Chapter Text
Bolts of different fabrics are scattered around the studio, the pink lights casting pink shadows on each design. The hustle, bustle, and stress from the employees can be felt as they rush to hand Velvette whatever she asks for.
"Melissa! You call this Red?! If you can't tell the difference between Cherry and Cinnamon, don't bother coming back here!" The piece of fabric is thrown back at the poor assistant, unrolling in the process, leaving a trail as the poor assistant scurries away to go find the color of fabric Velvette is asking for.
Velvette rubs her temples, staring at the incomplete layout of designs on her board, mumbling, " Idiots , the lot of them."
Focusing back on her design sketches, she meticulously picks and burns multiple designs, insulting every single invisible flaw from each design before choosing a couple and pins them on her board, having a total of forty looks. "Finally, some progress."
Finally satisfied with her current picks, Velvette turns to her employees, who are setting up mannequins. "You!"
Startled, the employees forcefully perk up, causing some of the mannequins to fall down.
"U-Us?" One of the employees nervously asks, pointing to herself.
Velvette smiles, her tone sweet with a mixture of condescension. "No, the bolt of fabric behind you! Of course you, you imbecile ! Go gather my seamstresses in my office in 5 minutes or you're both fired."
The two rapidly run out of her studio to do as she says, leaving the mannequins unfinished. Velvette rolls her eyes and scrolls through her phone as she grabs her drink from her desk, taking a sip.
"Ugh, it's all gone." She tosses the cup to a nearby employee, "You. Go get me another one of my usual, and if it isn't in my office in 5 minutes, you can kiss your job goodbye."
The employee stutters a quick "Yes, ma'am" before leaving his current work to run out of the studio to get her drink.
-
Velvette walks to her office, kicking the doors open, her attention on her phone, “I know, I’m late—BUT I’m fabulous, so you’re welcome!”
She sits at the head of the table, the employee from before coming just seconds after her, sweaty and shakily hands her her drink.
Velvette raises a brow at him, “Gross. You're fired.”
She couldn't care less when the employee's face falls and turns back to her seamstresses with a relaxed grin.
Her seamstresses flinch when they see her grin, knowing when she gives that look she is about to cause chaos for them.
"Now, we have three days before the show so make sure you get this right. My brand represents perfection! Fashion forward! You get it right babes? Great? Great. That's all."
Velvette leaves her portfolio of designs on the desk before leaving with a wave and a charming "Bye darlings~", leaving her seamstresses in panicked chaos.
-
The next day, Velvette energetically arrives in her studio with her phone live on Sinstagram. She directs the camera to her studio which is now bustling with work, seamstresses and employees running from one corner to another to bring fabric, sew patterns and recheck her vision. “Day 1 of no sleep and 15 outfit changes—my team is LIVING for it. Aren’t you, babes?"
Her seamstresses, too focused on making her designs sit between bolts of multiple fabric. On their stations, pieces of fabric are scattered, filling random spaces, even some where you wouldn't expect fabric to be there, but still somehow making it look like planned chaos. Nothing less from her employees. Knowing Velvette's reputation, she expects nothing less than being more than presentable for any sudden live shoots in her studio. Which means, your station better be live worthy or you're kicked to the curb.
The seamstresses give forced smiles as the camera points to them before going back to sewing, the action causing some to lose track of their sewing machines, ruining the piece.
Velvette expertly directs the camera away from the “unprofessional” chaos before it can be seen in her live feed and focuses more on keeping her viewers on their toes so they'd look forward to her fashion show. She’ll punish them later.
-
Valentino drops by her office sometime that day and looks at the chaos. Velvette is relaxing on her chaise, scrolling through her phone, checking the analytics of her recent live.
He approaches her, lazily looking around her studio as the employees trip over themselves in a poor attempt to work quickly to catch up with the demand of Velvette's fashion show date.
He puffs out a cloud of pink smoke from his pipe, blowing it towards a passing employee before turning to Velvette with a puffed up grin, "Hi there, chika~ How is your fashion show preparation?"
"Hey darling~" Velvette looks up from her phone and gives a glance at her employees before looking at him, "Everything is going fabulous~! I just finished ten of my designs, have a look."
Velvette points to ten mannequins, each adorned with her designs, "Sweet like sugar, sharp like scissors. If these don't break the internet, I don't know what will!"
With a blasé attitude, she fixes one of the designs on her mannequin as she waits for the inevitable sarcastic or overly sweet fake remarks from Valentino.
Valentino inspects the outfits and grins, “Well, look at you, sugar didn’t think you had it in you. Gaudy as hell, but it’s got... flair. I’ll give you that.” He looks back at the chaotic space before turning back to Velvette.
"As always, you manage to deliver no matter how unprofessional it may be behind the scenes. Good luck with the rest of your collection, Vel. I hope it doesn't crash and burn the internet." He sashays out of the studio, leaving a trail of pink smoke in his wake.
Once he is gone, Velvette's sweet smile immediately disappears, replaced by a glare. She irritably waves off the smoke, clicking a button on her phone to activate the exhaust fans. "I'll make you crash and burn, you crack-addicted bug."
Velvette snaps her fingers, "I'm changing the whole collection, darlings~! We're making this line shine so bright that moth pimp won't miss it with his squinty eyes!" She grins madly and turns back to her seamstresses as a new round of chaos begins.
-
The studio opens to a sight one can only call artistic disarray as Velvette continues to push pressure on her seamstresses. Fabric of all shapes, sizes, and colors is being thrown left and right. Some fabric pieces even somehow hanging on the ceiling by a thread on invisible hooks, mannequins falling like dominoes as each design is scrutinized until she deems them perfect.
Velvette posts a short story on her Sinstagram, her voice as if dripping in sickeningly sweet honey, “Tick-tock, angels! Either you make this gown slay or I’ll just slay the whole show. Your choice!” She giggles at the end before pressing the post button.
The pressure and stress is thick in the air as the second day greets each of Velvette's employees.
She notices a seamstress messing up another rework of one of her designs. She pulls the ruined fabric off the machine and throws it somewhere. "If you can’t make magic under pressure, why are you in my orbit?” The poor seamstress forces herself not to cry as she grabs another bolt of fabric and begins cutting another batch of the pattern to redo the design.
Velvette hums along in the symphony of tears, groans, and pleas for rest and respite. At some point, she shrugs and gives them a five-minute break. After all, what good would it be with double-dead workers? Her fashion show would be in ruins. She calls for one of Vox's employees to bring food and refreshments ASAP, a little something to motivate the pathetic souls before they continue entertaining her through their infernal suffering.
The whirlwind of approval and rejection continues to play out like a theatre drama within her studio as Velvette continues to check and double-check her designs.
“Ugh, no. That’s giving... bargain bin drag."
"I said ‘killer,’ not ‘killed-it-on-clearance.'" Another design trashed.
“No! I’m canceling the mauve gloves. They clash with my vengeance arc!” Another last-minute change.
“Ooh, finally! One of you gets it. Took you long enough, but we love a redemption arc!”
-
The fashion show was a huge success as Velvette expects, she sits in one of VoxTec’s limos after the show ready to go home and relax as she scrolls through her socials to check on her show’s insights.
Checking the search bar, Velvette’s grip on her phone tightens, her grin twitching as she sees her own hashtag #HellOnTheRunway isn’t on top.
“Oh? What is this? #ScreamCouture.”
Quickly, she taps on the hashtag only to see that it’s a new designer no one has ever heard of before. It was quickly gaining traction in Hell’s fashion scene. Oh, she could hear Valentino’s mocking voice now how she had fallen from the top and Vox’s calculating muttering on how to get this new rising star.
Velvette scrolls further down, looking up everything she can find about this new designer until she finds a Sinstagram page, StyleSphere with a tagged user in it’s bio: @y/n_l/n.
“It seems I have a new colleague in the fashion industry. Y/N. I just can’t wait to meet you.” She grins to herself as she taps the message button.
“Hey darling~! It’s Velvette. Congratulations on your debut! <3 Love your designs, why don’t we meet up? You and me. At VoxTec tower on Saturday @ 9am, yeah?”
She presses send before leaning back on her seat, relaxing for the rest of the drive.