Theater isn't the only thing I'm interested in (208 views)

Ash’s Outfit

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The theater was crawling with people. Volunteers, some aspiring metric attendees and others current students enrolled in the school, were running around trying to get things set up. Right now they were getting ready for a showcase of talent coming up within the week. Ash DeCosta was involved in this project with her clothing. She was showcasing the best of her work, and using a few modeling students to sport her garb. This was something Ash took very seriously, because this was the way she could impress potential employers who could use her talents to design the costumes for their films in the future.

Ash had a theme with her clothing line – the 1770s in America, but with a unique, steam=punk esque twist to them. Ash was proud of this entire line, and was looking forward to getting the outfits on the mannequins and then on some of the models who had so graciously agreed to model them in a week.

”Ms. DeCosta, do you need anything else?”

Ash paused her ministrations on a mannequin, and turned to face one of the older volunteers. She was a plump woman with a wide smile. Ash gave her a tentative one back.

”I think I’m okay. I just have to do the pinning.” She said.

”Pinning... could you use an assistant? We got another volunteer and we’re looking for somewhere to put her. We got a lot of help this year,” The woman lifted her paper and looked at some words.

”I guess so? If you want to send one over here, I wouldn’t turn them away.”

”Right.” The volunteer director said, moving away from Ash towards where Gemma was with some other folks. She came out and approached Gemma and the newest volunteers. ”Hello? Would any of you ladies mind going backstage? There’s a young designer looking for an assistant for the day. She’s very nice, if a little quiet.”

Ash turned to look at Gemma as she came over. The girl was cute, and she had the same body type as some of the models. She had blonde hair and bright eyes and fit some of the clothing designs Ash had perfectly. Her hands were delicate and thin, and Ash had a feeling that Gemma would be able to fasten the clothes together very well, just as she wanted them.

”Nice to meet you.” Ash said, and as the other woman excused herself Gemma immediately began speaking. Ash evaluated her fast pacing and flushed cheeks and came to the conclusion that she was nervous about something. To try and put her newfound assistant at ease, Ash offered a pleasant smile. Now that she mentioned it there was something familiar about this girl. Often she came to the movie theater that Ash worked at and wound up shyly buying things from her. Ash didn’t think much of her friend’s pushy behaviors and assumed that Gemma must be a shy person. ”Yes. I remember seeing you. You must really love movies, right? Well. I hope you like historical ones.”

Ash gestured behind her, towards her designs on mannequins. ”I need some help pinning the clothes to the mannequins. Try to just do the loose, easy pins for now – if there’s anything complicated call me over and I’ll help you. I won’t mind if you ask questions. I’d rather you ask them instead of accidently ripping something. Does that make sense?”

Well, she seemed enthusiastic! That made Ash smile and she watched, curiously, as Gemma too-meticulously put the pin on the mannequin and outfit. She’d done a good job, though it stuck out a little too much among the fabric.

”You have the principal down. Just make sure that this side of the pin is under some fabric, like this.” Ash reached over and tugged some of the fabric to obscure the pin from someone passing by’s view. ”Have you ever done this before? Or I should probably ask, what are you at Metric Academy for? The theater?”

She assumed most volunteers were students, and moved down the line to position her next bit of clothing on a mannequin. This was shiny and an emerald green, a gown designed for a steampunk themed medieval queen. It was one of Ash’s favorites in the collection, especially with the way the light caught on the material and made it shine like the scales of snakes.

So she wasn’t a student at Metric but wanted to be? Sometimes Ash forgot that this school was really high class and hard to get into. Ash had yet to meet a face of a person who hadn’t gotten accepted so she really took for advantage the fact that she was in attendance. She was working with some of the most skilled designer, given some of the best opportunities, and then there were people sitting on the outskirts of the campus, wanting to get in but unable to do so.

”Ah. For what?” She asked. Obviously the girl had to have a passion to want to be here. Designing herself maybe? Modeling? Ash could see either being a possibility. ”Yeah, I’m here for designs. My brother is a performer. I like to design period pieces, like these ones are.”

At her question, Ash blinked, caught off-guard. She had no qualms with pictures of her designs being snapped – as long as they weren’t later copied – but herself with them? ”uhm... I... I guess? I’m not photogenic. Do you need me in the photograph?”

Ash didn’t recall ever being called a ‘silly goose’ in her life, and despite herself, that made the smile on her face for the picture Gemma took more natural than her usually default blank-expression for pictures. Silly goose?

”Sure. You have to practice to get better, right?” Ash said. She wondered where Gemma would put these pictures, but didn’t think too much about it. Many would take pictures of her garb when it came to the presentation night. ”It’s fine. You’re very... social. It’s refreshing. Most of the volunteers I talk to seem groggy. It’s off-putting.”

Ash walked towards the next mannequin in the line. 5 more were down the line and each had a little paper beside them. ”These 5. The paper will tell you which parts need to be pinned. Thank you.”

Ash watched as Gemma worked, happy that she had gotten someone who not only seemed eager to listen to instructions but someone who wanted to attend the academy. With current attendees, sometimes they thought they were too good for these things. They’d see her designs, compliment them, but then try and give critique Ash didn’t want to hear. She only wanted critique when she was asking for it, when she was in a classroom setting or during the exhibition itself. She didn’t want to hear from volunteers at this event, especially not if they weren’t actually skilled enough to get in the showcase themselves. And with non-attendees it was the opposite problem. Sometimes they just didn’t care. They’d be lazy with the pinning. But Gemma really seemed to look like she cared.

”You’re already setting the bar pretty high.” Ash affirmed, going her own work by getting the dresses and royal garb all positioned on the mannequins for Gemma to pin as she moved down the line of clothes. ”How often do you do photography?”

”A blog? That’s interesting. Admirable that you post every day.” Ash said. She herself had never much understood the purpose or appeal of blogging, but she supposed it was as good a medium as any to post things on. She wondered if Gemma was famous on her blog, or popular. It was hard to say given that she’d never seen a photograph of the girls, but she assumed no because she hadn’t gotten into Metric. Likely, they would have accepted someone with a famous photography blog on their resume.

”I’ve been designing since I was in middle school. My mentor was the one who convinced me to apply here. I started out helping my brother’s stylist for a play he was in.” Ash explained. ”How long have you been photographing?”