Rebirth of the Fashion King

Madeline intercepted Monica in the hallway.

She had just come from the pattern-making room in the garment department, holding fabric samples for the next season's knitwear collection, and was about to ask Li Xun to confirm the shrinkage rate.

At Chanel, although the ready-to-wear and haute couture workshops are separate, they share an accessories room and some technical resources. As a senior pattern maker in the ready-to-wear department, Madeleine often needs to coordinate fabric scheduling with the haute couture department.

She saw Emily being led out of the creative director's office by Monica, who had her arm around her shoulder. Emily's eyes were red and swollen, and Monica's face was grave. She immediately realized what had happened.

Madeleine worked at Chanel for nearly eleven years, rising from a junior assistant to a senior pattern maker, and she knew Virginie's temperament very well.

Once a person who doesn't get angry makes a decision, it's harder for them to take it back than someone who gets angry every day.

She had seen Virginie handle things this way twice, and both times there was no room for negotiation.

But Emily works in the ready-to-wear department.

Strictly speaking, Emily was promoted from the ready-to-wear department to haute couture a month ago, and her personnel relationship is still in the transition period. She has two direct superiors: Monica, the head tailor of haute couture, and the design director of the ready-to-wear department.

According to Chanel's unwritten rules, designers transferred across departments have a three-month probationary period. If a major mistake is made during this period, the heads of both departments have the authority to make a decision on how to handle the situation.

In other words, if the ready-to-wear department is willing to take her in, Emily may not necessarily be fired directly.

The question is, why would the ready-to-wear department be willing to accept a designer who doesn't follow the rules in haute couture workshops?

Unless someone speaks up for her.

……

Monica.

The old tailor stopped, and Emily stood beside him with her head down.

"What is the decision regarding Virginie?" Madeleine asked in French with a Marseille accent, speaking very quickly.

"Apologize, then go to the HR department."

"Straight-up dismissal?"

"They didn't say 'dismissal,' but we both understand what they mean by 'going to the HR department.'"

Madeline glanced at Emily, a twenty-six-year-old girl whose makeup was ruined by crying, standing helplessly in the corridor.

Madeleine recalled that when she was twenty-six, she worked as an assistant in a small workshop in Paris. She was scolded for twenty minutes for cutting the wrong fabric. After get off work, she hid in the stairwell and cried. An old tailor handed her a tissue and said, "Next time, measure twice with a ruler before cutting."

But this is Chanel, especially haute couture; there's rarely a next time.

  

"Don't go to the HR department yet," Madeline said to Emily.

Monica frowned. "Madeline, Virginia's instructions..."

"I know. But Emily's personnel file hasn't been fully transferred to your side yet; it's still in the clothing department."

"Virginie's decision needs confirmation from the apparel department before it can be implemented," Madeline said. "Give her thirty minutes. If it's not possible after thirty minutes, I'll personally take her to the HR department."

Monica remained silent for a few seconds.

She had worked with Madeleine many times and knew that this Marseille woman was not a reckless person; if she asked for thirty minutes, she must have her own reasons.

"I'll talk to them at the workshop. You have thirty minutes."

Madeline nodded, grabbed Emily's wrist, and turned to leave.

Emily was dragged along for more than ten steps before she realized what was happening.

"Ms. Madeline, where are we going?"

"Go find Chanel, the only person who can save you right now."

"Ms. Virginie has already..."

"No one can change Virginie's mind once she's made it," Madeline said without turning her head. "But there's one person she'll give face to."

Emily paused for a moment.

Of course she knew who Madeline was talking about.

"I...I just told him in the office that there was a problem with the color standards he reviewed," Emily's voice was barely audible. "I don't really have the courage to go..."

Madeline stopped and turned to look at Emily.

"What did you say to Virginie in the office?"

"I said... the color scheme of the cuffs is different from the rendering."

"You questioned the color scheme numbering?"

Emily bit her lip.

"I said I felt the cuff color was warmer than the image, and it looked cooler. I thought there was a problem with the color scheme."

"You think that Rhine personally confirmed the color scheme number, and Virginie signed it, so when you say there's a problem with the colors, you're implying that one of them made a mistake. Do you think Virginie will think you're talking about her?"

Emily's tears fell again.

"I didn't think too much about it at the time. I just felt the color was wrong, and I wanted to make a new, more accurate version..."

"If you think the color is wrong, you should first compare it with a color chart, then verify it with Li Xun, and finally fill out an application form and get Virginia's signature. This is the procedure. You've been in the garment department for four years; don't you understand these procedures?"

"I……"

"You find it troublesome?" Madeline's voice turned cold.

"I think going through the procedures is too slow. I think I have talent and I can spot problems at a glance, so I don't need those tedious procedures."

Emily did not refute.

Madeline looked at her for a few seconds and sighed.

"Now you have no right to complain about the trouble. Come with me. If it weren't for your talent, I would have turned around and left long ago."

The door to Li Xun's office was ajar, and the sound of a pencil scratching across paper could be heard from inside.

Madeline knocked on the door twice.

"Come in."

When they pushed the door open, Li Xun was hunched over his drawing table, holding two pencils of different hardness between his left middle and index fingers, while his right hand was adjusting the structural lines of a shoulder on a sketch.

There were more than a dozen sketch sheets scattered on the floor next to the drawing table, each filled with different versions of drawings.

He has a habit when he works: he will draw several structural designs for the same item at the same time, lay them out in a row, and look at them standing up, squatting down, and from different angles until he determines the best version.

In the corner sat an open suitcase containing fabric samples borrowed from the workshop and several old editions of Vogue. The top one was the September 1987 issue, with Ine de la Frasangé on the cover wearing a Chanel tweed suit.

When Li Xun is doing design work, he has a habit of flipping through old magazines. Things from twenty or thirty years ago are not necessarily outdated; it's just that no one brings them out again at the right time.

His office had no superfluous decorations, no picture frames, no ornaments, only a drawing table, an adjustable color temperature work lamp, a Herman Miller chair, and a half-person-high filing cabinet.

The top shelf of the cabinet is neatly stacked with all the design files from 2005 to 2009, arranged by quarter, with labels handwritten with the date and series name.

The only thing that could be considered a personal item was a white mug on the windowsill. It was a Christmas gift from Karl Lagerfeld last year. According to his assistant, Lagerfeld had commissioned it himself, and everyone in the creative studio had one. Li Xun's mug had a very fine crack on the rim, but he kept using it, even though everyone else had gotten new mugs.

Emily was taken aback when she first entered the office.

She thought that a designer like Li Xun should have a more "stylish" office.

But Li Xun's office was as clean as a tailor's workshop.

He himself was as clean as a tailor.

It's not about outward cleanliness, but about one's demeanor.

He had nothing ostentatious about him. When he wasn't speaking, he was as quiet as a pin. When he spoke, his voice was low, and his French had a barely perceptible London accent. He looked at people directly, without flinching or scrutinizing them. He just looked at you calmly and waited for you to finish speaking.

Now he looked up at Madeline and Emily, who stood behind her with red, tear-filled eyes.

Li Xun put down his pencil.

"Emily?"

Emily opened her mouth, but said nothing.

Madeline spoke for her.

"Virginie sent her to the personnel department."

Li Xun's expression remained unchanged, but his gaze lingered on Emily for a few seconds before turning to Madeline.

Why?

"She removed the cuffs of the sample garment for Haute Couture Look No. 47 by cutting them directly with scissors. She didn't fill out an application form, communicate with Monica, or get Virginia's signature. Her reason was that the color of the cuffs was different from the rendering."

Li Xun nodded.

He leaned back in his chair, his right hand unconsciously twirling a pencil.

"The rendering is a copy," Madeleine added.

Li Xun paused for a moment.

Color difference.

Emily finally spoke, her voice trembling with tears. "Rhine, I really didn't mean to doubt you, I didn't mean that. I just... I noticed the color of the cuffs wasn't the same as the design in my hand. I thought there was a problem with the color scheme, and I figured it would be faster to make a new version, I..."

Li Xun raised his hand, signaling her to stop.

Emily immediately shut up.

Li Xun stood up and walked to Emily.

He was half a head taller than her, but he looked at her eye-to-eye, not down at her.

"Did you compare the color of the copy to the color of the haute couture sample?"

"Yes……"

"You probably know that photocopies tend to have a cooler tone, right?"

"I know, but I didn't think the difference would be significant..."

"The difference is indeed not significant under fluorescent lights, but the haute couture collection was showcased at the Grand Palais in Paris at 6 pm, with a mixture of natural light and artificial light in terms of color temperature."

Mr. Karl requested that the white tones in this collection present different levels of depth under different lighting conditions. Have you seen the overall lighting design drawings?

Emily was stunned.

Lighting design drawing.

She hadn't even thought about it.

The color scheme of a haute couture sample garment does not exist in isolation; it must be related to the lighting, music, model makeup, and even the arrangement of the audience seating on the day of the show.

This is Karl Lagerfeld's consistent working method: design is never just about clothes, but a complete narrative system.

Li Xun did not wait for her reply.

He walked to the filing cabinet, pulled open the bottom drawer, took out a folder, flipped to a page, and handed it to Emily.

That's the overall design scheme for Look No. 47.

The reference dimensions for the cuff color are marked above: color under natural light (ivory white baseline), color temperature shift under artificial light (warm tone shift of 7%), and connection with Look No. 48 and No. 46 in the same series.

Number 46 is pure white, number 48 is off-white, and number 47, ivory white, falls right in between, creating a visual transition.

This color scheme wasn't chosen arbitrarily.

It takes into account the rhythm of the entire show, the order in which the models appear, and the key moments of lighting changes.

The warm tone shift at the cuffs is designed to give the white a sense of depth under specific lighting, rather than a completely flat white.

"I didn't see this..."

"You don't need to see this," Li Xun said, shaking his head.

"Your job isn't to judge whether the color scheme is right or wrong. It's to raise questions according to the procedure when you find them. In other words, you just need to follow the instructions. If there are any mistakes, it's Virginie's and my problem, not yours."

He closed the folder.

"I confirmed the color scheme number of Look 47 last Wednesday after comparing it in the light source room for an hour and a half."

The color difference was compared three times under each of the three light sources: natural light, artificial light, and mixed light. The color difference data for each comparison was recorded in the color matching file.

Virginia signed the contract, and the workshop's embroiderers used the number to select the thread, spending two days creating the embroidery pattern for the cuffs.

He paused.

"You felt the color was wrong, you made that judgment, and then spent less than three minutes finding scissors and taking it apart."

Emily's face turned completely pale.

Madeline stood to the side, sighing inwardly.

Li Xun was not making accusations; he was simply stating the facts.

But it is precisely this emotionless statement that makes one feel more ashamed than any accusation.

Karl Lagerfeld was the type who would readily express his emotions, making it easier for him to speak.

Virginia and Li Xun... have somewhat similar personalities.

Li Xun walked back to the drawing table, picked up his mug, and took a sip of water.

Madeline.

"Um."

"You brought her here so I'd talk to Virginia?"

Madeline did not deny it.

"Now you're useful to Virginia."

"You know Virginie hates it when people interfere with her decisions."

“I know, but Emily has been in the ready-to-wear department for four years. I know her abilities. She’s not a bad designer. She’s just…” Madeline glanced at Emily, “too hasty.”

Li Xun remained silent for a few seconds.

He looked at Emily.

"You question my color scheme and think there's a problem with the colors I've chosen. Logically, I shouldn't speak up for someone who's questioning me. In your eyes, if the colors are wrong, they're wrong. You won't pretend there's no problem just because someone else has chosen them. From that perspective, you're at least honest with your own eyes."

Emily looked up, tears still on her face, but a look of disbelief flashed in her eyes.

"But honesty and recklessness are two different things," Li Xun continued.

"You were so reckless as to cut up a high-end sample garment with scissors. Do you even know how much the fabric of that sample garment cost?"

Ivory white mohair blend tweed, an exclusive collaboration between Chanel and a long-established Scottish factory, costs about a month's salary per meter.

The two embroiderers in the workshop spent two days completing the embroidery pattern for the cuffs, which you ruined in less than three minutes.

Do you think Virginie is angry because you questioned the color? She's angry because you disrespected her time.

Li Xun put the cup down.

"I can't help you with this."

Madeline's heart sank.

"However, you are from the ready-to-wear department, and your personnel relationship has not been fully transferred yet. Virginia's decision needs to go through the ready-to-wear department's procedures. I can talk to Virginia, not to plead for her, but to suggest a different approach."

Emily's lips trembled.

"What...what method?"

"Demoted back to junior assistant in the ready-to-wear department, starting from the bottom again. You are not allowed to apply for inter-departmental transfers within one year. All work involving the haute couture workshop must be approved by a senior designer before it can be carried out." Li Xun looked at Emily.

"This is not an easy punishment. You are twenty-six years old. If you accept this condition and are placed on the same starting line as this year's recent graduates and interns, can you accept it?"

Emily's tears started falling again, but she gritted her teeth and nodded forcefully.

"I can."

Think it through before you speak.

"I've thought it through. As long as I can stay at Chanel, I'm willing to do anything. I'm not afraid to start from scratch; I'm afraid of not even having the chance to start from scratch."

Li Xun nodded and then turned to walk out the door.

"Wait, but you only have this one chance."