Full Figured Chic Ch. 03

Gregor Sabatini sat at his desk putting the final touches on a cashmere shawl he's been working on all week. The intricate lace edging set off the sheer thin weave of the cashmere, making this design, in Gregor's opinion, one of his best so far. He paused to stop and look.

"Greg. Get in here."

The phone intercom buzzed at him, breaking him out of the reverie that captured him so deliciously.

Jay.

And by the sound of the tone, he was upset.

Gregor reached for the intercom.

"No problems Jay. On my way."

Greg lifted the design and placed it in a small set of draws that sat to the right of his desk. He sat it lovingly on a pile of others; careful to ensure none of the papers could be damaged as he closed the draw. Taking his keys from his desk he locked the cabinet and all the designs in it, and placed the keys back in his pocket. He grabbed an empty design notebook, a dark felt pen, and left his office, locking the door behind him.

Letting his private secretary know that he was in Jay's office and not to be disturbed, he wandered down the modern marble tiled hall, past reception and the large silver plated lettering that said "Jay Miles" to the furthest end of the corridor. Models bustled past him out of one door and into another, followed by assistants with clipboards and long steel racks of clothes that seemed determined to bang into the walls. Greg stood to the side to let them all pass and continued his way down to Jay's office.

Without knocking, he walked in. Jay stood behind his desk, on the phone, and nodded briefly when his design partner of ten years walked in through the door.

"Fine, I'll see you in fifteen minutes. And I expect the investigation to start right away."

He hung up with more force than necessary.

Gregor sighed. Jay's temper reverberated throughout the entire fashion industry, but it was nothing compared to his paranoia. Intense security surrounded everyone who worked for him. Gregor never completely had the full story, but it had a lot to do with Jay's mother and some weird streak of bad luck Jay believed ran through his family. Already Greg could tell this would be another security issue.

"Lock the door behind you. I don't want anyone coming in while we're having this conversation."

Greg stood up and locked the door.

"Friend, is this really necessary? No one will come in but our secretaries, or those working on the shoot today."

A cloud darkened Jay's eyes and Greg could tell he was really upset this time. Usually Greg's calming influence made a difference to Jay, but it looked as though he'd need to humoured this time.

"None of that talk Greg. This isn't paranoia. Take a look."

Jay dropped a heavy pile of photographs at the front of his desk, forcing Greg to walk closer to examine them. Jay slumped into his chair and hid his head in his hands, his fingers running nervously through his dark shock of unruly hair.

He's really upset this time, Greg thought.

Sitting at the desk, still trying to exert some sort of calm on his friend Greg picked up the photographs. Instantly his brown knotted. These pictures didn't make sense. Greg flicked through more of them, speed taking him over along with a panic in the base of his belly as the pictures revealed their thousand words.

"But I don't understand. These are the full figured chic line. We haven't even finished this line yet. How could these designs have been made up, and who could have done this? This isn't even our studio. I can't tell where it is."

"It's Sutomi Lim's studio."

Greg looked up at Jay, shock reaching deep inside him now.

"What? Sutomi Lim? How did he get hold of our designs? Jesus Jay, tell me I am not seeing our only genuine competitor with our coup line that was going to change the face of fashion forever. Tell me this isn't what I'm looking at."

Jay was right. If this was what Greg thought it was, this was the biggest crises of their career.

"It's what you think it is."

Jay still held his head in his hands. Greg sat back in shock, staring again at the pictures. Now he took the time to go through them slowly, examining each one.

"But look here, he's chosen the wrong colour for the Marla top, and in this one it looks like the wool he chose can't support the design. God, not only has he made up our line, but he's screwed it up. He hasn't even mocked up the designs properly."

"That's because he will have stolen our designs but not our notes. Somehow he's gotten into the safe here and taken the entire Full Figured Chic line."

"Jesus Jay. He's well into it." Greg still ran through the pictures. "He's way ahead. My god, he's going to bring it out a season ahead of us."

"That's what I think too. Not only will he produce the same work, but he's going to bring it out ahead of us, and we'll lose the opportunity to reshape the fashion industry as you and I had intended it."

Actually, it had been Jay's idea as usual, but Greg had bowed to his genius, done everything he said, and refined and beautified the line. They were partners in the design -- at least Jay gave Greg that status -- but the ideas at inception were always Jay's.

"He's going to take credit for this; the biggest revolution in the entire fashion industry, and he's going to take credit for it."

Greg kept looking through the pictures and Jay stood and moved to the back of his office. Both stood silent till Greg broke it again with a question.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well that's the million dollar question isn't it?"

Suddenly something occurred to Greg. "How did you get these pictures in the first place?"

"I send private detectives out to all our competitors. I always know every line they will produce weeks and months ahead of the launch."

Greg looked down at the pictures again sharply so that his friend couldn't see the blush in his cheek. That was entirely unethical. He didn't approve of it, and obviously Jay guessed that and hadn't told him about it in the past. But it wasn't today's problem. He said the same thing again; softer, with more resignation in it.

"What are we going to do?"

Jay turned away from the wall, and back to look at his friend. Greg kept his head down to keep his emotions in check. He could tell Jay had a plan. He wouldn't have called him in without first working out what he was going to do, and Gregor had a feeling he wasn't going to like the plan one bit.

"I've called another private detective in. I want Sutomi Lim watched twenty-four hours a day. I don't want him to be able to take a shower without my guys checking it all out. Every time he scratches his ass, it will be in my report. We have the advantage that he doesn't have the notes. That brings me to part two of my plan."

"I don't know how I feel about the private investigator part..."

"That's why you'll have nothing to do with it. It's not your problem. You have a much bigger worry in this huge mess."

Greg looked up, more sure of himself now. He could tell this idea would be bad and that somehow he would be intimately involved in it. This would be a huge ask, he could feel it in his bones.

"I want to bring the Full Figured Chic line out before him."

Greg started at him for a minute as the words sunk in and he understood the full weight of them. Sutomi Lim was already scheduled for an earlier show in the season after the current one. They'd never get that changed. And what would it matter. At the best they'd be sharing the limelight over the full figured chic line. Greg's stomach knotted as he realised what his friend was saying.

"Please tell me you're not saying that you want the Full Figured Chic line out for this coming fall season?"

"That's what I am saying."

Greg sat back in his chair, his worry turned to incredulity.

"No way. That's six weeks time. You and I got the October 2001 line done in three months and that was record time, nothing had ever been created that fast before. We'd never get the makers in ; we'd have no samples. There's no way. It can't be done."

"I want the place in full lock down. We'll work around the clock from the studio here. I want to sack all the models and the current makers anyway, so we'll get fresh blood in. And they'll work from here. We'll be a little community devoted to bringing in this line. We have six weeks. I can work out a flow chart and ..."

"Our problem isn't a flow chart Jay. This can't be done. No one's creativity works under pressure you know that. Otherwise we'd have brought out four lines a year instead of two. We won't be able to produce our best work. And I'd rather give Sutomi the line than produce inferior work. The Full Figured Chic line is a tough sell. We'll have to make it our very best work in order to get the very concept over the line."

Jay sat at his desk looking at Greg with a smile on his face. Greg could tell Jay thought this was a done deal. Furious, Greg tried a different tack.

"You can't do this to me. I have a life. What about John. I won't get to see him; I won't get to see my family. The pressure will be immense; we'll fight the whole time. And where will you get makers? And where will we get inspiration? We haven't even tried these deigns on a model."

The panic in Greg's voice was edging against hysteria. As he presented Jay with all of the problems he could see Jay getting more and more relaxed. He'd made the decision without him and it looked like Greg could come along for the ride or not. And Jay must know that Greg wouldn't want to miss this moment in history for anything in the world.

"All those things can be answered Greg and you know it. John can come and visit, provided he allows himself to be scrutinised by my detective." At Greg's protest Jay lifted up his hand. "I know he's your lover mate, but absolutely no one gets through at the moment without my complete investigation. As for the makers, I have a team ready."

"How could you possibly have makers ready? Everyone in this industry fights over the best makers in the city. How could you possibly know where to get some that are up to the standard?"

"I've had this little group up my sleeve for years. They're out in the suburbs, so no one else found them; A small team of women from China. I channelled funds their way for years preparing for a moment like this, and they're already there and waiting to come in and work like troupers."

Distracted for a moment, Greg asked the question that was begging to be asked.

"You've been preparing for this for years? What are you talking about?"

"I knew someone would try to destroy my career at some point. So I have been preparing for that eventuality."

"Right. The curse." Greg couldn't help rolling his eyes.

Jay stood at the opposite point across the desk from Greg. He leaned forward and braced his hands against the table, so that his deadly serious face moved closer to Greg's to intensify the concentration he wanted to display.

"I know you think I am a paranoid fool, but if you had my family history you'd have more respect. You don't understand Greg. This could drive me mad. If I lost this -- this pinnacle of my career -- to my enemy, it would drive me insane."

You're already there, Greg thought. But decided he'd better get Jay back on track.

"Okay smarty, what about our inspiration. How are we going to work on keeping that at its peak?"

"We need a model. A muse."

"Well, yeah. But there are no full figured models. And we can't create one out of thin air. Have you planned for this?" Greg couldn't help the snide tone his questions took. He felt under massive pressure here.

"I have some ideas. There are a few places I want to try. I will see if I can find us the perfect woman to represent the full figured chic line."

"This this is a done deal."

"You know it is friend."

A knock at the door interrupted them. Greg stood.

"Well, I haven't agreed yet. I want to talk it over with John and see how he feels about it. Then I have to take a walk and have a think for myself. I know you think I'm on board already, but I do have some systems of my own that I want to work out. And by the way I don't want anything to do with the private Detective."

"That'll be him now. You'd better go do the things you need to do."

"Okay. What are you going to do after you talk to him?"

"See my mother."

Greg nodded a few times, his eyes glazed and fixed on the wall behind Jay to avoid the eye contact that would have given his true feelings away.

That he was thrilled and excited to take up the challenge.