Page 63 of Wrapped Up at the Vintage Dress Shop
Ten minutes after they should have closed, Phoebe sent her on her way with a midnight blue satin 1950s halter dress, lace overlaying the full skirt, and a matching bolero jacket. ‘Even if he hadn’t been planning to propose, he will once he sees you in that dress,’ Phoebe told her.
Then she shut the door firmly behind the grateful woman, locked it, turned the sign to closed and leaned back with a tiny exhausted sigh. ‘Surely this has been the longest day since records began,’ she enquired plaintively of the other women. Sophy was cashing up, Bea was returning discarded dresses to the rails, Anita was doing her usual very desultory job with Henry the Hoover. ‘I long to slip my shoes off but I don’t think I’ll be able to get them back on again.’
Then Phoebe flopped down on one of the pink sofas with such force that Anita’s mouth dropped open and she gasped. ‘Those sofas are for customer use only, young lady,’ she said in a prim voice, which if it was meant to be an impersonation of Phoebe wasn’t a very good one.
‘I’m sorry, Anita, I’m just too tired to rise to the bait,’ Phoebe said sorrowfully then she swung her legs up so she was lying full length, eyes closed, and only stirred when Coco Chanel bustled down the stairs, followed by Cress, and hoisted herself up and then onto Phoebe’s stomach. ‘CC, you weigh a ton.’
‘Now she’s daring to criticise Coco Chanel!’ And Anita was daring to poke the bear again.
Phoebe opened one eye. ‘I might have to sleep here tonight. I’m unable to move.’
‘Budge up, drama queen!’ Sophy shoved Phoebe’s legs to one side so she could sit down. ‘Did you forget that you’ve gone viral again?’
‘Don’t remind me,’ Phoebe groaned, putting her hands over her eyes.
‘Oh, it’s the good kind of viral,’ Cress said, as she put her coat on.
‘Surely there’s no such thing unless it’s a cute video of a dog on a surfboard?’ Phoebe pondered aloud as Sophy took one of the hands that she had over her eyes and put her phone in it.
‘Watch this!’ Sophy ordered and to think that people said that she, Phoebe, was bossy.
Thiswas clearly one of the many parts of the TikTok video Rosie Roberts had posted the other day because there was Phoebe, red in the face, as she said in a very shrill voice, ‘These dresses aren’t boring. These dresses represent so many different women’s lives. They capture and preserve a magic moment in time. Their hopes and dreams on the day that they wore their wedding dress.’
Some appropriately rousing music started playing to accompany Phoebe’s stirring speech. ‘These women all had something in common, a shared sisterhood, as they slipped on a dress that they’d chosen so carefully. Sometimes a dress they’d scrimped and saved for. A dress that made them feel beautiful and special and like the best version of themselves because that’s the alchemy of a good dress.’
Phoebe was all ready to thrust the phone away when the clip cut away to a head and shoulders shot of Birdy saying, ‘I stand with Phoebe from The Vintage Dress Shop. You don’t just own a vintage dress. You own a story, a piece of someone else’s history and you have to respect that.’
There was a sudden unexpected prickle in Phoebe’s eyes as if she might start crying. ‘Well, that’s very sweet of Birdy,’ she mumbled.
‘Not just Birdy,’ Bea said, coming to stand over Phoebe so she could thrust her phone in Phoebe’s face too. ‘There’s your mate, Marianne.’
It was the same clip of Phoebe with the speechifying and the anthemic music, then there was Marianne looking fierce as ever with her bright red hair freshly pin-curled and not even seeming the least bit hungover from last night. ‘I abso-bloody-lutely stand with Phoebe and The Vintage Dress Shop. Respect the vintage, kids.’
‘That’s called a stitch,’ Bea said knowledgably. ‘When you combine someone’s video with your own reaction video. Did we cover that in the tutorial I gave you the other week?’
They hadn’t. Phoebe sat up. ‘I’m glad that Birdy and Marianne have stuck up for me but two people isn’t going viral. Even I know that.’
‘But it’s not just them,’ Bea said, thrusting the phone at Phoebe again.
‘You nearly had my eye out, Bea!’
‘Sorry, but I’m very excited about this. There’s two hashtags, #IStandWithPhoebe and #IStandWithTheVintageDressShop and our Instagram and TikTok follows are going through the roof. All the vintage sellers and vintage girlies are rallying around,’ she said. ‘Not just our vintage girlies, but people we don’t even know from all over the place. America, France, Germany, Brazil . . .’
‘Even Clive,’ Sophy interrupted, her voice practically vibrating.
Phoebe frowned. ‘Who?’
Sophy hissed in annoyance. ‘My lovely Clive from Clive’s Closet where I worked in Sydney.’
‘Oh, that Clive,’ Phoebe said in an offhand way because she was still feeling very fragile and if Sophy started wanging on about her glory days at Clive’s Closet, then it would finish her off. ‘Well, I appreciate the solidarity.’
She sat bookended by Sophy and Bea for a few more minutes to watch some more stitched videos, until Anita clapped her hands. ‘Please!’ she said with annoyance. ‘It’s half an hour since we closed. What the hell are we still doing here?’
‘Yes, can we go now, please?’ Cress asked from where she was standing by the door still with her coat on.
‘You’re free to go,’ Phoebe said, as she took Coco off her lap and placed her on the floor. ‘You didn’t need to stay.’
‘Oh, I’m having a sleepover at Sophy and Anita’s,’ Cress said, gesturing to the very laden tote bag slung over her shoulder.
