The weather was miserable- heavy rain, dark clouds and a chill in the air. Song Xia and Shi Qi arrived early to 16 Hearts' Magazine Studio where the Mingzhu collection was being shot.
16 Heart's was a domestic 2nd tier magazine that had partnered with Mingzhu for their new collection.Models are usually selected by the magazine's. It in smaller shoots a fashion clothing company can choose models.
Song Xia liked to be prepared so she had done her research on 16 Heart's before hand. It largely catered to teenage girls and wasn't what you would call a 'serious high Fashion ' magazine but was quite popular.
Today she wore a red sweater dress with black leggings and boots. The only makeup she wore was some clear lip gloss . Her hair kept in place with a clip.
It was her first time in a photography studio with white walls, a green screen, full of expensive equipment and high quality cameras.
" Hello, you must be from 99 Scenes. We will be ready for makeup just now. Why don't you'll have some coffee and I will get someone to call you soon."
There was a timid , young lady carrying a file around who greeted them and then quickly moved onto her next task.
" Xiao Xia, how are feeling? Excited? Nervous ."Shi Qi squeezed Song Xia 's hand as she asked .
" A little of both." Song Xia replied and took a deep breath to settle her nerves.
They chatted for a little while when a male makeup artist assistant came up to them.
"Song Xia, from 99 Scenes? Room 2 is ready to do your makeup."
Song Xia followed the assistant to Room 2 . The room where not big - there were only 2 make up tables and 4 chairs in the room.
Two makeup artist and 1 assistant where assigned to each room and there where only 5 Make up rooms in the studio. Currently there where 4 rooms occupied as there where only 15 models to be photographed today.
"Song Xia, your skin is lovely so we don't need to use a lot of foundation or concealer."Sister Gong stated absentmindedly.
Gong Jia was the deputy head make up artist for 16 Heart's Magazine. In the many years of her career she had seen countless beauties but Song Xia's bone structure ,flawless skin and gorgeous eyes made her feel a bit awestruck.
She had finished applying her base makeup before she told the assistant bring Song Xia's dress so she could do Song Xia's makeup according to the theme.
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"Wei Wei !I want the Rose Dress !I don't care about some dumb model from 99 Scenes! How could she compare to me - a top model from Li Zen ."
A loud voice echoed outside the hallway of the makeup room . Shi Qi automatically tensed- Song Xia was the only model from 99 Scenes .
Shi Qi was a capable agent and Song Xia 's Aunt how could she tolerate her being belittled or disadvantaged. Therefore she immediately went to access the situation.
There was the lady who greeted them earlier looking distressed while a girl in a hot pink robe embroidered with the words 'Princess' yelled at her.
"Look, Miss Li , the dress has already been given to the other model... and the design team organized the outfit according to what they thought was most suitable for each model."
The teenage girl vented her frustration by throwing a cushion in the woman's face and continued her temper tantrum when a man came forward to speak with the women in charge.
"Umm... what are you called Wei- something... can't you just make a trade?"
The women was now close to tears just looked at the man- presumably the female model's agent.
At this point Shi Qi couldn't stand it anymore so she came to the defense of the poor women.
"Hello , my model in from 99 Scenes. We will do an exchange of clothes. " She then took the trembling women's hand and led her away from those outrageous pair.
Those two were utterly foolish- making brazen demands and offending people who they worked with would result in a short lived career.
In the kitchen area Shi Qi poured a cup of coffee for the distraught women.
"Thank you ,for your help .I'm sorry you were inconvenienced and your model will have to deal with last minute changes."
The women recovered slightly and accepted the cup of coffee.
"It's no problem I'll go to the makeup room now and tell Song Xia.I'm Shi Qi by the way and you are?"
The women gave a timid smile and replied," I'm Hou Wan."
Hou Wan? The Director of 16 Heart's Magazine was Hou Tao. If Hou Wan had any relationship the director then that foolish pair had really kicked an iron plate.
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"Xiao Xia, do you understand why Aunt agreed to change the dress?" Shi Qi whispered to Song Xia.
Song Xia did understand sometimes it was better to bend and adapt to the situation than to break.
In the fashion industry attitude was almost important as talent. By backing down now, she could give others a better impression of her and show good work ethic. If she behaved like that over demanding model that Shi Qi encountered it would just disgust other people and she would gain a bad reputation. Once others had an aversion to you less jobs would come your way in the future. Of course, on the other had you couldn't be timid as this would lead to bullying. Song Xia would never let that happen!
"Sister Gong, sorry to bother you. My dress is now the Snowflake Dress."
Gong Jia sighed in pity before thinking what look to now prepare for Song Xia. She originally had a great idea have to compliment Song Xia 's looks with the Rose Dress . Now she had to think of a whole new idea.
That caused her to be miffed with Li Gui- how could such a young model be so unreasonable. Sure, she was Li Zen's Director 's daughter but how can she be so rude to Hou Wen ,the director of 16 Heart's Magazine niece?
The inner artist in Gong Jia ran wild on the canvas known as Song Xia. A simple wing- edge eyeliner, silver glitter eye shadow made Song Xia 's eyes look like molten pools of gold and applied tiny iridescent snowflake face gems under her eyes just above her exquisite cheekbones. The rest was of the make makeup consisted of bit of blush and a mixture of a rose- pink and lavender -pink lipstick.
The assistant acted as a hairstylist for them as the main hairstylist was still occupied. He simply curled Song Xia's waist length hair ;used a simple silver alice band to push back her hair while pulling a few loose strands to frame her face.
The dress was an off the shoulder , silvery-glitter white tulle ,evening dress. The bodice of the dress had silver patterned vines running on it . It wasn't an extravagant design but when Song Xia wore it she looked like an elusive being. A fairy in a winter wonderland that children were told about in storybooks.