GO BLONDE OR GO HOME
Summer of 1974.

Addy: What I will start by saying is that, like Daisy Jones, I was born into a wealthy family and I used that wealth for my own good. Do I regret it? No, but I also realize there are many people out there who climbed to the top entirely of their own accord. Props to you. Really.

 I, however, took a shortcut. It's what my dad would have called using connections. And it included taking my father's phone book and calling up all the major names. Honestly, looking at it now, I don't think I'd have the guts to do it at any other age. But I was sixteen, I'd never properly been introduced to society, and I thought I ruled the world.

 [Laughs quietly.] I was at the Ford Modelling Agency's headquarters the next afternoon. Two days later, I received to sign on, in New York. I said I wanted to go to California. There was a pause on the other side of the line.

 I was sick of New York. I wanted the sun, the beach, the rockstars, Hollywood-level-glamorous life. It was L.A. or nothing. A reckless, practically useless threat. What did I have against a company like that? But I guess Sebastian liked my energy. I was on a bus to L.A. by Friday.

Sebastian Descartes (former agent, Ford Modeling Agency): What can I say? It wasn't entirely out of the good of my heart. If I wasn't being relocated to California, I probably would've dropped her right there and then. I knew she had potential, but Addy ... Addy was, at her core, very stubborn. Not in the way most people are. She wouldn't push you to the edge just for her belief. 

 It was more like if you challenged her, she'd just repeat herself softly. There was a sort of magic to the way she spoke. It was enthralling. It was warm, it was cold, it was the sort of feeling you got if you accidentally made eye contact with a model on the stage. She told me she wanted to go to L.A.

 I said sure.

Addy: Well, I like to think my mother would've been happy for me. She was a model before she got sick. The reality is Papa was probably a lot more lenient than Roslyn ever would have been.

 I'm glad. Really glad I had my dad. It was a lot later, when I'd met Billy and Graham and Daisy that I [chokes up] truly appreciated him.

 Not a lot of people have family that's present for them. I didn't have a lot of friends and the ones I had didn't really do the same. But I had Papa. It wasn't much for the sixteen-odd years I spent growing up in New York, and yet it was more than enough.

William Lovey (CEO, Lovey Inc.): People have always told me what a shame I didn't have a son to take on my company. I don't think so. But I do think it would be a shame if the world never got to know my daughter.

Addy: I didn't see Papa for a couple of months. At the time, I didn't really think about it. All I cared about was that it was summer of '74, and I was finally spending it under some actual sun.  

 The first shoots weren't anything special. Quite the opposite, actually. I was pale, dark-haired; a classic Southern Belle from up North. I spoke fast, had what I was teased for called a "twang" to my voice, and in general, didn't fit the scene. They were toned and athletic. I was just skinny and there was a difference.

 I had two choices: a) fit in, or b) stand out.

 Given my temperament, it was inevitable that I picked the second option.

Klara Kincaid (cosmetologist): I remember our first meeting so well. It's hard to forget a girl like Addy. She stumbled into my studio, with these cowboy boots and the shortest denim skirt you would've seen. Crazy combination for a crazy girl. Pretty pale, at that. I remember thinking, why the hell aren't you sunburnt? 

 Comes up to me with that Yankee accent of hers and tells me she wants to go platinum blonde. Or strawberry blonde. "Something different," she kept saying.

 Platinum blonde. Yikes. I mean ... she probably could've pulled it off. Strawberry blonde was Daisy Jones's thing. No hate to Addy, but competing with a redhead like that would've been tough even for her. Her natural hair complimented her bone structure so well that I wouldn't have done anything if she hadn't been so adamant about switching things up.

Addy: I had to be different. L.A. is the place where you go to reinvent yourself. Well, Hollywood is, but it's close enough.

Klara: I told her dirty blonde. Messy bangs. Rough, unruly, wild. Choppy. Chop, chop, chop. She flinched as I cut her hair. Before, it was this silky waterfall down to her waist. After, it was a lot more textured, I guess.

 Good call on my part is all I can say. It was nothing like Daisy's hair, or Karen's or even Camilla's. They were soft around the edges, not in a bad way. The sort of timeless, '70s look that's not perfectly feminine but beautiful nonetheless. Addy was the opposite.

 She was all edge and grit back then, and the world loved it.

Addy: I loved it. I wasn't quite California Cool, but I was definitely something.

Klara: And they loved it so much they re-created it in Girl, Interrupted nine years later. One of my proudest achievements, to this day.

Addy: Appearances were everything back then, and although I wasn't stereotypically beautiful, I was different. That counted for something.

Klara: Beautiful? Addy had all the feminine traits you could possibly want, even at sixteen. High cheekbones, sharp features, decidedly feline ... so intense. It wasn't exaggerated, or overly amplified. It was just there. Natural.

Addy: It would be nice to say I had no regrets, but a bad feeling began creeping up on me when I was told I would have to go to New York for my first runway show. Back then, Los Angeles Fashion Week wasn't really a thing. All this time, and I was still in this circle.

Sebastian: She was understandably pissed. L.A. wasn't as refined as New York, and its lack of refinement was really what brought it so much attention. It was the laid-back attitude that characterized its culture.

Addy: I did what I had to do. I went back, went to the Pierre, and walked for the Yves Saint Laurent Fall 1974 Couture Fashion Show. Klara came with me. I loved her for that.

 They tell you, go big or go home. I went to the other side of the country to be a model and I still went home. The Pierre was next door to my house. Insane. Stupid idioms.

 At least the reporters liked me.

Klara: The reporters really liked her.

[ NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE; 07/27/1974 ]

Addy: I mean, great. Sure, I was happy, you know? And maybe it was because I was still kind of a self-entitled brat when I was a teenager, or maybe it was because I still had unrealistic hopes for my career, but I. Wanted. To. Do. It. In. L.A.

Klara: I spent the rest of the summer in New York with Addy. Her father generously offered for me to stay with them. When I say generous, I mean it. It's hard, sometimes, in an industry as competitive as modelling, to get respect when you're not the person on the front page.

 It was one of the only reasons why we stayed for longer than a week in New York. She wanted to go back immediately. I asked her to remain for just a bit longer.

Addy: Okay, it wasn't that bad. Klara was the sister I never had. You know, the one who tells you about makeup and everything? Except she was actually professional so it was a thousand times better. Klara was stunning, and it was positively infuriating that she didn't realize it. Hell, she should've been a model.

 I loved her. I probably would've done anything for her. Sold my house, packed my bags and moved to Idaho, even.

 [Silence.]

 Okay, not Idaho. 

🖇 Author's Note: ahhhh, chapter one is finally done! the chapters will vary a lot in length, from 600-2000 words, based on what i feel is write. this one's purpose is really just to show you addy's personality + her early life. also, klara and addy warm my heart.

just a heads up for the story layout: there will be djats interview-style chapters like this with clips of other people talking or just as voice overs, there will also be narration/story style chapters like normal wattpad stories where we see actual videos and nothing else, maybe some text over it, and also multimedia! newspaper articles, magazine covers, etc. etc.

i hope you enjoyed it <333 please make sure to read, comment & vote and tell me all your ideas !!