InsaneJournal

Tweak says, ""Sunshine""

Ava Wright (avagardener) wrote in yegods,
@ 2012-07-12 12:08:00

Entry tags:

!log, avani wright, isabelle cooper

WHO Izzy Cooper and Ava Wright
WHERE Avette House
WHEN July 12th, 2012, mid-afternoon
RATING tbd
SUMMARY The ladies meet to address the art of fashion, but something else is afoot.
STATUS Incomplete

Ava enjoyed her professional meetings. Granted, her apartment wasn’t the best place for professional meetings, but Ava lacked office space, and she certainly lacked a proper store. So her apartment would have to do. Odie was out, doing lovely little Odie things, so Ava had tidied the living room and even moved a mannequin into the living room bearing a dress she thought Izzy might like. She also had a few other patterns from magazines, and a few of her pattern books on the coffee table, as well as some pieces of fabric that Ava had on hand. The point of today was to get a better feel for what Izzy wanted. Ava had seen a bit of what Izzy had, but it was Ava’s job to give her what she wanted.

And to discuss quantity and price. Because Ava was a business. This was work, even if it was work Ava enjoyed.

Ava herself was wearing something rather simple but nice (and not too hot in this weather.) She moved around the apartment, making last minute adjustments here and there. Making the place look nice, making sure the dress on the mannequin would look nice both from the door to the apartment (for shock value) and from the couch where she intended them to sit and discuss business (so it could continue to be appreciated). Ava realized she was fidgeting, and so sat on the couch to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and made sure her hearing aid was in her ear properly.

She had no reason to be nervous. Not only was Miss Cooper a rather lovely young woman, Ava was, indeed, a professional. She was an expert in her field, both the business and the craft of it. This was, indeed, her zone. This was where Ava lived, literally and figuratively. This was the Ava Zone™ and she had no reason to be nervous at all. Though she nearly jumped out of her skin when the buzzer went off, and turned her hearing aid down as she went to press the buzzer to let Izzy in. She waited by the door until there was a knock on it, and opened it, using her Ava Smile™

“Miss Cooper, please come in,” Ava said, stepping aside. “Would you like a jelly Danish?”

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whichdaddysgirl
2012-07-13 05:46 am UTC (link)

Izzy's eyes went immediately to the dress on the mannequin and she grinned. Ava had outdone herself in finding just the kind of dress that Izzy was looking for. She smiled at Ava as she stepped across the threshold and into the apartment that Ava shared with Odette.

"You're offering me sweets, Ava, you clearly already know how to butter this client up," she glanced again at the dress on display, "And that dress is fabuous. Please, please tell me that is what you had in mind for me because it's perfect and I really don't want to have to pout until you give me someone else's dress."

This was the first time since Izzy had seen that thing eat Mitra that her mood had lightened. She was really looking forward to the experience of actually going to a dressmaker to have her clothes made. It almost made her feel like a character in a book. Not that she'd admit to that to anyone...ever. Besides, she liked spending time with Ava. Like most of the friends that Izzy had made since arriving in New York, Ava was very different from the kind of people she'd associated with before but she was different in the very best ways. Though she was sure that Ava was able to lie, almost everyone was after all, but she sensed that there was little artifice in Ava and that was something that Izzy greately appreciated after having grown up in a world that was almost nothing but artifice.

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avagardener
2012-07-13 11:20 pm UTC (link)

"Oh I had them anyway, it'd be rude to not offer them," Ava said, indicating where Izzy could leave her shoes and drop her bag or anything else she might be carrying.

It was mostly true, Ava did take any excuse to go to Nectar and buy jelly Danish. It was lucky that she and Odie entertained on a fairly regular basis, and that Ava had people she could invite over for business purposes. True, she could have met with Izzy at a cafe or some sort of neutral area, and brought the design books and pieces of fabric, and it might have all been a bit more professional than meeting in Ava's living room... but this way she got to buy Danish, and in case she had been way off on Izzy's style (which she hadn't been, obviously) than all of her other reference materials were just down the hall.

Ava walked over to the dress and ruffled the layers of the skirt a little. It had already been perfectly set, but ruffling the skirt added a visual element of fun that suited the dress, as well as what Ava imagined to be Izzy's taste. "I made this awhile ago, but I wanted to illustrate the sort of thing I had in mind for you. I had several ideas but it felt like this would suit you best." And Ava didn't have finished versions of any of her other ideas. "Something simple and classic, fun, but not inappropriate for most work spaces, and retro while not being too out of place." Ava's dress was a bit out of place (and she had dressed down for professional reasons) but this style was almost coming back into vogue. "This is an early 1960s style, and for you I had a 50s and 60s sort of vibe. Classic, but moving a bit more into free movement."

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whichdaddysgirl
2012-07-14 11:40 pm UTC (link)

Izzy toed off her battered sneakers and placed her enormous purse where Ava had indicated. She was glad that, aside from the unfortunate sneakers she was still in her work clothes or else she would have felt underdressed next to Ava. Though Izzy was fairly certain that no matter what she did she'd always feel underdressed next to Ava. Which wasn't a bad thing. At all.

She had known from the first time that she talked to Ava about clothing she liked that she wanted Ava to do some work for her. It wasn't often you found someone with that kind of passion and Izzy wanted to encourage it. She was actually planning on eventually having Ava make all of her dresses for the public appearances she sometimes made with her daddy. She was certain that she could get Ava's name out.

Izzy looked more closely at the dress that Ava had displayed, "The work here is amazing, Ava. And it is just what I was looking for. You were right in taking your inspirations from the time you did. I have some clothes I've bought vintage from the 70s but this is just right for all the reasons you had for choosing it," she turned to look at Ava, "I'd like to see what else you had in mind."

She had a feeling she'd be hearing from her daddy about how much she was about to spend on clothes but she would promise him she'd pay him back sooner or later now that she had an actual paying job.

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avagardener
2012-07-15 12:02 am UTC (link)

Ava was gracious enough to keep smiling as Izzy told her she'd been right. Ava was not surprised, hence why her smile was gracious. She didn't need to be told she had picked it out perfectly, she already knew, but it was nice of Izzy to tell her so. "I brought out some of my pattern books," Ava said, motioning over toward the coffee table which bore a few slim books with drawings of thin women with skirts and belts and hats and stockings. The books from the 60s had a bit... less professional looking clothes on the cover, but those patterns were only in the back of the book, the first few pages were what Ava wanted Izzy to look at.

She sat on a very decorative pillow next to the coffee table, leaving a spot for Izzy to sit and face her, as well as see both the items on the table and a continued good view of the dress on the mannequin. Ava took a few moments to straighten her skirt so it wouldn't wrinkle before placing her hands on the pattern books. "A lot of these styles would suit you, but you should look through them and I can mark the ones that you particularly like," Ava said, pushing the book of styles from the 50s closer to her, and readying a pad of paper and a pencil to mark the styles that appealed to her client.

"Now don't mind the colors of the fabric in the pictures, though some are black and white. The style and the fabric are generally very different, so things like colors and patterns are decided later." And was a different conversation, but Ava did motion to the various pieces of cloth also on the table. "Just tell me what styles appeal to you most."

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whichdaddysgirl
2012-07-19 06:52 am UTC (link)

Izzy started flipping through the books that Ava handed her. Each dress spoke of a time passed. A time when it wasn't always easy to be a woman (not that it was today but that's entirely different story). Even though the mindset of the era didn't speak to Izzy the clothing did. The way that even the most casual dress looked tailored and put together spoke to her. The romance of the clothing, if that was the right word, was what always sold her. She always felt like a woman in a nice dress.

All of these thoughts ran through her head as she flipped through pages. Considering each dress for what purpose it would serve. Some of them she liked but they were definitely "date" dresses and she didn't need those. Just as there were a few that she noted in the back of her mind for when she eventually asked Ava to make more formal clothing for events. She marked pages with her finger until she'd finished the first book.

Once finished she flipped back to the first page she'd marked, "I think this one would be nice," she pointed at a simple day dress as they would have called it, "It's casual enough to be comfortable but nice enough for work," she looked at Ava, "What do you think?"

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avagardener
2012-07-19 09:01 pm UTC (link)

Ava jotted down the page number and the dress pattern number on her little pad of paper and looked at the drawing of the dress on the page. She thought about fabric and supplies and measurements and about how long it would take her to make that if she had nothing else to do, and how long it would take with the time she actually had available. Her mind began to calculate costs of supplies, time, and than just a charge. She supposed if Izzy asked for enough dresses, Ava should consider some sort of discount. There was a lot for everyone to gain by having discounts on large orders.

"I think it would work perfectly. And you could ever wear certain jackets with it for when the weather gets cooler again." Because that was something one needed to consider in New York. Nice, light dresses were lovely for the summer, but come winter the clothes would need to change.

Ava had her pen poised for the next dress Izzy expressed an interest in, when the phone in the pocket of her dress beeped. Her eyes went a bit wide in surprise and she apologized, reaching into her pocket and looking at the text she'd just received. It might have been important, and it was just a text. Only it hadn't been important, just a picture her father had sent her of a pancake he had made that he thought looked like Ronald Reagan. Actor Ronald Reagan, even, not Presidential Ronald Reagan. To Ava it looked like a pancake.

She frowned and set the phone on the coffee table. "Any other styles catch your eye?"

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whichdaddysgirl
2012-07-25 11:55 pm UTC (link)

Izzy had been wearing the pendant from Mitra since he had given it to her. She knew that it didn't quite go with the blouse and skirt she'd worn to work but people had been surprisingly nice about it.

Izzy had lifted one of the pastries to her mouth as Ava checked her phone. She nearly choked when she noticed the pendant glowing when Ava took her phone out to check her texts.

She managed to swallow the Danish, "Umm this is weird, Ava, but can I see your phone for a second?"

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avagardener
2012-07-26 06:28 pm UTC (link)

Ava's eyes grew a bit wide at the request, and for a moment she just looked at Izzy and then her phone and back. Did Izzy need to make a phone call? Surely she'd have her own cell phone, nearly everyone had cell phones these days. Except the very old and the very young, but Izzy (and Ava) were from the cell phone age. They were so young they probably didn't even use phones as phones, just for texting and using apps and surfing the internet.

"Sure," Ava said, trying not to express how odd the request was. She even picked up her phone and handed it to Izzy. Hopefully she would make a call, so Ava could listen and hear what she was up to. It was Ava's phone, she had some sort of right to know. She didn't want Izzy doing... anything weird with it. Or maybe even trying to find some numbers off it. It was a very strange request! Perhaps stranger the more Ava thought about it.

Maybe, though, Izzy was just thinking about buying a phone, and wanted to see what Ava had. That was probably the nicest, least weird of the options Ava could think of.

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