Fashion Genius Collects Stars - Chapter 78



Only Noblemtl

Episode 78: The Value of 100,000 Dollars

“Wow! Did you see this article? It says that Millief Ereticia ordered 10 stage costumes from a Korean designer named Lee Yong-won. They say each one will cost hundreds of millions of won.”

Paris, France.

A workspace where fabrics, patterns, and accessories are neatly organized and mannequins are hanging unfinished clothes here and there.

The owner of this atelier, Kim Si-hyeon, listened to the employee’s words and showed interest.

Even though it had been quite some time since she left, wasn’t Korea her homeland?

I have always been interested in Korea, and especially in the Korean fashion industry.

She put down the pen she was holding for a moment and looked back at her staff.

“Milliph? Designer Lee Yong-won… … I’ve never heard of him. Was there such a person?”

“I don’t know. I think she’s a ready-to-porter designer working in Korea.”

“Pret-a-porter?”

At those words, Kim Si-hyeon’s eyes grew wide.

Prêt-à-porter. Ready-to-wear. It was a word that contrasted with haute couture, which was a high-end tailored suit.

Clothing that can be mass-produced and easily bought and worn by people.

However, this does not mean that prêt-à-porter necessarily means cheap clothes.

Even clothes from luxury brands sold at department stores fall into the category of ready-to-wear.

but,

No matter how expensive those luxury clothes are, they cannot compare to the most special, custom-made clothes, the epitome of high fashion, haute couture.

That’s why Kim Si-hyeon was surprised.

Because she was an invited member of the Paris Fashion Association, an haute couture house that sells clothes worth hundreds of millions of won each.

Millef Eretica’s stage costumes, which cost 100 million won each, were closer to haute couture than prêt-à-porter.

Whether it’s the ordering method and purpose or the price.

But it was quite unexpected for her that a ready-to-wear designer from a country she had never heard of had received such an order.

The employee added a slightly excited explanation in a voice, perhaps satisfied with Kim Si-hyeon’s reaction.

“I think Millief really likes this designer named Lee Yong-won. He’s the same designer who previously said on YouTube that Millief would buy this dress for $50,000.”

“ah……!”

Kim Si-hyeon let out a small exclamation.

After hearing that story, she remembered it too.

“That’s right. The designer’s name at that time was Lee Yong-won, right?”

“Yes. I think he really liked it then. He said he left all the stage costumes to me this time. I wonder… … . How will the results turn out… … .”

The employee trailed off meaningfully.

But Kim Si-hyeon was able to quickly understand the meaning contained within.

The employee doesn’t think that designer Lee Yong-won will produce good results this time either.

And unfortunately, Kim Si-hyeon also agreed with that.

“It must be hard.”

“I guess so?”

“Yes. 100 million won is no joke. It’s not money you can just pay for clothes you like. It’s a price that you can only come up with if you think of it as a work of art that contains the designer’s philosophy. But if it’s a prêt-à-porter… … . The starting point is different. A design that appeals to the general public is very different from a design that can make just one person cry.”

“That’s right. They might be satisfied the first time or two, but… … 10 sets… … . I don’t think it’ll be easy to make them feel like it was worth it.”

Kim Si-hyeon nodded slowly and said.

“Still, it’s interesting. That such a designer was born in my hometown. Please keep telling me more often.”

“yes!”

“Okay. Then get back to work.”

“Ah… … . Yes. Boss.”

Kim Si-hyeon’s atelier has returned to routine.

In the midst of the sunlight and silence, the sound of rustling fabric.

* * *

“Milf! Are you really going to do this?!”

“What now, Allison?”

After returning from Korea, Millif was busy organizing the song he made with Sung Jin-hee and taking a short break.

What good is having a nice house if you don’t have much time to spend there?

In that sense, he was having a happy time, enjoying the success he had achieved for the first time in a long time, but when Allison suddenly barged in, Millie felt like her head was already starting to hurt.

“This article! This! Is it real? You really entrusted all of your stage costumes to designer Lee Yong-won?!”

“I told you I would do that.”

At Millif’s calm answer, Allison blinked as if he was dumbfounded, then gritted his teeth and said.

“Okay. Everything’s good. You chose Mr. Lee over my brand, ? Okay. You entrusted the most important performance of your life to such an amateur? No, this is not good. It’s not good… … . Okay. Let’s say that’s okay. But really? Did you really say you’d pay $100,000 for each set?”

“huh.”

“Are you crazy?! Why are you giving me so much money?”

“There is enough money to spend on worthwhile things.”

“You can spend enough. You’re a billionaire, and you can spend that much without it even showing. But you know that spending a lot of money isn’t necessarily good! You should only spend it on people who are worth it! If you keep doing that, you’ll look ridiculous?!”

“It’s worth it. How many times do I have to say that?”

When Millif got annoyed, Allison responded with even more annoyance.

“No! That’s why I’m saying that! You’re really weird. Whenever Mr. Lee gets involved, he becomes an idiot! I hate seeing him! I hate seeing him! Why is my friend acting like an idiot!”

The heiress of the century, Allison Pelley, was such a person.

A woman born into one of the wealthiest families in America, educated by the wealthy, and absorbed it better than anyone else.

Spending money wisely.

An attitude toward life where you never pay even a single dollar for something that isn’t worth its weight in gold.

That was more important to her than anything else.

She was so rich that she wouldn’t suffer any damage even if 1 billion, no, 10 billion, or 100 billion suddenly disappeared, because her assets amounted to tens of trillions. But to her, it wasn’t a matter of money.

Rather, it was a question of pride, self-esteem, self-identity, dignity and social reputation.

Not knowing the price of an item is something only fools do, and this ruthless capitalist society despises, exploits, and is quick to deceive such fools more than anyone else.

But my friend is an idiot!

What a fool!

Allison Pelley simply could not tolerate that.

But Milliff, in her own way, had many complaints about Allison.

“But why do you keep insulting my friend? Yongwon is my friend. Can you stop insulting him?”

“I’m your friend too! Yes. Even if Mr. Lee is your friend and made this ridiculous contract, why don’t you just give him a million dollars? It’s okay to give him one! Just don’t buy him at an outrageous price!”

“Why do you keep asking for ridiculous prices?! Yongwon is a genius. I think $100,000 per set is too little!”

“Genius? Yes. That may be true. But there are definitely fields in this world. What Lee Yong-won makes is everyday clothes! Of course, he has no experience with super expensive clothes worth 100,000 dollars! He has never made a stage costume! We call that an amateur!”

“If it’s Yongwon, he can do it.”

“How? Stage costumes are a task that maximizes your character and breathes a story into the concept you created. It’s not something that can be done by simply making good clothes!”

“But I can do it. If it’s Yongwon.”

“You don’t understand… … . You might do surprisingly well. But you’re spending $100,000 per set? Don’t you think your usual stage costumes cost $100,000 for all 10 sets? Then you can’t just do well this time. That’s a failure. You’ll be a sucker. Mr. Lee is awesome! Amazing amazing amazing! Even if you do well, you’ll barely break even!”

Allison, who was screaming and grumbling.

Millif instead looked at Allison with a suddenly calm expression and answered.

“know.”

“……know?”

“Yeah. Don’t you know that? You and Allison are friends.”

“But why on earth… … !”

“Even considering that, I will do it. Yongwon. Me. You. Something so great that you couldn’t even imagine.”

“you……!”

“Just watch.”

When Millif said this, Allison couldn’t argue anymore.

“Huh. Just don’t be so upset. I’ll go on all kinds of TV shows and gossip about Mr. Lee.”

Allison said that and stared blankly at Millief.

“Anyway. Prepare well. I want you to create the best stage of your life.”

“It will be like that.”

“joy.”

I turned around and left Millif’s house.

“Ugh… … . I’m tired.”

Millief sat on the sofa with a tired expression on her face, staring blankly at the ceiling before smiling faintly.

“I want to see the results quickly. I wonder if I can see Allison’s astonishment? Yes. If it’s Yongwon, it can be done.”

Millie just sat there on the sofa for a while, laughing heartily.

* * *

“100 million… … No. Considering the exchange rate, it’s 130 million? A set of clothes that costs 130 million… … .”

I sat down at the workbench in one corner of my studio apartment and racked my brain.

It was because I had a headache while I was planning Millie’s stage costume.

“I thought it was good because it was expensive, so I took it without hesitation… … . It wasn’t something I could easily think of.”

Doesn’t that make sense?

How can one set of clothes cost over 100 million won?

If my mother heard that, she would have grumbled that if the money was rotting away like that, we should just throw it away on the rooftop.

But Millif was willing to pay that price, and I agreed.

Well then, it’s my turn to pay for it.

That gave me a headache.

“You can’t just look at ideal types… … .”

Last time, I made a dress that Millie really liked and received $100,000 for it.

But that’s just a special event.

The clothes that Millie likes the most, plus YouTube aggro.

Wow! I really like this? Is this possible? Something that you can pay for with a smile at least once. Something that was possible only because you are a star, Millie, who has a lot of money and lives off of attention.

But this time, things are completely different.

This time, the clothes I have to make are not everyday clothes that Millif likes, but stage costumes that will make Millif’s performances shine even more.

Of course, this wasn’t a difficult task either.

It’s simple if you use the [Ideal Type Viewing] ability.

If you roughly set the conditions to three: Millie, Millie’s fans, and stage costumes, and pick the costumes that come out, that’s it.

Just by doing that, it was clear that the stage costumes would be something that both Millief and her fans would admire.

however…….

Is that really enough?

To that extent, can we say that it was worth more than 100 million won?

I found out too.

130 million won for one set of stage costumes was an absurd price. Even if you only received 30 million won, you could say that you received an enormous amount.

But 10 sets of 130 million each… … .

This amount of money is not something I can just brush aside to do my job.

and…….

More than that… … .

I am not satisfied.

My job is to create the most important performance costumes for my friend, Millief.

But can I be satisfied with just the outfits I found by setting simple conditions?

‘That can’t be.’

The same goes for Millif, and also for Minseo, who now has to create a new character.

Now these two are my friends and my people.

I wanted to do better than last time.

I want to make them into idols, not just people who are pretty to look at, but people who make a story come to mind the moment you see them, people who make you feel a divine energy that is not human the moment you see them.

To do that, I needed something more than the ideal type I see now.

Haven’t you realized it all along?

[Viewing your ideal type] is not a fixed answer.

As Sung Jin-hee awakens, her ideal type changes,

As Kim Ji-hoon broke his own limits, and his ideal type changed,

Depending on how I use my abilities, I can create results that are far greater than what is possible now.

So, in the end, browsing ideal types is just a tool.

Then I must become a craftsman of that tool.

I had a duty to use the possibilities of ideal type viewing to the limit to provide my friends with the best possible results, and more.

“More. Let’s be sure. Understand each other completely, communicate consistently… … Let’s find an ideal type that is greater than the ideal type we can see now.”

I made a very specific pledge.

Find all the videos of Millief you can find on the internet.

Let’s memorize it all.

When I fall asleep at night, I dream of seeing Millie’s performance. Let’s devote my day completely to it.

With so much to do and so little time, let’s focus as much as possible at all times.

I put down my pen for a moment.

I turned on the monitor and played a video. It was a video of Millip’s performance.

The melody, her expressions, her outfit, the lighting, the stage effects… I started watching the video over and over again, determined to memorize everything in it.

The days flow like a river.