He gave me a skeptical smile. “Uh-huh. Well, I’m just gonna try to be around her as much as she’ll let me.” He slid off the bench with his guitar. “See ya.” He headed off toward the park entrance.
“What were you talking about with Daniel?” Maureen asked as she sat down next to me. “I got some great footage of him earlier.”
“Nothing much. Mainly Christmas shopping.”
When I woke up the following morning, I found Maureen sitting at the kitchen table on her laptop, humming along to Andy Williams on the vinyl player. We’d made a plan to leave Coleman Creek no later than ten so we wouldn’t get stuck driving over the mountain pass in the dark.
“You’re up early,” I said.
“I got inspired after the carnival. I worked on the piece a little last night and then got up this morning to finish.”
“You finished?”
“Like I said, the muse just hit me.”
“Can I see?”
Maureen hesitated briefly before turning the computer in my direction. “I guess it doesn’t make sense not to show you if I’m planning to put it out into the world.”
“I’m sure it’s great.”
She hit the play button.
A soft piano version of “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas” played in the background, and images Maureen had filmed around town filled the screen. Clearly, she’d been capturing the footage for a while, as some clips were taken in the daytime. The big town Christmas tree loomed large in the shot before the camera panned back onto Main Street, highlighting the decorated storefronts and sidewalks. A succession of still photos followed. The Hawaiian-shirted Santa outside the bowling alley, the handmade snowflakes in the hospital waiting room, the tree lot at the high school. Sped-up video of the carnival booths from last night followed, then a driver’s-eye view through some residential neighborhoods decked out for the holidays. On top of all of it was Francesca’s voiceover.
“It’s the holiday season in Coleman Creek, my hometown. You’ve already met my friend Katy, and since so many of you liked that video, I thought I’d show you a little more from my non-fashion life… I’ve been back in town for a few months now, getting excited to celebrate the holidays, and it’s got me thinking a lot about ‘Fashion Vibes with Francesca.’ When I started this channel, my day job was in high-end fashion. And while that was exciting, and I met so many amazing people, it didn’t entirely feel like me because it didn’t allow me much opportunity to explore my belief that fashion is for everyone. That’s why this channel was born. If you want to see me demonstrate how to make the latest trends accessible for lots of people or show you what outfits regular folks are wearing around Seattle, please check out my backlog of videos.”
The footage slowed to real time, and the shots became images of people at the carnival—laughing, drinking hot chocolate, playing games, browsing the craft booths, and smiling at one another. If I hadn’t been there myself, I might have imagined it was staged. The distinct small-town energy and everyone looking so relaxed and happy.
Francesca’s voice continued,“I’m proud of all the fashion-focused videos I’ve done, but this isn’t that. It’s Christmastime, and I’m feeling sentimental, so this is a love letter to my hometown. I left this place thinking I’d never want to come back. I didn’t think there was a place for my love of fashion in Coleman Creek. But what is fashion other than simply the clothes we put on?
“My friend Katy was brave talking about her divorce. Now I want to be brave, too. Clothes are the way we express ourselves to others, but they can also be the way we put up walls, a way we hide. If you watched Katy’s video, then you also know fashion can be a way we heal.”
The video cut to Maureen’s face. She sat on the bed in her room at Marley’s, Oscar and Bambi resting their heads on her thighs. Since she wore the same clothes she’d had on yesterday and the video was taken at night, she must have filmed it after the carnival, after the rest of us had gone to sleep.
“This has been an interesting December for me,”she said.“I realized that I’m healing too. I’m still getting over my mom passing away a few years ago, and I’m coming to terms with the fact high fashion isn’t for me. I was using my job to maintain a hard exterior, to hold myself back from others. And it was okay for me to do that because I’d been hurt.
“One thing I loved about fashion, even when I was little, was that it gave me a chance to express myself. To wear colorful scarves or put on a ton of bracelets—what every toddler does when given access to a jewelry box. Over time, I lost that magic, that whimsy. My concerns became taking care of everyone else and pleasing others. I’m sure a lot of you can relate.
“Moving to a big city and working at a high-end boutique was what I needed at the time. Because I still felt most comfortable hiding from the world. But now I need somethingelse, and it took the magic of Coleman Creek at Christmas to show me. Now, let me show you.”
The video went back to the carnival, to some interviews she’d done. As expected, the sound quality wasn’t great, so there were subtitles.
First, she interviewed Fel and his friends in the high school booth. There was b-roll footage of the kids helping customers buy bake sale items and messing around with one another. Over this, Francesca narrated,“These teens are just like I was in high school. Loud, opinionated, and eager to get the heck out of Coleman Creek.
“So, I want to ask you guys lots of things, but first I have to ask about fashion. Is there anything you can tell me about the way kids dress in Coleman Creek?”
“Um,”Fel said, looking back and forth to his friends, all of whom were cracking up.“That’s kind of a weird question. I mean, it’s mostly just hoodies and sweats or whatever, I guess. I don’t really think about my clothes.”He shrugged his shoulders as one of his buddies smacked his head.
“I think that’s most people’s approach,”Francesca replied.“I’ve found while doing these videos that there aren’t a ton of people out there who plan their outfits. When I’ve talked to teenagers in Seattle, they say the same thing.”
“Then why do you ask?”
“Just to warm people up. If I know we’re going to start out a little awkward, there’s nowhere to go but up.”
A red-headed boy with metal braces flicked Fel’s arm.“Funny. That’s Fel’s approach to talking to girls.”
Fel slugged him lightly.“Shut up, douchenugget. It’s not like you’re any better.”
