Chapter 232: V-OMEN
<🎧 Song Recommendation: Truth No Dare by the railed>
...
"I’m feeling so nervous right now!"
Clara was pacing back and forth across the Miami studio they had been assigned to.
She had been walking in circles for over five minutes already, unable to sit still.
"Yeah, this is the twentieth time you’ve said so," Marcus replied lazily.
Marcus was sitting behind a desk at the side of the room. He had his legs propped up on the table and his hands resting behind his head.
His face was relaxed and bright. He had never had this much free time in ages.
Back in New York, his phone was always ringing.
But being away from the main headquarters meant he didn’t have to manage any of that.
At least, not until Von was actually ready to release his new stuff. For now, he was enjoying the peace and quiet of Miami.
Clara stopped pacing and walked over to Marcus’s desk.
"Do you think he wants to release a piece of clothing soon? Maybe just a simple graphic T-shirt or a shorts design to get things started?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Marcus stopped himself from laughing at the question.
"It’s very unlikely, though."
They all heard a surprising voice comment from the back of the room. It was Elena, and unlike Marcus, she had kept herself occupied.
Clara, being the creative designer she was, had shown Elena a lot of her old creations. So, Elena decided to sew a few of them to see how they would turn out. Who knows, Von could arrive and like one of them.
"Why do you think so, ma?" Clara rushed over to Elena’s sewing table immediately.
"Well... It’s very clear he is preparing something big," Elena said. "I don’t think he would have a brand-new design ready in time for his plans. Unless he decides to go with something mediocre, or a formerly created design. I don’t think Von is someone to do that."
Clara and Marcus hummed at Elena’s words. She was speaking with so much wisdom, but Clara caught onto something.
"Hey! I have tons of designs, and they aren’t mediocre," Clara said. "He can just pick any of them."
Elena was already tired of speaking, so Marcus came to her rescue. "That’s not what she’s trying to say. I’m pretty sure Von will want to release something revolutionary, so he might just settle for a basic item to buy himself time."
Clara slowly nodded her head. She knew the intricacies of design as much as they did. There was a lot of research to be conducted before a good piece got released, so it was naturally a long project.
Suddenly, her mind lit up. "Aha! I never showed you guys what I made!"
Marcus and Elena glanced at each other as Clara raced to the projector screen. She transferred a file from her tablet to be displayed.
The screen came to life and the design was there for them all to see. To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t a clothing sketch at all.
It was typography. A brand logo.
Its base was a large ’V’ that had its top ends stretching outward to form a clean horizontal line.
Then, perfectly nested within that large ’V’ were the letters ’OMEN’. It was designed in a clever way where the ’O’ and the ’N’ took up space slightly outside the main shape, leaving the ’M’ and ’E’ secured right in the center.
The design was dark and futuristic.
"Wow, you designed the logo already?" Marcus asked, sitting up straight and taking his legs off the desk. He was equally surprised and impressed by Clara’s hard work.
Even Elena stopped her sewing machine to look at it. "It’s really nice. I am sure Von will love it."
Von hadn’t even told them to make a logo yet. He had simply mentioned in passing that the sub-label would be called V-OMEN.
But Clara had taken that tiny piece of information and proven just how capable she was at translating ideas into reality.
Meanwhile, Marcus just stared at the screen, feeling a sudden pity for Vanguard. It was very clear Clara knew exactly what she was doing when she designed this.
Vanguard had agreed to the name ’V-OMEN’ because to them, the ’V’ obviously stood for Vanguard.
But seeing its graphical representation on the screen, Marcus realized the truth. Anyone who looked at this rebellious logo wouldn’t think of them. They would read it as Von first.
’He might just become more prominent than the entire company if this sub-label does well,’ Marcus laughed to himself.
Right in the middle of his thoughts, the electronic lock on the main doors beeped. The heavy doors opened, and they all turned around to see their boss walk in.
Von looked as radiant and charming as ever, stepping into the Miami studio with total confidence.
Everyone immediately paused their actions and extended their greetings.
"Good afternoon, sir!"
"Welcome, boss."
"Von! You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting all morning to show you this!"
Marcus shook his head, glancing in Clara’s direction in regards to how she was addressing their employer.
’He did say we could call him by his name, she just took that literally,’ Marcus thought to himself.
But Marcus was worried for no reason. Von wasn’t offended at all. In fact, Von was all smiles seeing how energetic and alive his team was.
Von had already stepped forward into the center of the room. His eyes were locked onto the projector screen. He silently observed the V-OMEN logo, nodding his head slowly with a small, satisfied smile.
Finally, he turned around to face Clara.
"Yo, you’ve completely outdone yourself," Von praised her. "I love it. That is our official logo henceforth."
Clara punched the air in excitement hearing his approval. All of her nervous energy was practically gone at that point. She was finally working for someone who appreciated her art.
"We were just debating about if you have any short-term plans for your sub-label," Marcus decided to voice. "Do you plan to release something in the near future?"
Hearing the question, Von casually reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He opened his notes app, scrolling through a few things before he walked over to the desk and picked up a marker.
"Yeah, definitely," Von said plainly. "But I won’t be releasing a single item."
Everyone turned their heads in surprise. Clara blinked, and Marcus frowned in confusion.
But Von had already walked over to the large white board at the front of the room.
"We are going to release a collection capsule. And it should be ready for sale within a week."
Everyone’s mouth fell open in disbelief. A collection in one week was impossible in the fashion world.
But Von didn’t add anything more to explain himself. He simply uncapped the marker and wrote V-OMEN neatly at the board’s top-left corner.
Then, he moved his hand and wrote a single, bold word that took up the entire center of the board:
PARADOX.