average american beauty

Caroline thought about it for a few days and finally decided to learn tennis.

There are not many sports methods now, and the sports that can be chosen by women are even rarer.

Caroline dared to say that if she went to the street in front of the apartment for a few laps every morning as a morning jog, she would be regarded as a different kind by the neighbors within two weeks.

And tennis, a sport that originated in the back garden of the French court, became popular in Europe after being re-improved by the British, and is now popular in the New World, has both the characteristics of fashion and sports.

On the whole, this sport is the most suitable for Caroline's current needs.

After all, she is no longer a child who chooses "interest sports". If a sport can not only exercise the body, but also be beneficial to work, and let her have a fashionable topic with customers in the future, she has no reason to refuse.

After setting her goals, Caroline first asked in her circle of friends.

But unfortunately, none of her close friends are good at this sport.Francis does have some superficial knowledge, which belongs to the level of being able to play, but if he is asked to teach Caroline, it will be a bit embarrassing for him.

"If you want to learn tennis, let me introduce you to a place," Ms. Green said to Caroline after she reported to her office one day.

"Do you also play tennis?" Caroline asked in surprise, and then she remembered that the lady in front of her was once a famous figure in the social circle of Chicago's high society, and it was only natural that she knew how to play tennis, a popular sport.

Ms. Green introduced Caroline to a tennis court.

Ms. Green, to be precise, is the former Mr. Meisi, one of the funders of this course, but Ms. Green herself has not been here for several years.

In order not to miss others, she only sent someone to contact the couple in charge of the tennis court this time, and asked them to take care of Caroline.

"I've already told them that you can go there whenever you have time in the future, as long as you don't delay your work." At this point, Ms. Green blinked her green eyes, with a sly look,

"I remember there were teachers and sparring partners, but you can go with the Koley kids so you don't get bored by yourself"

Caroline thanked Ms. Green with a pursed smile.

On Sunday, Caroline and Francis took a carriage to the semi-private tennis court Ms. Green introduced.

This tennis court is located in the northwest of the city, far from the city center.It is said that it was designed for everyone's short-term vacation at that time. The environment is quiet, the venue is also large, and there is a hotel inside where you can rest and eat.

Both Caroline and Francis came here for the first time. Because Ms. Green said hello in advance, they reported their names after getting off the car, and the guide directly took them into the venue.

The usher walked around several tennis courts and led two people to the reception first.

When passing by the venue, Caroline made a special observation.

At a glance, there are about a dozen or 20 people on the field, about half male and half male, some are playing, and some are chatting together in twos and threes.

Most of the men wear single shirts and trousers, while most of the women still wear long skirts that almost reach the ground when they are exercising, and the shirt collars generally cover half of the neck.

Judging from the body shape, most of the women are even wearing corsets and bustles, and more than one woman has a hat with complicated decorations on her head, which looks very tiring.

Among the women on the field, only two were fighting, and their faces could not be seen clearly from a distance. They were about a pair of teenage girls. They were wearing tennis sailor uniforms with flat collars and long sleeves, and the skirts were slightly shorter, reaching around the ankles.

A girl with her hair in two braids was bouncing in front of her as she moved, and the other wore a narrow-brimmed hat with a streamer on her head.

Caroline wore relatively simple clothes for exercising today, but the long-sleeved dress still made her feel inconvenient enough.

But looking at the dresses of the ladies present, in comparison, what I wore was the lightest except for those two girls.

Ms. Green's friend and his wife were not here today, so Caroline followed the guide and invited a female tennis teacher at the reception.

The "tuition fees" here are not cheap. Teachers and sparring partners are charged by the hour, and the price of one hour can catch up with the income of ordinary salaried people for two days, not counting tips.But for those who come to this tennis court, this tuition fee may not be a big deal.

A few years ago, Caroline couldn't have imagined that she would come to this kind of place, but these are no longer a burden for her now, not to mention that the stadium gave her an extra discount, she only needs to pay the teacher's salary can.

Therefore, her current plan is that if she can spare time at work, she will come here every Sunday afternoon to study and practice, and usually do indoor exercises by herself.

The teacher Caroline hired was a few years older than her. After understanding her learning needs, she patiently taught her some basic movements, and then asked her to go to Caochangdi to try more.

"I feel like I don't know anything yet," Caroline smiled wryly, reviewing the movements just now, and waved the beat in her hand.

Today's rackets don't look the same as those of later generations. They are not oval, but pointed at the top and bottom, and the elasticity is not very good.

However, running around really increased the amount of exercise. After a while, she was sweating all over, and then her body gradually felt tired, and she felt that the long skirt on her body was getting heavier and heavier.

While Caroline was resting on the edge of the court, two girls from the adjacent court hit the ball to Caroline's side.Because the elasticity of the grass field is not very strong, the ball rolled all the way to her feet after bouncing.

After Caroline picked up the ball, she looked intently and recognized one of the two girls, Rebecca, the youngest daughter of the Favova family, who is sixteen or seventeen years old.She is also a special member of Meisi, the younger sister of Ms. Fawohua, the soul of the Chicago social circle.

She smiled politely at the approaching Rebecca, and then, at the gesture of the other party, raised her hand and threw the ball into the other party's arms.

"Hi, thank you. I'm Rebecca." Rebecca didn't go back to her original position after receiving the ball, but walked over to greet Caroline with a smile.

"You're welcome, I'm Caroline." Caroline was a little surprised, but responded naturally.

"I know you, we met at Meisi Department Store." Rebecca shook the racket lightly, "We will have a chance to play together in the future."

Caroline smiled.

When Rebecca returned to her field, her classmate ran around the net,

"Rebecca, why did you go to talk to her?"

"Why can't I talk to her?" Rebecca asked indifferently as she patted the ball with her racket.

"I've seen her too, she's Eve Green's assistant, you know, Eve Green! My mother said..."

Rebecca frowned and interrupted her friend, "You're always like this, every time you talk about yearning to be a new woman every day at school, and then start 'my mother said' as soon as you go home. Okay, play."

The other girl pursed her lips, and felt that Rebecca was right, her own thoughts were always changing.

Caroline was naturally unaware of this conversation.She was so exhausted after an afternoon of "workout" that when she got out of the carriage and entered the apartment, she felt that she could hardly climb the stairs.

However, the thoughts in her mind turned quickly, and she ran to Ms. Green's office the next day, "Ms. Green, do you think we should consider making sportswear and sports underwear?"

"The clothing that everyone wears when exercising is too restrictive, and sooner or later we will face improvement. Now that we have our own factory and design department, maybe we can consider this aspect?"

Ms. Green looked at the somewhat excited Caroline, put the teacup in her hand on the table, and smiled, "I thought so too. But before you get so excited, you might as well listen to what I said before What happened in women's tennis."

"Tennis seems to be popular, but in fact, there are only a small group of women who participate in this sport. It has been less than ten years since the establishment of the Wimbledon women's tennis court in the UK.

There have been precedents of female contestants passing out after exercising in hot weather wearing long skirts and corsets.You know what the newspapers said after it happened?

They're not saying that women's sportswear should be improved, they're saying that women are too fragile to play full court. "

Ms. Green finished the story in a very relaxed tone, and then raised her eyebrows slightly to watch Caroline's reaction.

Caroline was indeed calmed by the story.

But the actual experience on the tennis court, as well as seeing the girls who started to wear convenient clothes on the court yesterday, made Caroline feel the first signs of "change".

In the past, when Caroline first wrote a popular fashion article, she was full of enthusiasm, but like a stone thrown into deep water, it did not bring out a wave.

Indeed, my own influence is too small, and I can do too little.

But now, she is more capable and understands the society better than ever.And Meisi now also has the ability to design and produce clothing.

Ms. Caroline and Green came up with this idea not to want to be the vanguard of changing the trend of the times.

But as long as her actions can help realize the future she misses a little bit earlier, she thinks it's worth it.After all, change does not happen overnight, but a steady flow.

And she believes that since she already knows the general development direction and results of the clothing field in the future, it is also a very worthwhile opportunity to take a tentative step at the early stage of discovering the possibility, make some small investments, and seize the opportunity.

Ms. Green did not support Caroline's proposal at the time, but told her to go back and think about it.

But when Caroline really made a detailed planning plan and even provided a series of sketches for the design of women's improved sportswear, Ms. Green still explained to Mr. Vincent and asked him to fully cooperate in this matter. Caroline's try.

Because the audience of sportswear is small after all, the first batch of improved sportswear is not large, and it is made for the women's clothing counter customers of Meisi Department Store. Caroline also knows that she can only try slowly at present, so she has no plan to promote it. Activity.

This batch of sportswear is still all designed with skirts, while adding some fashion elements.There are both split skirts and dresses.

Unlike ordinary women's clothing, all skirts are only as long as the ankle or calf.

At the same time, only one layer of lining is added to the hem of the skirt to minimize the weight of the hem of the skirt and the obstruction during movement while ensuring that no light is transmitted.

For the upper body design of each garment, Caroline also matched the customer with different sizes, buckled and padded camisoles under the jacket.These small vests imitating sports bras have been modified and adjusted repeatedly to achieve the most basic effect Caroline wants.

"Caroline, with all due respect, this kind of clothing can't shape the body at all," Charlotte said worriedly after checking the finished product of the improved sportswear brought by Caroline.

"These clothes are designed to be light and easy to move around." Caroline lightly shook Charlotte's hand to reassure her.

"You can refer to the recommendation words I said before, and let's make targeted recommendations."

"The target customers of improved sportswear are young women who love outdoor activities and are willing to accept new things. At the same time, any customers who mention outdoor sports when purchasing clothing can also recommend them," Charlotte said quickly.

"Also, if customers feel that this kind of sportswear is not suitable for wearing in public sports occasions, then we can also recommend it as family sportswear for private use." After finishing speaking, Caroline put her hands together and said with a smile in her eyes.

"In the process of recommending and communicating with customers, I ask you to pass on the opinions and impressions of these sportswear obtained from customers, whether good or bad."

The tracksuit sales didn't go well at first, with only Caroline buying a set for herself in the first week to wear to tennis practice.

The clothes have been placed in the women's clothing counter for nearly a month, and few people care about them, and only one set has been sold.

Until later, the little girl Rebecca met Caroline again on the tennis court, and expressed great interest in the improved sportswear she was wearing.

After Rebecca bought it, although many customers said that they would only wear it for private outdoor occasions, more and more customers finally considered buying it.

Half a year later, when the sales statistics of the first batch of improved sportswear were sold out, Caroline found that after deducting all the costs of this batch of clothing, they were almost breaking even.Although it is not too successful, after all, new things must be accepted slowly, and Caroline herself is not in a hurry.

She was grateful to Ms. Green for giving her the opportunity to try, and she knew that Ms. Green's wishes shared hers in this regard.

But she was secretly glad that she didn't lose money to Ms. Green.

Such high-quality sportswear that requires a lot of handwork is actually quite troublesome to make. Although Meisi continues to produce and sell it in the future, the quantity has been just enough to supply the women's clothing counter.

After all, the main product of Meisi's self-operated clothing factory is still mass-produced clothing for selected stores.

However, a certain follow-up development is something that everyone did not expect when they first launched the sportswear.

The padded camisole worn with activewear is actually somewhat like a bra.Later, it was proved that it is very suitable for working women to wear in shirts in summer. It can not only effectively prevent nakedness, but also support and protect the chest to a certain extent.

Therefore, after discussing with Ms. Green, Caroline later set up an underwear counter exclusively for female customers in the clothing section of the Youyou store, selling "affordable women's underwear".

In fact, ordinary women don't usually wear corsets, but there are also various homemade underwear substitutes, just like Caroline's own improved corsets in the past.

However, these underwear launched by Meisi Youdian are well-made, beautifully designed, and available in different sizes and models, and the price is not too expensive, so it is reasonable that they have become a very popular product series in Youyou Store.

Although after a period of relative leisure, Caroline's work became busy again because of sportswear and later women's underwear projects, but unless there were special circumstances, she always insisted on going to the tennis court for sports training every Sunday afternoon, usually at home Will also consciously do some physical training.

By the spring of the following year, although Caroline could not play a full court, she could already confidently say that she knew how to play tennis.

The more proficient she gets at tennis, the happier Caroline is that she chose the sport.When you are bored at work, finding someone to play basketball is really a good way to relieve your emotions.

In addition to practicing against Francis, she would occasionally be invited to the court by familiar Meisi regulars, which was dubbed "tennis social" by Ms. Green.

"You seem to be in particularly good shape this year?"

On this day, Ms. Green looked at Caroline's energetic appearance every day recently, and joked.He handed over the investigation report sent by his own people from New York to Caroline.

The author has something to say:

Remarks:

(1) Reference for the short story mentioned by Ms. Green: "Women's Tennis in History:..." EMMACUETO, Feb.19,2016, [-]

(2) Women's tennis uniforms became short-sleeved short skirts. Around 1920, the French athlete Suzanne Lenglun began to wear this way in the competition. There are still [-] years left, and Kaka will not be able to catch up with this trend.So let's improve our costumes a little bit, anyway, we are also the heroines of Jinjiang...