Dana Kline (2021)
The right of Dana Kline to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528987783 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528987790 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2021)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
Thanks to my publisher who worked so hard to deliver my story. Especially, Vinh Tran and Kevin Smith and production teams always patient and diligent answers.
This billion-dollar business creates brands to give you confidence, enhance your health, keep your features forever youthful. Beautyland salutes advisors, sales people, make-up artists, hair stylists, countless men and women working in retail stores all over the world. Fragrance, playtime with make-up creates illusion. Like the wizard behind the curtain, the troops behind the beauty counter have the magic to transform your day while stoking the engines of this industry. On the other side of the counter, my thanks to the sales teams, counter managers, freelancers, marketers, creative artists, designers, buyers, retail managements, press agents, WWD, Beauty Fashion, and bosses, both good and not so.
Leslie Davis Guccione, novelist, teacher and freelance editor, embraced my story. Over three years she shared skill, advice and a keen eye—what to enhance; what to cut; what to save for another story. I can now spot the gun over the mantel in every movie and book. With generosity and encouragement, my ‘Tom Ford of literature’ challenged me to be a better writer.
Thanks to my fellow ‘Fixer’ Cate Johnson, a friendship begun twenty years ago in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we were charged with rehabilitating a failing Givenchy beauty in the southwest territory. * To industry mentors Lauren Anderson and Shawn Doyle who’ve helped me navigate all things corporate and appreciate the importance of motivation, especially to those in need of inspiration to be fabulous.
To Margaret Todd, who loved me from day one, I appreciate all you’ve done for me, the influence that helped me know how I wanted to live. * To my sons. Eric Kelsy, light of my life, now accruing accolades in baseball and coaching. * Simeon, assistant, stylist, photographer, merchandiser, party coordinator, publicist and artist who debuted at six as a mini-groom to my bride in a Lazarus, Columbus, Ohio, wedding theme event. We moved a lot of Alfred Sung perfume! Your ear to the cosmetic selling floor—who’s stealing, who’s quitting, who are the best freelancers to poach—kept me on trend and one step ahead of the pack.
To my generous sister Jennifer Harris Vanhoose. Somehow two little girls found a way to survive. Always know you are beautiful.
Miss Neil Harvey & Dale Spear, chronicler of crazy family sagas and mentor extraordinaire, from opera, history, travel and entertaining, to art museum protocol.
My parents Daniel and Diane Harris.
And deep thanks to those that I was fortunate to work with, supporting my career and inspiring BEAUTYLAND!
Diane Von Furstenberg, Susan Posen, Zac Posen, Tatum Getty, Tommy Cyr, Ali Fadakar, Vesa Kalho, Gail Yount, Daniel Smith,Patty & Torrance Kirby, David Tenzer, Rachel Whitmore, Tracy Bregman, Scott Hart, Chantal Roos, Piia Toikka, Susan Cotton, Jim Maki, Justin Welch, Steve Johnson, Sullivan Gimaret, Chad Lavigne, Aisling Connaughton, Leighton Atchison, Neil Clark, Josh Blaylock, Pavllo Zengo, Trish Mendiola, Vittoria Federico, Cristina Brown, Dan Buckle, Jason Haun, Jem Jender, Jennifer McGarrigle, Jenny Pashkov-Pike, Kasi Buttery, Kate Knoop, Kristen Sinclair, Tom Crutchfield, Suzanne Tesche, Laura Eschricht, Mindy Franco, Amy Pratt, Michel Whitehead, Matt Stapleton, Beth Frost, Caroline Smith, Barbra Beller, Marc Runz, Heather Lindgren, Sha Bishop, Denise Stein, Dennis Hays, Esther Chi, Jesse Boatright, Jacklyn Krajewski, Sara Jakiel, Mackenzi Wallace, Roxanne Vaghefi, Peter Born, Eric Michelson, Simia Arslane, Michael Hawley, Susan Robran, Jodi Fries, Bettina O’Neill, Margarita Arriagada, Gary Borofsky, Terry Morrow, Joni Allen, Jessica Hanson, Roslyn Griner, Jonia & Bradley Skaggs, Nick Gilbert, Nicholas Ratut, Pierre Brezillon Yves, Eden Grimaldi, George Ledes, Dabra Davis, Mike Valentino.
To the readers, if anyone tells you, “You’ll never do it, you’re not good enough,” be grateful for the resistance, it will push you to be better, cementing your success.
Synopsis
Beautyland chronicles rise of tenacious Emma O’Farrell Paige, from her traumatic, hardscrabble, ’70s Midwest childhood into the glamorous fragrance industry where she plays to win among world-class dealmakers.
The story opens fall Fashion Week, September 2003. Lower Manhattan churns with construction on the second anniversary of 9/11 as Emmen arrives at the federal courthouse to depose her former boss, the mastermind behind counterfeit perfume ring. As her driver maneuvers onto FDR drive, Emma relives her own scams, beginning in St. Louis middle school summers collecting door-to-door for her parents’ bogus charities, their scheme to cover school clothes and bar tabs. By thirteen she has honed shoplifting skills; at sixteen she passes for a university co-ed to hook a fraternity hotshot. When her parents force her thirteenth movie, this one to rural Bruckerfield, MO, Ethan Paige enters her life. The high school athlete’s dysfunctional background mimics hers and Emma falls hard for the handsome, equally adrift hometown star baseball pitcher. A year later the misfits land in a shotgun, long-distance marriage. Ethan begins a semi-pro career in Australia as Emma uses instinct, salesmanship and lifelong survival skills to enter the beauty business.
Driven by desperation and nothing to lose they set out in the world with big dreams and blind faith can do. Through trenches of the beauty biz, Emma goes from the ground floor up to the corporate boardrooms of New York, London, Paris, and beyond. On her climb on the top Emma forges loyal friends, meets strong, influential mentors who try to bend her to their will. She grapples with business adversaries, no more challenging and breath-taking than mysterious Julian Petrenko, her boss, nemesis, and perfect match. As Emma climbs higher, closing a string of licensing deals with the trendiest designers and celebrities. When Emma lands the highly sought after a three-hundred-million-dollar fragrance deal boy band ‘UK CONNECTION’, she unveils the secret inner works of the vaulted BEAUTYLAND in all its backstabbing, sexual harassment, litigation, and triumphant glory.
“Character. Intelligence. Strength. Style. That makes beauty”
– Diane Von Furstenberg
Chapter One
I had to look perfect. Felon Carmine F.X. Isgro, late of the late Ciao!Beauty Company, decided to sue me. Thank God for my closet, a woman’s version of a war chest. In fact I chose my Fifth Avenue apartment for the en suite bath and dressing room so I could organise my clothing by designer, sub-grouped in colour coded order. My wall of shoes included boxes—part of the art.
“What the hell?” Tommy, my ever-faithful driver, muttered a string of obscenities in Staten Island-ese, and gripped the steering wheel, incongruous in his white gloves.
“Emma, I shoulda cut over to Second Avenue. FDR…”
“Just get me to court in one piece.” I rotated my ankle and pressed the tender spot, then slid my foot back into my Yves St. Laurent, a Paris design not yet available in the States. It complemented my fitted navy and black high waisted Zac Posen skirt and a custom silk blouse with proper English bow. TMI, no doubt, but designers eager to give me hot-off-the-runway fashions was one of my job perks, a key to my survival as well as motivation to stay sample size, no larger than a four.
Tommy inched us past the ear-budded multitude, jostling through the Manhattan canyons. Too much time to think. I faced litigation without real basis, a nuisance suit. Angry men resentful of women, waited in the Financial District court room to intimidate me. I had no experience with legal matters but I’d watched Law and Order and been prepped within an inch of a bar exam by my attorney. Most of what I had to say would be expected. But I also had leverage, the kind best served cold.
The crisp, clear September day was the kind we still associate with the horrors of 9/11. The city—the whole country—had just marked the third anniversary. While Lower Manhattan churned with physical repair, Midtown churned with the controlled hysteria of Fall Fashion Week. Renewed energy with a hint of autumn helped the city shed its summer lethargy and more of its lingering grief.
