ãThey are not fat, they're voluptuous. This is 'in' now LâAtrice, women with bodies,ä I said pleading my case.
ãThat will never be true.ä
ãLâAtrice, besides being politically correct to use full-figured models, itâs a proven fact that women with curves are more sensual."
ãFran, someone here thinks your talented, and that's why you're working with me, but I'm paying you to sketch not to kvetch...skinny-up the drawings.ä
I was a mule. ãLet me ask you one question LâAtrice, then Iâll drop it," She looked at me, stunned at my directness. "If you had a choice to sleep with Kate Moss or Jessica Lange, who would you sleep with?"
She stared me down, trying to be polite through her obvious disgust. ãI don't sleep with women. When youâre designing you can draw fat women, ugly women, short women, tall women, you can draw women with big rings in their noses for all I care...ä
ãHey thatâs not a bad idea,ä I interrupted and probably shouldnât have.
ã...but right now I want 5â 10ä and 120 pounds.ä
ãAll right, all right, it was just an idea.ä
ãAnd what about this color?ä
'Thereâs more?' I thought. ãWhat about the color? I'm not finished yet.ä
"Vermilion and sienna? Child, where's your sense? That was not my color palette!"
"But..."
"But nothing. Change it. And look, here's a double line on her leg curve. No double lines please; it takes away from the design. If the pencil is inconsistent, itâs a distraction, Fran.ä
ãOh brother.ä I mumbled.
ãExcuse me?ä
ãOh...my...my mother. My mother called and I forgot, thatâs all.ä
ãAND, I can see you erased the head. If one must erase, one must completely replace.ä She guffawed.
ãIâll start over LâAtrice, no problem.ä
ãDon't worry child, youâre on the right track,ä she said as she patted me on the head. She walked away and I watched her lean body-- a result of self-malnutrition and a life of smoking. She couldnât gain a pound now if she tried.
I threw away what I had started and began again. Maybe my girls couldnât be fat, but damn it if they werenât going to have some muscle.
