Page 27 of Guilty Pleasures

‘But how can we improve it?’ said Guillaume, getting up and pacing around.

Cassandra flipped open her Moleskine notebook and reviewed her scribbled comments. Even in a mediocre collection she could pick out the one gem that could make a woman beautiful and elegant.

‘I adored the inverted pleating, the volume of the skirts. However … the penultimate exit…’

‘What is wrong?’ said Guillaume, his eyes blazing. ‘What?’

‘The obi-belt on the amethyst dress, perhaps you should try it in pumpkin rather than black? It’s just a little too predictable.’

For a moment, it looked as if Guillaume would explode. Then he reached out and pinched Cassandra’s cheek affectionately.

‘Ma cherie, you are always right.’

He clicked his fingers in the air and an assistant came running with two cups of espresso. Cassandra glanced at her watch. It was time to go back to her suite at the Plaza Athénée and prepare.

‘You are coming to the party?’ she said, downing the coffee in one.

‘Of course, but only for a short time, I’m afraid. Your timing before my show is very bad and then …’ he threw his hands in the air again, ‘… you request pumpkin obi-belts! But don’t worry, the rest of Paris will be there.’

‘Not all of them. Only those who are lucky enough to have been invited,’ she smiled.

‘Is Glenda coming?’ he asked. Glenda McMahon was the editor-in-chief of US Rive and therefore one of Cassandra’s most bitter rivals, despite the fact that she was Cassandra’s former boss and mentor.

‘Darling Glenda!’ she exclaimed, without a hint of irony. ‘I know she’s in Paris. I saw her at Lanvin yesterday. Whether that means she will turn up tonight is anyone’s guess.’

Her offhand comment switched Guillaume into a playful mood.

‘I see she was only one place above you in Time’s“Most Powerful Women in Fashion” …’

‘Will people stop mentioning that silly list?’ replied Cassandra, standing up and handing her coffee cup to a make-up artist.

‘One place,’ said Guillaume gleefully. ‘She is surely going to feel the breath on the back of her neck.’

‘Guillaume …’

‘My prediction is that in twelve months’ time that job will be yours.’

‘Guillaume, stop it! Glenda is a very gifted editor.’ But not as good as she was, added Cassandra silently. As close a friend to Guillaume as she was, she simply couldn’t admit that she wanted Glenda’s job – Guillaume was as indiscreet as he was gifted. US Rive was where Cassandra had started her magazine career and it only seemed right that she should finish it there because New York was undeniably the centre of the media world, where money men, models and insiders collided and formed alliances. That was where she would make her next move, she was sure of it. She’d been at UK Rive for three years and knew it was already too long. She often lay awake at night thinking ahead to the day when she would be given the US Rive job, planning how she would finally take it beyond US Vogue to become the greatest fashion magazine on earth – and how she would make herself a legend at the same time.

‘Well, if you are not interested in that job,’ said Guillaume slyly, ‘what about another one I hear of in New York?’

Cassandra looked at him curiously. She thought she knew every magazine move that was being made or plotted. She thrived on gossip, it was the lifeblood of the industry, running up and down the front row, crackling between the tiny tables of the fashionistas’ favourite Parisian restaurant Chez George, at art previews and society weddings. For Cassandra it was not just idle tittle-tattle, it was professional ammunition.

‘And what job would this be?’ she asked.

‘The launch of the AtlanticCorp’s US fashion weekly,’ said Guillaume, ‘they have an editor-in-chief already but…’

‘Carrie Barker – I know. She was drafted in from their newspaper division.’

‘Yes. But they are not happy at all with the dummy and frankly my darling, I’m not surprised. The publishers presented it to me last week and it was … How do you say, shit.’

Cassandra caught her breath. This was gossip of the highest quality.

‘So they are firing her?’

Guillaume nodded. ‘I told them they could do better.’

He clapped his hands as if he was already bored with the conversation and an assistant appeared carrying a long plastic bundle.