Heart of Ashes

Dearly Departed

In an effort to lift my mood after yet another failed interview, I went to an estate auction that had caught my eye, as the belongs were from a recently departed socialite who was once a leading member of the fashion world. Just the thought of all the fabrics and other materials that they had gathered over the years and stored away when they left the fashion world behind had my heart racing. The rare fabrics that were no longer made, the powder dyes in colors no longer able to be found, the hand spun yarns you couldn't find in stores! Just thinking about what treasure I might find had shivers running up and down my spine!

Of course, I felt bad that someone had to pass away for these treasures to become available to those of us going to the auction, but I also felt that it was wrong to hide such treasures away from the world. I wanted to take these fabrics and materials and make things with them that would be seen in public, articles of clothing that would be worn and loved instead of hidden away from the world like something to be ashamed of. I looked at these as treasures lost to time, like some would look at finding a sunken ship and wanted to share the find with everyone they could.

Not that there were not those who would look at me like I was crazy if I actually shared these thoughts aloud, but it was fine. I would share my feelings by creating things from the fabrics and sharing those things with as much of the world as I could. Whether they took the form of clothing, stuffed animals, or even jewelry, it didn't matter. As long as someone took that item and loved it enough to show it to people, that is all that mattered.

It almost felt like walking into another world when I finally entered the auction hall, the people inside wandering about in a manner that seemed like barely contained chaos as whispered conversations blended together into a constant hum of noise. The variety of people here would be shocking to me if I hadn't seen similar before at other auctions, from the well-dressed and well-to-do of upper society to the casual dress of the blue-collar worker, even the occasional  showing of those whose appearance left you guessing as to their economic level.

At this particular auction, of course, most of those showing up either had a career in fashion or were those hoping to snag one of the more exclusive items that the dearly departed socialite had collected, from nearly priceless paintings to exotic masks, rare pottery to ancient artifacts.

There was even a statue of Thanatos, the Greek god of death, that had somehow made its way into their collection several years ago. Not an original of course, but a very well done recreation that a noted artist had crafted from marble some decades back and had been passed from collector to collector until it had been snagged up by Eva and hadn't seen the light of day until now.

Of some interest for those wanting to bid on that statue was the similarly crafted statue of Hypnos that had been crafted by the same artist just a few years before their death. Eva had claimed it to be far more whimsical than the one of Thanatos, the sculptor insisting on it having been the god himself who had modeled for the statue, but had seemed to enjoy having the pair standing to each side of the base of the stairs that lead to the upper floors of her manor. Other than herself and those she invited to her home, nobody had seen the finished statue of Hypnos, having been a personal request to the artist to have it made.

Of course, I only knew any of this because of the amount of time I tended to spend around museums to learn about the history of fashion and materials and the fact that some of my personal customers would always talk about either art or history, if not both. Not that I minded, since some of the things they talked about were really interesting and often led to new ideas.

Besides, the more I knew about these things, the easier it was to figure out what people would be more or less likely to bid on and if I had to worry about those with the most money being here for something I was interested in or if they were here for the art instead. Today, I think most of them would be here for the art, with most of the focus on the statues.