December 3, 2011 |
Vincenza could hardly contain her excitement as the plane touched down in Nice. Chopard had invited her to Cannes, offering her exclusive access to the diamond suite, and she saw it as her opportunity to be a star. No more being chained to a desk in some dark basement, being treated like a slave, she thought. She’d piled on all her best paste jewels for the flight. She wanted everyone she met before she got her hands on the real things to know that they were in the presence of greatness. The limo pulled up outside the hotel and Vincenza fell out. She could hear her paste stones being crushed under her weight. “Dahleeng, are you all right?” It was that nice PR lady. “You look fabulous, casually crushing your jewels like that, being showered in crystal shards. Why, everyone is looking! They think you are a performance artist.” Slowly, she got to her feet and the courtyard exploded in applause. “Well, sweetness,” purred Vincenza, unflummoxed, “you know how important a grand entrance is.” She opened her handbag and pulled out an image from the archive. “This is what I want.” she asked. “Of course, dahleeng. But would you mind if we fashioned that turban thingy out of diamonds? We have no fabric.” Vincenza was intrigued and rather thrilled, but a diva never reveals her true feelings, so she shot the lady a look and, with a sigh, said, “If you must.” The lift doors opened onto the suite and she let out a little gasp. “That squirrel, with the diamond instead of an acorn – where do I order those? I want to replace all the squirrels in my garden with them. Do you have a giraffe, too? It is called the Animal World collection and I’d rather like a safari in the house. Please charge it back to the office.” Maybe she could fob them off on expenses. They owed her. “Now, back to the turban. How do you plan on making it?” “Well, all of our jewels multitask. Take this choker, par exemple. All the diamond rays, you can detach. It might take everything we have in the suite, but if we start detaching and reattaching on your head, we will be able to fashion something similar to what you’d like. Even re-create the crease of the fabric using different sizes of diamonds.” Vincenza was impressed. “Would this be the first diamond turban ever created?” she asked. She liked the idea of being a trendsetter, especially if it was a trend no one could follow. “Let me find out. In the meantime, would you like to go down to the salon and get your hair turban ready? I’ll start detaching and you ask for a pouf.”
by Natalie Dembinska
