Amidst the chaos of life, beauty awaits those who embrace the storm.
After one of my first models divulged all the information of her traumatic household, I made it a point to learn everything I could about the people I worked with.
A woman came to me with an appearance that looked like it was stolen from classic art.
Every part of her screamed this woman has it together until her voice betrayed her.
She spoke fervently, her words started to blend together to the point I couldn’t understand her.
She spoke like someone running out of time.
I had no idea what she wanted, all I could tell was that it was important.
Usually I asked what kind of features someone wanted in their design or something about themselves to get an idea of who they were and what they liked.
With her, I simply asked, “is everything okay?”
She put her hands over her eyes that just before looked like they were begging and began to break.
Between the sobs, her broken voice squeaked out, “I think he’s cheating on me”.
Everything clicked at the moment, this high class woman, a woman who staked everything on her marriage and made her life nice and orderly because of it just had a wrecking ball of chaos thrown at the domestic bliss she created.
She didn’t need a dress to make herself look good, she had that covered.
She needed a dress like a knight needs a suit of armor, she was desperate to protect herself.
Maybe if he saw her the way he saw her when they met, the ball would stop swinging and she would be safe.
I told her “I can’t stop the chaos but I can make you look damn good in this maelstrom of matrimony. If he’s cheating on you, he’s going to regret every bit of it, if he’s not, he’s going to show you the attention you desperately need.”
I told her to give me the dress, she didn’t need classic design, she needed the eye of a woman who saw men cheat on their wives everyday.
It didn’t matter if they were doctors, musicians, artists, photographers, priests, police, lawyers, businessmen, scientists, heroes, criminals, or even men who were burned themselves.
All fell to my mother’s charms and all collapsed under the woman who basked in the chaos.
I turned that dress from one designed for the world to one designed for a man.
Gone were frills, needless fabric hid the form.
Gone was the long skirt, her perfect legs no longer hidden.
I made sure to make sure what I didn’t cut was form fitting and what I did cut was legal.
She went from a woman drowning in chaos to a goddess ready to enjoy the ride.
The next time I saw her she was glowing, he couldn’t resist her and her ballgown was replaced by a maternity dress.
In the chaos, the world can give us the most beautiful prizes.
We just have to embrace the beauty in everything.