Andre's Showcase. Kimberly Wyatt

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СКАЧАТЬ A middle-aged guy wearing a greasy anorak and sporting the lamest comb-over was sitting by the door stuffing some kind of pie into his face. Gravy was trickling down his chin.

      ‘You’ve got to be kidding? You want to do a feature on pie-face chic?’

      ‘What?’ Tilly looked at the guy. ‘No! Not him – you.’

      ‘Me?’

      ‘Yes. We should feature you as the founder of Spotted.’

      ‘But there’s already something on me on the About page.’

      ‘Yes, but it isn’t a proper feature.’ Tilly was beaming now. ‘Go on, it would be great. We can do a proper photo shoot – in the Stable Studio. I could get some epic shots of you in there.’

      ‘Do you really think it would be a good idea?’ Andre could tell from her face that she did but he wanted to hear her say it again. He could never have too much of hearing people say he was fabulous.

      ‘Yes! You’re everything that Spotted is about . . . and your look is always on point.’

      ‘What about my hair – don’t forget my hair,’ Andre prompted.

      Tilly grinned. ‘Yes, Dre – you have the fetchest hair in the entire universe.’

      Andre grinned back at her. Tilly was right. It would be great to feature himself on Spotted. It was a chance to publish a new post and make himself feel better all in one go.

      ‘OK, you’re on,’ he said.

      ‘Awesome!’ Tilly replied.

      When they got back to WEDA Tilly went straight to the Stable Studio to sort out the lights and camera for the shoot and Andre headed for his dorm room to pick an outfit. Thankfully, MJ wasn’t there. Andre loved his straight-talking room-mate but sometimes – like when Andre was trying to figure out what to wear – his dry commentary could get a little annoying.

      ‘OK, let’s create a fashion masterpiece!’ Andre declared, flinging his wardrobe door open. ‘Oh . . .’ His wardrobe was practically empty. He turned and looked around his side of the room. His wardrobe was practically empty because almost all of his clothes seemed to be draped over every piece of furniture and most of the floor. Andre started making three separate heaps on the floor – YES, NO and MAYBE. When he came across his favourite pair of harem pants he shuddered and was about to fling them on the NO pile when he had a thought. He’d always loved those trousers. He’d got them from his favourite flea market in New York. Why should he let some stupid joker’s comments put him off his beloved trousers? What if he wore them for the shoot? Reclaimed the harem pant – made them fashion forward again. Andre’s skin started to tingle. He was a young man on a mission. He put the harem pants in the YES pile.

      Almost a whole hour later – and after several texts from Tilly along the lines of ‘Where the hell are you?’ – Andre had completed his look. As well as the harem pants he was wearing Docs with the laces undone, his favourite vintage Adidas shirt and a couple of gold chains, and his fingers were adorned in gold rings.

      ‘And now for the finishing touch,’ he said to his reflection in the wardrobe mirror before fetching his black mascara from his desk drawer. He added a touch to his eyelashes for extra pop. Whenever anyone asked if he was wearing make-up he always fluttered his eyelashes and said, ‘Who, me? Darling, I was born this way!’ He stepped back and admired his finished look.

      ‘On. Point,’ he murmured with a grin.

      His phone started ringing, rudely interrupting his self-admiration party. He didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know it would be Tilly. ‘OK, OK, I’m coming already.’ He grabbed his room keys and headed for the door.

      Down in the Stable Studio Tilly had set up a couple of lights in front of her graffiti mural and she had her favourite Twenty One Pilots track playing.

      ‘At last!’ she said as Andre came in.

      ‘I’m sorry but a true diva cannot hurry his craft,’ Andre said, coming to stand in front of her. ‘What do you reckon?’

      ‘You look amazing!’ Tilly grinned. ‘I love those harem pants on you.’

      ‘You do?’ Andre felt a burst of relief.

      ‘Yeah. We should have featured you in the post last week. I bet you’d have got hundreds of likes.’

      Andre felt some of the tension he’d been carrying for the past few days ease a little. Maybe last week’s dip in likes was just a blip. Now was his chance to prove it.

      ‘OK, what do you want me to do?’

      For the next hour Tilly got Andre to stand in a series of poses. She also got some great action shots of him doing some big dance jumps. ‘We can capture your two loves – dance and fashion – in action,’ she explained. ‘We can show how movement can capture the beauty of the fabric and just how awesome harem pants are for dance. I mean, you can dress them up or down, lounge around, dance in them and do amazing jumps. They are the forever trouser. People need to get with the times already!’

      Once they’d got a selection of shots they were happy with they went back to Andre’s room to write a post to go with them.

      ‘How about I interview you?’ Tilly said, sitting cross-legged on Andre’s bed. ‘I can record your answers on my phone and then you can type them up.’

      ‘Sounds good to me.’ Actually it sounded great to Andre. He could pretend he was being interviewed by Anna Wintour for Vogue. He leaned back on his pillows as Tilly switched on the voice recorder on her phone.

      ‘So, Andre, who is your greatest inspiration?’ Tilly asked.

      ‘Vivienne Westwood,’ Andre replied instantly, closing his eyes and imagining he was in Vogue ’s office in New York.

      ‘And why is that?’

      ‘Well, Anna, it’s –’

      ‘Anna?’ Tilly interrupted.

      Andre opened his eyes and frowned at her. ‘What?’

      ‘Why did you call me Anna?’

      ‘I didn’t.’

      ‘Yes you did.’

      ‘Look, are we going to do this interview or what?’

      Tilly sighed. ‘OK. Carry on.’

      ‘Vivienne Westwood is my inspiration. She never tries to fit into a mould. She always does her own thing. And she’s eco-conscious, vegetarian and fearless. I love her quote: “Popular culture is a contradiction in terms. If it’s popular, it’s not culture.” That’s what I try to create with my own look – something new and fresh. Fashion shouldn’t be about copying everyone else.’

      ‘So true.’ Tilly nodded. ‘Could you tell us some more about you and who you aspire to be?’

      ‘Sure. I aspire to be fearless and authentic at all times. I also care deeply for the planet we live on – and animals. I recently СКАЧАТЬ