast a very slight feminisation spell over him that allowed him to walk and talk to match his looks and then said, “We will have a walk around the factory first and then there will be someone you will have to meet.”

As we walked and looked at the processes and talked to our busy workers he became less Eric and more Erica, to the point where it started being a natural way to act.

We were in the sewing room when Suzette came to us and said that there was a Billy in the front office for his interview.

I asked, “Erica, how long have you known Billy?” and she said it must be years.

I said “How long do you think you can go before he twigs who you are?”

She thought it would be about thirty seconds and I said, “I don’t think he will twig at all, let’s go and see who is right.”

In the front office I met Billy. “Look, there are a couple of things that I have to look at first. Why don’t I let Erica show you around the place first and then she can bring you to my interview room when you are finished.”

I went back into my interview area and tidied up all the signs that Eric had been there, folding his male things and putting them into the case that he had brought his female underwear in. I sat with Colette and chatted until there was a knock on the door.

Colette opened the door and Erica stood there with Billy, who was looking a bit red in the face. They came in and Billy sat down while Erica stood by the door with a lovely, wicked smile.

I think I may have won the bet. Billy said, “Miss Asquith, I am here so that you can try to make me look like a girl for the film. I don’t think I could look as good as the three of you but I am here to try. Now, can you please tell Erica that I am a closet gay so that she stops coming on at me?”

I asked him how long he had known he was gay and he said it was years. I then asked him how long his friend Eric had known about it and he said he didn’t know that.

Erica spoke up. “From the time I saw you feeling the material of a dancers costume and smelling the scent, Brighton 1985, I think it was. We were playing young blades about town in that farce.”

The look on Billys’ face was wonderful to see. He turned and looked at Erica and stuttered “Er,er,Eric, surely that’s not you?”

Erica came over and kissed him on the forehead. “Of course it is, Billy Willy. I never thought I could fool you at all yet here you are worried that I may be throwing myself at your feet.”

She then said, “Amity, dearest, you certainly are an angel. If I can have my case I think I will go to the studio and see how many more of my friends see me as someone new. And then, while I look the part, I am going to go dress shopping.”

I gave her the case, another with more outfits in, a hug and a kiss on the cheek, saying, “Go kill ‘em, girl,” and she strode out like Wonder Woman to face the new life that she had just started out on.

Billy still looked a little pasty so I gave him a glass of water. He asked if he could get close to that look and I told him that I thought he may match it, if not exceeding it.

We then got down to his style and his likes. I sketched several outfits as we spoke and I showed them to him. He gulped a couple of times and promised to come back the following week with his femme underwear for his make-over.

As he left, Colette said “One down, two to go.”

When he did come back we took him through the salon experience before he dressed in his underwear and we dressed him in a new outfit and Colette did his make-up and hair.

As to be expected, he was amazed and pleased with his new look. Once again I cast a mild feminiser spell over him and then said “The last time you were here Erica showed you around the place but I doubt that you took much in. Let me give you a tour and then you can practise your new personality on your old friend, Joe, who is due for his first appointment in half an hour.”

That time was hilarious as Joe was totally sure that no-one thought him gay and that Willow was, indeed, madly in love with him by the time they returned to my office.

After the great reveal he sat there with his eyes shut. “I was only doing this because I wanted Billy and Eric to be happy and now I want you to make me look as good as they do. I have had coffee with Erica several times at the studio over the past week or so and I never twigged that she was anything but a genuine girl, maybe an extra but a beautiful one. She does not walk, talk or act like the Eric I knew.”

Willow said “Josie, sweetheart, perhaps you can have coffee with the two of us tomorrow. I am meeting her at a cafe in Croydon this afternoon and we will be planning our take-over of Annas’ movie.” She sashayed out with her two cases and the hug and cheek kiss from me and Colette.

Joe said, “Oh God, Billy was always the strong one, what have you unleashed on the world?” We did his interview and made his appointment for the following week. He didn’t know that he would be joined afterwards by Willow and Erica who would be taking Josie shopping.

And so 1993 carried on. In August we had a girls’ night out with me, May, Suzette, Colette, Roberta, Josie, Willow and Erica; my eight class mates and Judith going to see U2 on stage at Wembley.

It was a great concert with Salman Rushdie, who had been in hiding since 1989, coming on stage to give Bono a hug. The funniest part was when a group of about ten lads decided that we were game and pestered us and the single ones among us reciprocated.

We all went to a pub afterwards and they had a disco going. May and I were dancing together, Judith and a couple of the taken schoolgirls were sitting at a table guarding our drinks and I watched with wonder as Suzette, Colette, Erica, Willow, Josie and five of my classmates danced very closely to their partners and even snogged while they danced.

The last term of the year passed without too many problems. Me, and my classmates, were getting almost a free ride though the courses with our outside activities taken on as credit to our marks.

My paintings were going well and I had taken my Shania Twain model into the first modelling lesson and then only needed to learn working with clay as it was deemed that I had woodworking mastered already.

May and I had moved into a small house we had found in Purley and Helen had come through with our factory warehouse now a quarter full of low-cost clothing based on the movie outfits, all with Yamma Fashion labels. Jules had supplied his quota of outlandish outfits and we had paid him for them, with a discount, of course.

I had earlier moved all of my dressmaking equipment to the factory and now cleared out my other stuff to my new home, allowing Suzette to set up an office at my old home. My mother often visited us at the factory and was very supportive of our efforts.

The same can’t be said of the rest of the coven who were all a bit miffed that three of their number had embraced the business world. This was lessened when we employed Colettes’ sisters, Babs and Jacqui, as well as Robertas’ sister, Patricia, who was put into the shop to help Helen with the bulk supplies.

We managed to calm the older members by giving each of them a personal ‘Amity by Amity’ outfit to wear at the Christmas party.

The filming had started and we delivered the outfits for particular scenes as required. Anna told me that filming was a hoot when she got together with the ‘three amigos’ and Cliff told me that this would be the last movie he would make with her as his action man ones were much easier to do, even if he sometimes found himself hanging from rock faces or buildings.

Our term fashion show was easy as we put on an ‘Outfits from a Movie’ show with ten outfits soon to be seen on the big screen. May and I had a steady stream of appointments with customers that Jules had set up and the walls of the factory offices were becoming covered in photos of our designs that had been pictured in the magazines.

We had a big party for our Redhill customers and there was also one put on by the studio. All in all, it was a good year, especially when another cheque from the studio arrived.

May and I saw in 1994 together, alone in the house and the midnight hour passed while we were making love. Filming had stopped until the second week of January and we spent the time up to then taking stock.

I had put feelers out about stores who would like to stock our clothing range and Helen was already selling ‘Yamma Fashions’ in the shop. A few of her friends were carrying us as well. We all knew that the demand would not hit until the film came out but sales were already worth having. Our warehouse was filling up with lots of different outfits and I had plenty to show anyone who wanted to think about stocking our lines.

In the week before we reopened for business I got a call from one of those I had sent information to and he came down, with his buyers, to visit us and inspect the products. They were impressed with the photos that adorned the walls and pleasantly surprised at the quality products that we could offer.

I told them that we insisted on good quality, well made outfits and that only then would they have the Yamma label.

I told them that once we had finished supplying the outfits for the film we could start producing a better, more expensive range that I would put an “Amity Creations’ label on. These would all be made here and would be much smaller numbers in a restricted size and colour range.

I had some of our film dresses that had not been supplied yet to show them and we came to an agreement that day, to be followed up by a written contract to supply his thirty shops across the country.

When we waved them off May held me close. “Isn’t that the next step you have been waiting for?”

I said it was indeed and rang Suzette to tell her of the likely orders to come in, the numbers and the pricing and she said, “You did say that an empire may take longer but I think you are nearly there.”

When everyone gathered on our first day of trading for the year I got them together and told them the news. It made them all happy that we now had a future beyond the film. We were now supplying jewellery, handbags and hats under the same label.

The film was eventually finished and we got our third cheque which made Suzette very happy as we were already trading with enough income to pay the bills. It would allow us to expand, if needed, and also put on a couple of representatives to go out and see who else needed our product.

That was not needed for a while as, when the film came out and we all had a walk on the red carpet, it was a smash hit with the critics loving the rom-com/bitchy/glorious clothes/love and craziness of it.

Our warehouse emptied almost overnight and we spent a lot of time and effort getting more in. We did have a glorious party at the Belfry where all of the stars were feted at the opening of the movie there.

Our ‘special’ customers were over the moon to meet Josie, Willow and Erica; three girls like them whose disguise was broken early on and who were all now living full time as women.

All three said that their careers were much more assured as women so it had been a win/win for them and even more so as they all had boyfriends as well.

My eight classmates and I graduated in the middle of the year and we all had a party to celebrate, inviting everyone who had been involved with our success. Judith was now a regular visitor to the factory, bringing new students to see how things were done.

One odd thing was that, towards the end of the year, a gallery wanted to put on an exhibition of my drawings, paintings, models and my efforts at sculpture.

Anna and the other stars of the film were now coming directly to the factory to buy ‘Amity by Amity’ gowns for special occasions so I was kept busy and also improved my own dressmaking skills.

We had the factory extended to give us more warehouse space as the supply and delivery side grew. We also put on more dressmakers to meet the increasing demand for the ‘Amity Creations’ designs.

We now had a full office with girls coping with supply and delivery paperwork, income and expenditure and everything else that a successful business needs. One thing we did do was supply all of the employees with their clothing for work and I must say they all looked good as they left at knock-off time.

As the year drew to a close we had a Christmas party in the factory and a lot of our friends attended as well. We put on a good spread and it was a jolly affair.

Helen called for me to give a speech and I stood on a chair and told them all that I was proud of them and that they were the ones who had made ‘Yamma’ a household name among the discerning public. There was a cheer when I told them that we were in line to supply outfits for a film sequel, this time set in Paris. There was another cheer when I told them that Jules had been invited to have a showing at the next ‘Fashion Week’ and that he wanted us to supply the outfits as he didn’t have the capacity to supply the expected demand.

I ended my speech with, “A few years ago I underwent an experience that changed my life. During that time I felt great pain and when the pain went away I said ‘Are we done now?’”

“I can stand here and ask that same question again but I now know the answer already. No, we are not done now, we have only just begun!”

Marianne Gregory © 2022