Today’s blog in English is fictional about an ambitious woman that has a dream, makes a plan, and then takes action to develop a remarkable and successful business:
Deborah dreamed big! She was already in business and had a small shop where she sold her tailored goods, but then she envisioned a high-quality manufacturing plant that provided a fashion line of clothes that met the approval of trendy women from around the world.
Initially, she wanted to create batches of garments that stunned the media, and consequently become the talk of the town; modern flamboyant designer wear that took the market by storm. To provide such a service she needed to plan a strategy that gave her results. She decided to draw outstanding pseudo designs to win over public opinion before asking her dressmakers to actually make the clothing in quantity.
She organized dressmakers to create these wannabe costumes as wildly outrageous as possible. Each detail was designed to confuse other dressmakers. The objective was to turn faces towards her brand. She used enticing silk colors from China. Chinese silk has been around forever, even before the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C. The Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them. However, the Chinese supplier from this time still existed and these bespoke silks were purchasable.
Silk can also be dyed with basic, metal-complex and reactive dyes. Acid dyes are widely used for dyeing of silk. Using this class of dyestuff, a wide range of bright shades can be obtained. These dyes are sodium salts of organic acids (mostly sulphonic acid) and are applied from acidic medium. This was important, as Deborah saw it as a chance to create bright catchy colors on her blouse collection. She wanted her pieces to stick out like a sore thumb and win over the crowds.
The final results were truly incredible. She wasted no time in contracting a publicity agent to find countrywide publishers who wished to have exclusive rights to write about these new introductions. Sooner than later the agent contracted, spread the word, and then a major magazine line wanted to write a double page spread about Deborah, her vision and products, and the factory.
Immediately after publishing she became the name in fashion, and went from an average designer to a new breed of eloquent clothes designer. People ordered her blouses from across the nation. Before she knew it, orders were coming in from abroad!
Well, done, Debbie!
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Remarkable (adj) = extraordinary, amazing, notable, outstanding
Envisioned (adj) = imagined, envisaged, foresaw, projected
Batches (n) lots, consignments, groups, sets, bunches, collections
Stunned (adj) = shocked, astonished, amazed, surprised
Pseudo (adj) = quasi, wannabe, virtual, self-styled, mock, fake
Wildly (adv) = enthusiastically, madly, excitedly, riotously, crazily
Outrageous (adj) = disgraceful, shameful, shocking, offensive, extreme
Dressmaker (n) = a person whose job is making women's clothes.
However (adv) = Though, but, yet, still, nevertheless, nonetheless
Bespoke (adj) = modified, tailored, adapted, personalized, custom-made, made to order, specially made, tailor-made, made to measure, mass-produced, ready-to-wear
Dyed (adj/v) = to dye is a regular verb. Dyed is its simple past form that can also be used as an adjective which comes are the verb to be. Dyes are the colors, colorants, tints, peroxides, rinses, bleaches, hennas, colorings, stains, pigments such as hair dye
Catchy (adj) = memorable, attractive, likeable, appealing, popular
Blouse (n) = feminine shirt, top
Stick out like a sore thumb (idiom) = be very obviously different from the surrounding people or things. "You stick out like a sore thumb in that ghastly uniform"
Eloquent (adj) = expressive, fluent, articulate, persuasive, powerful