Rags to Riches

Waking up one sunny Thursday morning in June, Cecilia tiredly rubbed her eyes. Picking up her phone off her dresser, she opened her banking app wondering how much she had in her account.

When she discovered that she only had €10.50 in her account, she groaned. Cecilia did not have the price of some groceries. Walking over to the mirror, Cecilia composed herself, "I can get over my financial hump. It's so unfair that most people my age are in full time jobs, and I'm just moping around here every day. It's time I did something about it." 

In her spare time, Cecilia loved to sew and make clothes. Though she was quite good with making the clothes, they never sold for significant sums of money. The most she had ever gotten for one of her creations was €20, a silver coloured summer scarf that a neighbour had bought. Despite making some money, this also made Cecilia quite upset. Sitting down with her mother Emily one day, Cecilia explained how she felt that her creations and her talent for clothes making was not being noticed. Placing her arm around her, Emily exclaimed, "Cecilia, sweetheart, none of the major fashion designers became rich overnight, they had to work hard to earn their wealth. Becoming rich is a very difficult task. Less than 10% of people become wealthy, it's very unlikely you will, and I hate to be a dampener on your ambitions, but it's more than likely the truth. Who knows, you might just do it and become famous someday. Get a part time job and then we'll see how your fortunes improve. You have me as your number one supporter."

With a smile on her face, Cecilia remembered what her mother had previously said. Cecilia knew that the less than 10% of people who become wealthy statement that Emily made was true, but she was going to give it a damn good try.

Sitting down one evening at her bedroom desk, Cecilia took out her sewing gear and got down to work. In what seemed like an instant, Cecilia looked at her watch, it was 9pm, she had been working for three and a half hours. In that time she had made several summer scarves, a winter hat and some gloves. When she had finished her last creation, Cecilia yawned, the work was tiring but she enjoyed doing it. Suddenly she felt something rubbing against her leg, it was her cat Cyrus. She watched as Cyrus made his way around the room and then settled down next to the foot of Cecilia's bed. The weather had gotten worse as Cecilia was working but she was so engrossed in her work that she did not notice. She was just putting away her sewing gear when she heard a rumbling sound that seemed louder than anything she had ever heard. Looking out her bedroom window, she saw that the sky had gone grey, and it had also gotten very overcast. At that moment the booming noise rang out again, and Cecilia knew that it was not just a random occurrence. It was the sound of thunder, and then she saw a forked flash. It was a bolt of lightning. Running downstairs, Cecilia made way into the living room. Closing the shutters, she sat down and turned on the tv to try and drown out the thunder and lightning. Emily sat down next to Cecilia and placed her arms around her. Cecilia had an intense fear of thunder and lightning which had stemmed from a childhood nightmare.  Comforting her, Emily exclaimed, "it's ok sweetie, it's only electrical discharge, it'll be gone soon." 

The following Saturday, there was a crafts fair in the local market, and Cecilia knew that this was her opportunity to try and make some money with her designs. She had spent the previous two days making clothes so it had kept her up until all hours of the night. "Cecilia, time to get up sweetie, you don't want to be late for the crafts fair." Getting showered and dressed, Cecilia put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It was too sunny to wear anything heavy, she knew if she did she would be sweating all day. Picking up the bags of clothes, Cecilia made her way down the stairs. Emily picked up some of the bags and put them into the boot of the car. "Who knows, sweetheart, this could be the beginning of your change in fortunes." Reassured by these words of encouragement, Cecilia got into the car. When they arrived at the crafts fair, they were met by the former local priest, Father Tobias Rose, an elderly man with a knobbly stick. If people who didn't know him were to take a look at him, they would have guessed he was about 80-85, but he was actually nearing 100 years old. His longevity stunned everyone in the area, they were always curious how he lived for so long. He would tell them that he never drank and never smoked which was a help in him keeping healthy, and when he was younger, he would do a ten kilometre walk every day. "Cecilia, my child, good morning. Your mother told me you're one of the people involved in the crafts fair today, I wish you the best of luck." With a reassuring nod, Cecilia replied, "thank you Father." 

The aroma of food wafted through the market, Cecilia immediately picked up the scent of crepes and Nutella, her favourite snack when the market was active. Spotting her place in the market, Cecilia made her way over to her seat. Opening the bags, she placed some of her creations out on the table and waited patiently.

How's it so far?

As the day went by, Cecilia's creations seemed to be selling like crazy, nearly everyone was queuing to buy something from her stall. Eventually she had one creation left and it was then that she spotted a familiar face. It was a girl who had been born in the city and had become famous for her fashion blogs. She walked over to the stall which made Cecilia feel slightly nervous. "So, you are Cecilia, I'm Susana Morales, I grew up in this city as you may know. I always love coming home to see it and meeting the same familiar faces. I've seen nearly everyone here buying from you. I must say, I'm very impressed, how old are you? I know that sounds like a rude question, but tell me, how old are you?" Cecilia smiled, something told her this was going to be a very productive encounter. "I'm 21." The woman stood back in surprise, "21, and you're only selling clothes here at this little stall for a few quid?." 

Cecilia watched as the woman scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her, "here, this is my card, send me a portfolio of some of your works and I'll be in touch, you've got real potential in the fashion world." Susana was also kind enough to buy Cecilia's last clothing item and walked away contentedly. Making her way home, Cecilia ran excitedly into the living room where her mother was sipping coffee and watching tv. Speaking very quickly, Cecilia was telling her the story. Standing up from the couch, Emily poured the last of her coffee down the sink and sat back on the couch, she was wondering what Cecilia was saying. "Sweetie, slow down and tell me what happened at the market." After a few minutes, Emily was stunned by the story, she couldn't believe it that Cecilia had met the city's most famous celebrity.

A few days later, Cecilia had emailed Susana her portfolio. Getting back to her, Susana replied that she was highly impressed by Cecelia's creative talent, she had not seen anything like it in the fifteen years she had been in fashion. Susana had scheduled an interview with Cecilia for the following Monday which gave Cecilia a very short amount of time to prepare for the interview. Cecilia knew she had to rehearse everything to the top, there was no room for errors. It had to go perfectly if she was to get a job. 

As a result of Cecilia getting the interview, Emily had bought her a navy tuxedo with a red bow tie. Cecilia had never worn anything formal before, so it was weird to be in anything she considered to be formal. Trying on the tuxedo, Cecilia felt quite confident, she looked like she could take on the world. Emily helped her practice tying the bow tie. When she had finished, Cecilia looked at herself in the mirror, she felt like someone in a spy movie, a bit like James Bond, except she was a woman. 

Over the weekend Cecilia had perfected everything she felt she needed to say in the interview, but still had that slightly nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was the very first time that she was going to a major interview, and especially in a high position job like that in Susana's fashion line. The night before the interview, Cecilia brushed up on her interview skills in front of the mirror until Emily walked into the room, "time to hit the hay sweetheart, you don't want to be tired for your interview tomorrow."

Waking up the following morning, Cecilia got out of bed and walked over to her mirror. "Today's the day Cecilia, today's the day." Moving some fashion magazines off her bed, Cecilia placed them on her bookshelf so that they would not make the room look cluttered. Walking over to her wardrobe, Cecilia picked up the bag with the tuxedo in it and placed it on her bed. Before she got dressed, Cecilia went for a shower, she did not want to turn up to the interview smelling of body odour. 

After her shower, Cecilia knew that she was at action stations and that there was no time to be messing around. "Time to get dressed sweetie" Cecilia heard her mother exclaim from the bottom of the stairs. Buttoning up her shirt, Cecilia felt the smooth soft texture against her skin. Next came her knickers and trousers, they were also soft against her skin. To keep the trousers from slipping down, Cecilia put on a Gucci belt that Emily had bought her from Italy. Picking up the bow tie, Cecilia tied it in the mirror and placed it around her neck. Her shirt had a tight collar which made the difference in how Cecilia looked, it was actually quite a nice feeling Cecilia thought to herself. Last but not least came the blazer. Putting it on, Cecilia glanced at her reflection in the mirror, it was like she was a whole new woman, she had never worn formalwear before but now it felt like something that could be a frequent thing in the future.

Making her way downstairs and into the kitchen Cecilia ate her breakfast making sure not to spill anything on her tuxedo, it was an expensive one at that so she did not want to ruin it. "You look absolutely gorgeous sweetheart" Emily exclaimed in awe of Cecilia's new look. At that moment Cecilia heard the doorbell ring and got up from the chair. Answering it, she encountered the postwoman who looked at Cecilia up and down. "Cecilia, you look stunning, that tuxedo really suits you." Handing Cecilia the post, the postwoman then walked to do the rest of the houses in the area. Walking back into the kitchen, Cecilia handed the letters to Emily who groaned, "of for fuck sake, that's the sixth time Alexandra has sent me an invite to her dinner party tonight. Fine, I'll go even though she's the biggest snob in the area." Cecilia had never heard her mother swearing before so this was a new thing to experience.

Picking up the car keys, Cecilia handed them to Emily. Cecilia still had that nervous feeling in her stomach, but she was not going to let it get to her, she knew that this could be a marvellous opportunity to aim to become famous someday. Getting into the car, she composed herself and kept saying, "it'll be fine" to stay calm. When they arrived sat the fashion company's building, Cecilia and Emily got out of the car. Kissing Cecilia on the head, Emily exclaimed, "I'm very proud of you sweetheart. Go knock em' dead in there." Encouraged by her mother's confidence, Cecilia walked into the building where she was met by Susana. "Cecilia, how wonderful to have you here this morning. I must say you look gorgeous in that tuxedo, not what I would have expected you to wear, but it looks magnificent. Anyways, follow me and I'll show you around." 

As they were walking around the building, Susana pointed out various different things to Cecilia who had never been more interested in her life, this was all so exhilarating to see. Eventually they arrived at a floor that Susana worked on. Clearing her throat, Susana exclaimed, "everyone, may I have your attention please? Ok perfect. Everyone, I would like you all to meet Cecilia Torres, she is here on an experience day and I want you all to be nice to her." Cecilia heard the room all say hello, and then Susana motioned to her office, "this is where we'll have the interview."

Following Susana into the office, she was asked to sit down. As the interview went along it seemed that Susana was getting more and more impressed by Cecilia's potential. "Cecilia, you have more potential as a fashion designer than anyone I've met in my fifteen years in the business. You understand that I can't just give you a job straight away, there'll other candidates too, but you have a big edge on them. I will expect great things from you if I do give you the job. I'm not a stern boss by any means, I prefer to be kind to my staff, but I do expect hard work and dedication to the job.I've met some disastrous candidates over the last number of weeks, some didn't appear properly dressed, others showed up not washed, some completely no-showed, and so on."

Cecilia should start a fashion trend where everybody wears shirts and ties

That's a good idea

Resuming their tour, Susana and Cecilia arrived at an expensive door. Knocking on it, Cecilia heard a voice exclaim, "come in." Following Susana inside, Cecilia looked around at the lavishly decorated room. A woman no more than fifty stood up from the desk and walked over to Cecilia. "You must be the famous Cecilia, Susana has told me a lot about you, and that you're quite the designer. She showed me some of your clothes and they are just fabulous. You have great potential Cecilia, great potential for someone your age. I didn't even contemplate fashion designing until I had finished my postgraduate medicine degree, I wanted something different. Where are my manners? I am Sandra, Susana is my daughter. I must say you look gorgeous in that tuxedo. You dress very professionally for your age. Cecilia, you join our designer family and who knows someday soon someone could be wearing a suit and tie that you created. We aim to create formalwear more so than casual wear, we design suits and ties mostly. Cecilia, you have great potential and you should be designing full time I'm surprised you weren't spotted before. Your talent is abundant and I want to help you to grow it. Anyways, I'll let Susana show you where you'll be working today." 

Following Susana out of the office and down the corridor, Cecilia arrived at a vast room that was filled with people running to and fro with tape measures, scissors and other objects in their hands. Susana smiled proudly and walked over to a woman and introduced her to Cecilia, "Michelle, this is Cecilia, she's here on an experience day, would you show her the ropes?" Nodding, Michelle replied, "of course, I'd be delighted to. It's very nice to meet you Cecilia, Susana has told me a lot about you." Watching Susana turn around and walk out of the room, Cecilia looked around her, the room was very lavishly decorated, the wallpaper made the room look even more luxurious, the furniture was clearly very expensive, and the tables were covered with papers filled with figures and sizes. 

As the day passed by, Cecilia felt that she was in her element working on the suits and ties. By the time she had finished, Cecilia had created twenty suits and ties from scratch. Michelle was in awe of this, and exclaimed, "Cecilia, your work is stellar, I've never seen anyone work so hard before in my life. Don't worry about prices, our marketing department deals with all that mumbo jumbo, but I know one thing, you are going to do great things. Cecilia, you are only 21, you have youth on your side. I predict great things about you."

Michelle then called Susana to come to the suit and tie room and regaled her of Cecilia's work. "Susana, Cecilia is just incredible, she did twenty suits from scratch in just a few short hours. If I were in your position, I'd hire her this instant." Susana nodded, "Cecilia, the contents of your portfolio and your work here today, I've made my decision, you're hired. Welcome to the team." Everyone in the room burst into applause, nobody was more stunned than Cecilia, she knew this was her big break in the fashion world. 

A few days later word had spread around the city of Cecilia's creations and her suits and ties seemed to be flying off the shelves, stores had even run out of them a couple of times. Walking through the streets, Cecilia noticed a lot more people wearing a suit and tie. A woman wearing a skirt, shirt and tie and a belt around her waist approached her. "Cecilia, I am amazed at how quickly your suits are being bought, I was in a tailor shop yesterday and I bought several suits and ties. Your suits have taken social media by storm, you have a real gift for fashion." Resuming her walk, Cecilia was met by several other people who were also very positive about her creations. When she arrived at work, Cecilia told Michelle and Susana about her newfound fame, Michelle exclaiming, "we're not surprised Cecilia, your gift for fashion is incredible. We have calls here every day from people telling us about your suits and ties. To celebrate your newfound success, we're going to host a fashion show displaying your creations, and when that's over, we're going to take you out for a celebratory dinner, and you understand that we want you to wear a suit and tie for the dinner afterwards."