Pettigrew's Dress Shop
What with the theatre opener date coming up fast, Constance decided to spend some of her waitress wages on a luxury item, a brand new fancy dress for attending the opening night performance. She didn't expect her date, Justus, would show up in anything other than a clean outfit but that was fine with her. This was just a bit of pampering for herself. Back home in Ohio, she used to have quite the wardrobe and adding to it had been a rather regular occurrence. Until Father had kicked her out of the house and sent off to live her own independent life, earning her own money.
This was her first time even inside the place, it was surprisingly fancy for a frontier town, she thought. Lots of dresses and undergarments too of course. A sign proclaiming too that one could have dresses made to one's specifications and still at a reasonable price. She was met by a dark haired young miss who first introduced herself as Miss Kaufmann then welcomed her arrival and offered to help her should she need anything specific.
"Thank you, but for now I am content to look around," Constance smiled.
"Certainly, take your time. I'm going to head upstairs then as I have some work to do but if you should need any assistance there was another employee also on duty. Just call out and she will attend to you," Miriam explained, meaning Jemima.
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
Said 'other employee' soon appeared, but didn't interact with the customer, merely stood inert and stared into the middle distance with that bovine look so peculiar to bored shopgirls. Jemima would much rather be in the back room 'getting on' with the Singer.
The bell above the door of the draper's store tinkled and a belle of another sort entered with a flurry of deep purple taffeta accompanied by a rather unusual person in more dowdy attire. There was a veritable scream of pleasure and before she could even, perhaps, realise who it was, Miss Straub was being seized and kissed on both cheeks, à la française, by the manic creature in question.
"Why, Franny, it is dear Miss Straub! You remember I told you about her? The well-bred and beautiful young heiress, forced to work by her cruel uncle in the Hell of the Kalispell Diner, at the beck and call of her uncouth social inferiors, her only hope of rescue: the love of a gay handsome cowboy!" Arabella recounted what she knew of Constance in the most melodramatic fashion imaginable.
The little actress was, as per usual 'done up like a dog's dinner' in the most extreme modern fashion imaginable.
The girl next to this mannequin moved forward and held out her hand into space; she wore an impenetrable black bandage over her eyes, carried a stick in her free hand and had an unusual, but oddly engaging smile, with wide gaps between each tooth.
"How do you Miss Straub? Please take my hand, I can't see yours." the oddity spoke in a clear and educated voice, at variance with Arabella's southern drawl.
Arabella stood back a little, grinning like an idiot, drinking in the scene. Most people found first time social interactions like this rather awkward, but she loved them; she always pictured them like a scene in a play, or an illustration in a novel. Arabella especially liked novels with pictures in them! She could see the legend beneath: 'The famous actress Miss Mudd introduces the disinherited Miss Straub to Miss Grimes'.
"I suppose I should really introduce my self as 'poor little blind girl Frances Grimes, forced to sell matches on the street, at the beck and call of cruel cigar puffing plutocrats, my only hope of rescue, the pretty and vivacious actress, Miss Arabella Sumter Mudd'!" Frances added in a fake Southern accent, once she had hold of Constance's hand.
Give her her due, the 'vision in purple' laughed her head off at this skit on herself. "Oh Franny, how you do run on!" she chuckled seizing the sightless girl and kissing her freely on the cheek. Had she known to, Frances would have rolled her eyes.
Arabella turned to Constance.
"We're here to buy Franny here a new dress. Are you looking for anything special, Miss Straub?" she asked casually.
As Constance perused the selection of dresses on display, the front door bell tinkled. No sooner had she turned to look out of curiosity when there was Miss Mudd, the local actress, coming right upon her. She even went for the extravagant French gesture of kisses on both cheeks.
"Why, Franny, it is dear Miss Straub! You remember I told you about her? The well-bred and beautiful young heiress, forced to work by her cruel uncle in the Hell of the Kalispell Diner, at the beck and call of her uncouth social inferiors, her only hope of rescue: the love of a gay handsome cowboy!"
Constance blinked, "Well, it is hardly like that, Miss Mudd."
The blindfolded young miss accompanying the actress now held out her hand,"How do you Miss Straub? Please take my hand, I can't see yours." the oddity spoke in a clear and educated voice, at variance with Arabella's southern drawl.
Constance shook it, "Nice to meet you..."
"I suppose I should really introduce my self as 'poor little blind girl Frances Grimes, forced to sell matches on the street, at the beck and call of cruel cigar puffing plutocrats, my only hope of rescue, the pretty and vivacious actress, Miss Arabella Sumter Mudd'!" Frances added in a fake Southern accent, once she had hold of Constance's hand.
Seemed those who hung about with Miss Mudd also had a flair for the dramatic, make that melodramatic.
"Miss Grimes, my pleasure," Constance left it at that.
Arabella turned to Constance.
"We're here to buy Franny here a new dress. Are you looking for anything special, Miss Straub?"
"Ahh, seems there are a lot to choose from. I happen to be also shopping for a new dress. As a matter of fact something nice for your theatre opener which I am truly looking forward to," Constance replied.
"Where are the snows of yesterday" - Villon
Constance said the magic words:
"I happen to be also shopping for a new dress. As a matter of fact something nice for your theatre opener which I am truly looking forward to," Constance replied.
"Oh! You are SO right to be!" Arabella leaned in and grabbed the waitress's hands. "This is far too important for any old off the peg dress, we must call forth Mister Pettigrew!" she announced importantly.
Arabella pushed past Frances and ran to the counter and banged down on a little desk bell that went "TING!!"
Jemima, waking up, as it were, yelped "Hey! Only me and Miriam can ring that!!"
"Well I just runged it, so there." Arabella declared defiantly.
Frances reached out her hand and found Constance. "Jemima is a lovely girl" she confided "She nursed me last year when I was stabbed in the lung by a madman."
After a few seconds the velvet curtains behind the counter parted and a stout gentleman appeared whose appearance was dominated by his bright ginger muttonchops and wispy comb-over. He immediately honed in on Arabella, his favourite clothes-horse.
He stooped and grabbing her purple-gloved hand, kissed it.
"Ah, dear, dear little Fort Sumter!" he oozed "How sumptuous you look in that creation! But, oh... wait.. one second..." he reached and slightly moved her hat by about a 16th of an inch. Jemima squinted but couldn't divine any difference in the look of the thing, no more than Frances would have been able to.
"Oh, and that soignée coiffure! Miss Cutts' work, no doubt?" the plump cream-puff further observed.
When they had finished fussing over each other, Arabella dragged the portly gent over to Constance.
"Now Wus, Miss Straub here requires an outfit for my opening night. She is to attend in company of a Mister... er, well, a mister anyway." Arabella explained.
Wus Pettigrew pulled out his pince-nez and perching them upon his nose, looked Constance up and down with a practiced eye. "Hmmm..."
"Pretty isn't she? Good figure, too." Arabella pronounced.
"Yeeeesss" agreed the master dressmaker. He took off his spectacles and looked Constance full in the face for the first time with his watery old eyes "My dear Miss Straub, I have the perfect gown for you! Would you do me the honour of trying it on for me?" he asked deferentially.
As Constance explained why she was here and threw in a bit about being excited about the upcoming theatre performance, Miss Mudd was simply delighted. She insisted that they must summon a Mr. Pettigrew. She figured he was either the owner or perhaps a tailor of sorts?
There was a bit of controversy over the mere ringing of the bell between the employee and the actress. Frances also had a stunning bit of past information to relay.
Frances reached out her hand and found Constance. "Jemima is a lovely girl" she confided "She nursed me last year when I was stabbed in the lung by a madman."
"Really? Oh my gosh, you poor thing. I trust the madman was caught?" Constance once more was reminded about the dangers of the frontier.
Granted there were such incidents in her native Cincinnati too.
Arabella dragged the portly gent over to Constance.
"Now Wus, Miss Straub here requires an outfit for my opening night. She is to attend in company of a Mister... er, well, a mister anyway." Arabella explained.
"Justus Gibbs, a hand at the Pike ranch," Constance informed him.
Wus Pettigrew pulled out his pince-nez and perching them upon his nose, looked Constance up and down with a practiced eye. "Hmmm..."
"Pretty isn't she? Good figure, too." Arabella pronounced.
Constance just stood there, a bit uncomfortable by all the gawking though Miss Mudd was being nice with the compliments.
"Yeeeesss" agreed the master dressmaker. He took off his spectacles and looked Constance full in the face for the first time with his watery old eyes "My dear Miss Straub, I have the perfect gown for you! Would you do me the honour of trying it on for me?" he asked deferentially.
He did huh? It sounded enticing of course but...
"Very well, sir but what about the price? I mean I'd be willing to try it on but I'm not making any promises I will or can buy it. All depends on the cost, you understand," she explained.
"Where are the snows of yesterday" - Villon
"This Mr Gibbs..."
Arabella knew what Mr P. was thinking.
"Oh, he's very handsome, and I think that he will make an effort and look pretty smart, in a homespun sort of way." Her opinion was taken by the tailor as more likely to be sound than the young man's sweetheart.
Wus nodded gravely and then looked back at Constance.
"Very well, I have a celeste frock already made up which I think you may like Miss Straub. Elegant and refined, but not over-fussy. We do not wish Mr Gibbs to feel underdressed as he walks you into the theatre."
"Oh, and a hat and gloves!" remembered Arabella.
"Oh yes, suitable millenary will be expedited!" Wus agreed.
"And Miss Cutts can do her hair!" came the next line of this sartorial double-act.
"Very well, sir but what about the price? I mean I'd be willing to try it on but I'm not making any promises I will or can buy it. All depends on the cost, you understand," she explained.
The portly man's sexual interest in women was zero, and yet his whole life had been dedicated to the perfecting of feminine beauty. He waved his hands dismissively of this mere talk of filthy lucre.
"If you can't afford it, you can borrow it, Miss Straub. Dammit, you can have the dress for free if you like it, but I must see you in it!!" Pettigrew blurted, before drawing out a hanky and dabbing away the beads of sweat on his forehead.
Arabella lay a calming hand on the man's arm, and spoke to Constance in kind and comforting tones.
"You must understand, Miss Straub, that Mr Pettigrew is an artiste. Once he conceives a vision of beauty, he must complete it, whatever the cost to himself. You don't suppose that I personally can afford to dress like this?" she asked, standing back a little and giving an artistic little twirl.
"Mr Pettigrew doesn't just sell dresses, he dresses the woman." she said, rather poetically, if she said so herself.
Well actually, he usually did just sell dresses, and got on now with that part of his business, ordering Jemima to take Miss Grimes upstairs so Miss Kaufmann could help her try on her new frock and then to return back immediately to staff the counter. But as for La Straub.
"Come into the back, Miss Stroud, let us get you out of that..." he looked at her current dress disdainfully "... thing, and allow me to robe your form in draperies more becoming your beauty! Miss Mudd, I don't suppose..."
"Oh, I should love to, Mr Pettigrew, I should love to!" she cooed, and gently linking her arm through Constance's guided the young lady through the velvet curtain into the workaday back room, complete with bales of material, cutting tables and a much used modern newfangled sewing machine.
There was also, to the left, a small changing room.
"Please help Miss Straub prepare for measurement, Miss Mudd, we'll do that first before trying the dress on" Wus said to Arabella, then to Constance said "You will retain your boots and stockings, if you please, Miss Straub..." he held up his hand sideways "For the height, you know."
"Very well, I have a celeste frock already made up which I think you may like Miss Straub. Elegant and refined, but not over-fussy. We do not wish Mr Gibbs to feel underdressed as he walks you into the theatre."
"That's true, I want him to be seen with a beautiful woman but not a rich one," Constance hoped aloud.
"Oh, and a hat and gloves!" remembered Arabella.
"Oh yes, suitable millenary will be expedited!" Wus agreed.
This was getting more expensive by the sentence and Constance voiced her worries, not willing to promise buying anything YET.
"If you can't afford it, you can borrow it, Miss Straub. Dammit, you can have the dress for free if you like it, but I must see you in it!!" Pettigrew blurted, before drawing out a hanky and dabbing away the beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Seriously?" this was like no other dress shoppe she had ever been in and she had been quite a few back in Cincinnati.
Ara assured her that all of this was just the man's artistic ways, money did not seem to matter to him. She even twirled about accenting the obviously expensive dress she had on. And looked quite fine in too!
"Come into the back, Miss Straub, let us get you out of that..." he looked at her current dress disdainfully "... thing, and allow me to robe your form in draperies more becoming your beauty! Miss Mudd, I don't suppose..."
"Oh, alright then," Constance felt it couldn't hurt to at least see this magnificent dress of his and try it on.
"Oh, I should love to, Mr Pettigrew, I should love to!" she cooed, and gently linking her arm through Constance's guided the young lady through the velvet curtain into the workaday back room, complete with bales of material, cutting tables and a much used modern newfangled sewing machine.
Constance had not expected Arabella to accompany her but she did like the vivacious actress, a bit odd but so far she'd been nothing but good to the waitress. She was even the reason her cowboy was taking her to the theatre.
There was also, to the left, a small changing room.
"Please help Miss Straub prepare for measurement, Miss Mudd, we'll do that first before trying the dress on" Wus said to Arabella, then to Constance said "You will retain your boots and stockings, if you please, Miss Straub..." he held up his hand sideways "For the height, you know."
Constance was yet again surprised, "Just my boots and stockings? Are you saying you want me to strip naked? To try on a dress?"
No dress shoppes back East ever required such drastic circumstances. It's not like she had ever been naked in public before but it had been quite different circumstances. As a girl and still into her early teens she had swum au natural with friends of hers, both sexes, in a local lake. But she was an adult now. And this was a business establishment not a secluded lake or even a private home.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Constance was yet again surprised, "Just my boots and stockings? Are you saying you want me to strip naked? To try on a dress?"
“Yes, yes! Off with everything!” Mr Pettigrew chirped “Chop, chop!”
“You see, Miss Straub…” Arabella explained as she steered the voluptuous girl (ASM would have killed for Constance’s vital statistics) toward the changing room “… the dress is just what the outside world sees. Just as important is what’s going underneath. Watch…”
They entered the room and Arabella threw her largely ornamental parasol and her gloves to one side and pulling out a couple pins removed her hat, then she did what children, especially little girls, worldwide loved to do: she took a couple of quick steps forward and despite the incredibly tight waisted and heavy looking dress she was wearing, did a perfect handstand, her skirts and petticoats tumbled down, rather shamelessly displaying a pair of neat boots, striped stockings and some quite fancy knee-length black silk split-drawers. She pivoted one leg and returned to terra firma, dusting her hands lightly against each other as they had been on the floor, a serious look on her face.
“Why can I do that in this dress, Miss Straub? I will tell you why: Corsetry! Supportive, flexible, body-forming corsetry. Hand built, made to measure corsetry and a dress that is cut to the exact dimensions of my figure, such as it is.” She smiled and looked Constance up and down “Shall I help you off with your things?”
“Yes, yes! Off with everything!” Mr Pettigrew chirped “Chop, chop!”
Constance glared at him, was he ordering her around. He was not her employer.
“You see, Miss Straub…” Arabella explained as she steered Constance toward the changing room “… the dress is just what the outside world sees. Just as important is what’s going underneath. Watch…”
"The reason we have clothing is so others cannot see what is underneath," Constance begged to differ, thinking they sure did things differently out west, but she did as requested and watched.
The young actress proceeded to do some rather impressive acrobatics including a hand stand that Constance knew she could never do ...well, probably since twelve. Good lord!
“Why can I do that in this dress, Miss Straub? I will tell you why: Corsetry! Supportive, flexible, body-forming corsetry. Hand built, made to measure corsetry and a dress that is cut to the exact dimensions of my figure, such as it is.”
"Well that's fine if I am to do acrobatics but I assure I will never be doing.......that. And he already has a dress to show me, how can it be made to measure my exact dimensions? I already wear a corset, if you had not noticed," Constance was still not convinced.
Arabella smiled and looked Constance up and down “Shall I help you off with your things?”
"Miss Mudd, be honest with me right now. He is not just having me do this so he can ogle me au natural?" Constance was still suspicious. She wouldn't put it past some men.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Miss Straub had a very natural question for her 'little helper' in the undressing department.
"Miss Mudd, be honest with me right now. He is not just having me do this so he can ogle me au natural?" Constance was still suspicious. She wouldn't put it past some men.
Arabella looked serious. How to put this?
"You need to believe me, Miss Straub, our dear old Mister Pettigrew is a complete and utter... aesthete. He's like the two fellers I work with at the theatre, Mr Darling and Mr Astin, they appreciate the female form on a whole higher plane than other men. We are angels, visions never to be sullied by base desires for our quivering white flesh." She was rather proud of that evasive, but perhaps suggestive, answer.
"No, forpractical purposes, to Mister Pettigrew, our nubile young bodies are just so many clothes-horses to hang his beautiful creations 'pon."
Just to check the penny had dropped, she added "You get my drift?"