Leaning forward urgently, her face full of that engaging eagerness Linnet had noted before, Evan exclaimed, ‘I’d love to work at Harte’s, and I’d be thrilled to be involved with the retrospective. A project like this is always challenging, Miss O’Neill.’
‘And very hard work,’ Linnet pointed out, giving her a direct look. ‘I hope you don’t mind long hours.’
‘Not me. I’ve been told I’m a workaholic by most people I’ve worked with.’
Linnet burst out laughing. ‘That’s good to know, and join the club! India and I suffer from that same ailment, I’m afraid. Though I think I’m worse than she is sometimes! Anyway, do you have any thoughts about where and how to acquire vintage clothes for the exhibition?’
‘Yes, I do. There are several good vintage clothing shops in New York. The best I think is Ken Valenti. He’s a private dealer of vintage couture, and he has about ten thousand pieces, as well as accessories such as shoes, bags, scarves, and jewellery. He has quite a lot of Yves Saint Laurent, I do know that. Anyway, he has an Internet site, and we can pull it up on the computer so you can see some of the clothes. Then there’s Didier Ludot in Paris. He has three shops, but the best is the one in the gardens of the Palais Royal, which is dedicated to vintage haute couture dating from the 1920s up to the 1980s. Your time span for your exhibit.’
‘That’s good to know! We do have to investigate, look at web sites. There are auction houses, of course, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s here in London. In fact, we’ve already bought quite a lot at auction in the past year, which is how long we’ve been working on the retrospective, putting it together.’
‘The William Doyle Galleries in New York also specialize in vintage haute couture. There’s probably an auction coming up sometime soon.’
‘You mentioned accessories a moment ago,’ Linnet remarked. ‘And I forgot to tell you that we have shoes and bags from Emma Harte’s collection, which we’ll be putting on display.’
‘That’s always a great idea, to give the whole picture,’ Evan answered. ‘Also, some fashion designers are willing to loan clothes from their archives for a retrospective like the one you’re planning. Have you contacted any of them?’
‘Yes we have, and the clothes have already been lent to us. All those wonderful original models the designers have kept for posterity, which is great. And we have a number of current haute-couture pieces in the fashion department which we’re planning to include. But we still need more items to make the exhibit really impressive …’ Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. ‘It’s quite a task, you know.’
After a moment’s thought, Evan said quietly, ‘I have an idea. Why not pick out six or eight, or better still, ten really chic women in London, and honour them at the retrospective as Fashion Icons. They’d be a wonderful vehicle for publicity, especially if they’re well known. And they’d probably agree to lend us some of their own couture clothes to put on display. If we had ten icons and each loaned the store five or six pieces, that would mean we’d have fifty or so garments in one fell swoop.’
‘Brilliant!’ Linnet exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. ‘Let’s take it a step further … why don’t we have a best-dressed list? Create one of our own. That would engender some publicity for the retrospective—’ Linnet stopped abruptly, suddenly looking concerned. ‘I can see from your expression that you don’t like that idea one bit,’ she muttered.
Evan responded swiftly, ‘It’s a good idea, but I must admit I am worried about the use of the phrase “best-dressed list”. I’m not sure whether that’s a registered trademark. The Best-Dressed List was started by Eleanor Lambert in New York, as far as I know, many years ago. It just might—’
‘Belong to her,’ Linnet interrupted. ‘I understand your concern. Point well taken. So let’s skip it then. I don’t want complications, and certainly I don’t want to work on something that might prove to be a waste of time. Let’s go with the Fashion Icons, though. I love it. India will help with the right names, and so will I. We’ll need a long list, a lot more women than ten, because not all of the women we approach will agree to participate. Let’s do some research on that.’
Evan agreed and, encouraged by Linnet’s enthusiastic response to her suggestion, she went on, ‘I can talk to Arnold Scaasi. I’m sure he would lend us a number of his evening gowns. He has a magnificent collection of his own designs, a great archive.’
Linnet nodded. ‘That’d be fantastic. But we will have to buy some of the vintage couture that’s around. Very simply, we just need it, no two ways about that, to round out certain years in fashion.’ She sat back, deciding that Evan Hughes was going to be invaluable to her. How lucky it was that Gideon had noticed her in the corridor. But who could fail to miss her? She was an arresting-looking young woman. Unexpectedly, Linnet felt considerably better about properly completing all of the work on the exhibition. The young American woman had been in her office for what? Only half an hour, at the most. Yet she had a truly good feeling about Evan, a positive reaction to her. And in the most peculiar way she felt as if she had known her for a very long time. There was something vaguely familiar about Evan Hughes.
For her part, Evan, who was quick, intelligent and acute, knew she had made a good impression on Linnet, and now she said in that lovely quiet voice of hers, ‘I guess you’re planning to have the retrospective in June, from what Mr Harte said.’
‘No, no, it’ll be in the middle of May,’ Linnet responded swiftly, and then thought to explain, ‘My cousin was referring to a birthday party we’re helping to plan with my mother. It’s for his father and mine. That’s what Gideon was talking about when he mentioned the big bash in June.’
Evan merely inclined her head, hoping she didn’t look foolish for assuming something, and then voicing it so readily without knowing the facts.
Linnet went on, ‘The retrospective will be on view for about four months, perhaps even six. The longer the better, and so I do want it to be something really smashing. Sumptuous clothes, elegance all the way.’
Evan asked, ‘Where will it be housed in the store?’
‘On the top floor. We have an auditorium up there, which my mother carved out of a number of different defunct departments a few years ago. She demolished and remodelled, she’s very good at that. It holds about eight hundred people, so it’s very spacious, as you can imagine. The clothes will be displayed to great advantage there.’
‘There’s a lot of preparation involved in this kind of show,’ Evan murmured, thinking out loud, her mind racing when she thought of all that had to be done by May. It was the middle of January already. Yes, it was a big challenge indeed.
‘I agree with you,’ Linnet was saying. ‘But the clothes we already have are in perfect condition now. They’ve been cleaned, and repaired, whenever that was necessary, and also steamed or pressed. Touch-ups can be done once the clothes are on the mannequins and in position in the auditorium. But all that aside, there’s still an awful lot to finish. That’s why I need extra help. Would you be interested in the job?’
‘Oh yes, I would!’ Evan’s voice echoed her enthusiasm.
‘When could you start?’
‘Whenever you want me to.’
‘I’ll talk to my mother and get back to you tomorrow morning?’ Linnet said.
‘Thank you, Miss O’Neill.’
Once she was alone, Linnet looked at Evan’s résumé again, and she liked what she read. She also liked Evan. There was something open and honest about her, and certainly she was enthusiastic about working at Harte’s; Linnet had detected in her a desire to work.