Fashionistas Read Online Free PDF Page A

parties.”
    “And make sure he puts down lots of celebrity names,” Kate adds. “Jane won’t be interested unless there are lots of celebrities involved.”
    Although all it takes is one A-list player to get Jane’s attention, this plan is seriously flawed. “She won’t be convinced.”
    “That’s only phase one,” says Allison.
    “Phase one?”
    Sarah nods. “There are other phases.”
    “How many?”
    Allison closes her eyes and reviews her plan silently. “Four,” she says, when she’s done counting. “There are four phases. Phase two is your bringing Marshall to Jane’s attention.”
    “Yeah, but you’ve got to do it very casually. She can’t know that you want her to know about him,” Sarah adds.
    “We want Jane to think that she’s uncovered a secret,” Kate says.
    Now I’m reserving judgment. “To what end?”
    “Well, if she discovers, quite by accident, of course, that the new editorial director is planning to propose that Fashionista sponsor a party for Gavin and maybe do a story on him, then she’s going to want to steal the idea from her,” Allison says.
    Although this sounds like typical Jane behavior, there is one thing wrong with their logic. “But Jane would look into Gavin and realize instantly that he’s too controversial for us to touch.”
    “She would if one of us were to suggest a party for Gavin,” Sarah agrees, “but she wouldn’t if she thought the idea was Marguerite’s.”
    I realize there are things here I don’t know. “She wouldn’t?”
    “They’ve been rivals for more than fifteen years,” Allisonsays. “They were associate editors together at Parvenu and competed for interviews and stories and scoops. They both had their eye on a senior editor position and when it opened up, Marguerite got it. After that, Jane was given all the crappy assignments and she blamed Marguerite. Six months later she left.”
    This collection of facts amazes me. “How do you know all this?”
    Allison smiles. “Number one rule of warfare: Know your enemy.”
    I didn’t realize we were at war.
    “So you see, if we can convince Jane that Marguerite is planning something behind her back in order to score points with the publisher, she’ll do whatever she can to undermine her,” Kate says calculatingly. “And whatever reservations she might have about the suitability of the project will be quickly crushed by her belief in Marguerite’s interest.”
    “She won’t be thinking clearly,” Sarah insists. “All she’ll be doing is watching her back, waiting for Marguerite to strike.”
    “I guarantee it,” Allison says.
    It’s impossible to guarantee anything, but sometimes you can hedge your bets. Bringing down Jane McNeill does not seem like a sure thing to me. Although their plan is good—considerably better, in fact, than I’d given them credit for—it depends too much on human variables. No one knows how Jane is going to react to Marguerite. More than a decade has passed since their Parvenu days, and Jane, once a lowly associate editor, now heads the most successful women’s magazine in history. These are the things—time and success—that heal old grievances.
    I tell the fashionistas that I’ll think about it for a day or two and get back to them, but I’m only being polite. I’m not a cabalist, and as much as I’d like to bring down the current regime, I’m not the sort to take up arms.

Your Silly Life
    D ot Drexel speaks in magazine headlines. Her sentences are always declarative and you can positively feel the capital letters hurling toward your head.
    “Skate-Skiing: Your New Favorite Sport,” she says, as I enter her office. Although she’s been a senior editor at Fashionista for five years, Dot’s office is pristine and tidy and unencumbered with personal effects. If she had to sneak out under the cover of darkness during some military coup, she could do so in seconds and leave nothing behind. She wouldn’t be weighed down by plants and