I'm not sure why Linda was so shocked. The level of her design was really high quality. If she wanted to, I don't see any reason why she couldn't have a career as a dress designer.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Linda pointed out a desk for us to sit at. Once we sat down, Linda opened up her notebook to the page with the sundress that I liked.
Linda looked up at me with skepticism, "this is the dress that you liked so much?"
"Yes! It's exactly what I'm looking for! I want to get it made immediately. Do you make dresses?"
Linda started to explain her experience.
"A year ago, I was working as an apprentice dress maker, but I haven't made a dress since then."
"How come you are not working at the dress shop anymore? Your designing skill seems top notch to me and I believe you still like the process of designing dresses since you were sketching with so much focus when we first came in."
Linda lowered her head, "the dress maker that I worked under told me I had no talent for dress design. She told me that specifically designed dresses, like the ones I made, would have to be sold to nobles since it would be pricey.
However, the problem she kept bring up was that noble women would be ridiculed for wearing such loose fitting clothing. Also, the expectation is that noble women need to wear corsets with their dresses and a small strap like the one this dress has would easily expose a corset if worn."
I see, the problem is the traditional fashion standards towards women. Linda's sense of dress design is ahead of her time. The sun dress I saw was something that I could imagine seeing in my world's fashion. I can't let her talent go to waste.
"So, did the dress maker that you worked for fire you after seeing the things that you designed?"
Linda shook her head and sighed.
"No, she still believed I had a lot of talent in the sewing of dresses and ability to sketch, so she said that I could stay as an apprentice for another year or two as I worked on my fashion sense to start designing dresses that noble women would like.
However, I could not wait so long. The pay of an apprentice was practically nothing. I have 6 younger brothers and sisters living at home that need to be supported. My father hurt his back a year ago and can't do nearly as much physical work as he used to, so I gave up my dream to be a dress maker to help my parents make ends meet. I looked around for a couple of weeks and ended up working here since the pay for working as a maid of a Duke was good."
If the Duchy is as rich as I heard it is, maybe I could start a welfare program for people that are struggling with poverty? Without any help, Linda sacrificed her ambitions to help support her family. She had my respect. The people of this Kingdom might not see her vision yet, but luckily I was here to help set her fashion revolution into motion.
"Linda, may I look through all the designs in your notebook?"
Linda handed me the book, "go ahead my Lord."
As I flipped through the pages of the sketchbook, my expectations were blown away. There were more than just sun dress designs. Linda had a design for practically every type of dress that I could remember from my world.
It was so comprehensive that I started to think that maybe Linda also came from my world. However, I quickly gave up on that idea because if she knew how successful these designs were in my world, she would have fought harder to sell these designs. Once people gave them a shot, they would become popular and she would be rich.
After I finished looking at all of the designs she had, I pointed to three of the designs and I let her know my plan.
"I am going to order these three dresses from you. I will pay for the materials needed as well as pay you the standard rate for dresses in the Duchy. Once you finish the dresses, if I like the quality, I will help you fund your own dress shop.
I will pay for all the costs and you can pay me back once you start making money. For my investment, I would like 10% of the profits you make at the shop. I also want to have priority in getting my orders completed once your shop gets popular."
"Thank you so much my Lord! I don't know if my designs will ever be popular since the noble women won't like them, but I will try my best. Also, don't you mean 10% of the sales not 10% of the profit?"
"I plan to have Becca model the dresses to the noble ladies to show them what they are missing out on. Becca might be insulted at first, but she is thick skinned. I believe that it will only take one time of her wearing your dresses with confidence to change people's minds. She is so beautiful that she would be the perfect model.
As for the 10%, I don't want to cut into your margins and force you to charge more for the dresses. Once you start making money, which I'm confident you will, I'll just take a cut from the profit."
I know I could have asked for more in the deal to make more money, but I couldn't do that when I knew she had 6 little siblings to take care of. Plus, I'm sure the fashion of my time will catch on quickly, so I'll still make a good amount.
I'm too much of a softie, I'll probably need to find a economic advisor for the Duchy if I want us to take advantage of all my knowledge of my world to make enough money to strengthen the Duchy.
"Wow, you really love my Lady. I'm glad that you two were able to reconcile after she stormed out last time."
"Of course, she is really the best. The only reason I'm getting into this dress business is because I wanted to get some custom dresses made for her. I was planning to go look for a dress maker in town, but fortunately, you just happened to appear out of nowhere. You need to keep our deal a secret from Becca because I want to surprise her later with the dresses."
After I told Linda to be careful to keep the secret, a random book in the distance fell on the floor with a loud slam. I turned my head to see what happened, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary so I turned my attention back to Linda, who was already answering me.
"I will do my best to make these dresses so well that my Lady will be the most beautiful that you have ever seen her. Please let me know what colors you want each dress to be."
"Ok, this first sun dress will be really good for when we are spending alone time together in the mansion all day. It is causal and comfortable. If we make it checkered with yellow and white, I think Becca would look unbelievably cute.
For this tight and short dress, it would be best in black. I don't want to say exactly where she would wear this one, but she would look incredible.
For this formal dress, it should be yellow. I want this dress to be the dress that she wears when we go to our first ball together. We will have our first dance in this dress, so I want it to be extra special. She said her favorite color was yellow and I also think it compliments her light brown hair."
"I will start working on those dresses each night until I get them done!"
"Oh, you can set a table aside and work on the dresses while you have free time in the library like how you did with the sketches. I don't mind. Also, here is five gold coins for now. Let me know if you need more as you work on them."
Linda looked at the coins in a daze.
"Thank you my Lord, I will make sure to get the dresses finished in a timely manner."
I laughed, "that is one thing I will agree with because I'm too excited to see Becca in these."