Chapter 76: Fashion Show

At 9:30, Bai Ruojiao arrived at the conference room on time.

The same location, the same group of people, but this time, everyone’s mood was different from last time.

Over the past week, Bai Ruojiao had basically been given the green light all the way, because everyone had a bit of expectation in their hearts.

And today was the day to see if it was successful.

Moreover, this event would also determine whether the Commodity Department’s work could continue to unfold smoothly in the future.

So, today was crucial.

Bai Ruojiao walked in with a stack of documents. She greeted everyone first, then handed out the documents to everyone.

“These are the designs and introductions for the first batch of clothes. You can take a look first.”

Everyone opened the cover of the document. Many people started to frown when they saw the designs for the first time.

There were a total of five sets of clothes in the first batch, all in different styles: two men’s and three women’s.

The first page was one of the women’s dresses.

It was a gray and white color-blocked dress with half a cloud pattern embroidered on the waist.

It looked a bit like a Russian cheongsam, but there were very obvious differences. It looked quite nice.

It was just a bit visually jarring, making it difficult for everyone to adapt to it at first.

Bai Ruojiao observed everyone’s expressions one by one, remembering their reactions.

Factory Director Liu was also looking at the documents. Although he had already seen them yesterday, he was clearly still satisfied.

The first batch of clothes would be tested in the domestic market first to build a reputation, so they were all designed according to the style and characteristics of Chinese people.

Factory Director Liu asked, “What about the sample clothes? Did you bring them? Let everyone take a look.”

Bai Ruojiao stood up, “Yes.” She stood up and opened the door to the conference room.

“Clothes, whether presented on paper or laid out on a table, can’t fully showcase their best effect. So, we’ve invited a few comrades to be models.”

Everyone was stunned. What models? What was going on?

Then they heard Bai Ruojiao start to introduce them.

“First, we have our first dress.”

As she spoke, a tall and slender young woman stepped into the conference room.

It was probably her first time seeing so many leaders. Even though she had prepared herself for a long time, she still hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath. Under Bai Ruojiao’s guidance, she walked a few steps along the white wall, turned around, and then stood still.

Everyone’s eyes followed the woman’s movements, filled with amazement and surprise.

The dress was basically the same as the one in the drawing, but it looked much better when worn.

The dress reached her calves. It was made of single-sided khaki fabric, which had a good drape. The lower skirt was made in a pleated style, with a white and gray dotted lace trim at the bottom, creating a sense of layering and adding a bit of flexibility, preventing it from looking too rigid.

The cloud embroidery in the center of the waist made the waist look thinner.

The top was also gray, ending at the shoulders.

The collar was white with gray dots and lace trim. The sleeves were slightly puffed, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, made of Dacron fabric, with hidden cloud embroidery.

The cuffs were gray khaki fabric, and the buttons were also gray fabric buttons in the same color scheme.

The whole dress looked elegant and dignified, yet trendy.

“My daughter would definitely love this dress.” The director of the Women’s Federation chuckled. Looking at the dress, she seemed to like it quite a bit, as if she wanted to buy one for her daughter immediately.

Many others nodded in agreement.

Bai Ruojiao chuckled, “The charm of this dress lies in its ability to be worn by people of different age groups and still look good.”

She then invited two more women to come in.

The first to enter was a teenage girl, while the other two were women in their twenties and forties.

All three wore the same dress, and their body shapes were similar, but the effect was different.

The teenage girl wearing it looked youthful and vibrant. The woman in her twenties, perhaps due to her personality and temperament, looked dignified and intellectual, with an elegant and refined air.

The woman in her forties, surprisingly, was not inferior to the first two. Instead, she exuded a dignified elegance, making her look even younger.

The director of the Women’s Federation, who had spoken earlier, immediately had bright eyes and straightened her back. She carefully examined the dress.

The expression on her face suggested she was imagining what she would look like wearing it.

As Bai Ruojiao had said before, everyone has a love for beauty.

In the conference room, the female leaders were basically all moved.

This showed the success of the dress.

Bai Ruojiao was not a professional designer, so she couldn’t design something truly unique.

The dresses she chose were all things she had seen in her past life, combined with the current time period and national conditions.

To be on the safe side, she chose some popular styles from the 1980s in her past life, styles that were popular abroad. This way, when they went international, it wouldn’t look too out of place.

With the success of the first dress, everyone was interested in the next four.

Factory Director Liu immediately asked Bai Ruojiao to show the next one.

The second dress was also for women. The top was a dark blue shirt with a stand-up collar and loose, puffed sleeves. It was similar to the shirts of the time, but it looked more outstanding.

The pants were like women’s casual suit pants from her past life, made of cotton silk fabric, with a good drape. The waist was designed to be high-waisted.

It was a simple combination, but it looked particularly refreshing and elegant, making people’s eyes light up.

This outfit also had different ways of being worn by different age groups. It was just that the colors and styles of the pants and top were different, but the effect was still very good.

The third outfit was for men. It was a modified version of the current Zhongshan suit, incorporating the slim fit and formality of a suit, but the different fabric made it less rigid. It was suitable for almost any age group.

The fourth outfit was also for men, but it was a set suitable for young people, a popular style in the West at the time: flared jeans paired with a cotton long-sleeved T-shirt.

The fifth outfit was a women’s mid-length coat, with khaki fabric on the outside and corduroy on the inside. It was similar to the one she had given to Old Lady Xie, but it had been refined and improved.

After seeing all five outfits, many people showed interest.

Of course, there were still some who held conservative opinions.

“The clothes are indeed good, but there’s still that problem. How can we make the people accept them in a short time and create widespread consumption?”

The first to raise the question was Deputy Director Wang.

Bai Ruojiao saw that he always looked at Deputy Director Zhang when he spoke, so she smiled, “We’ve already finalized the sales plan, but we’ll keep you in suspense for now. We can guarantee that within three days, the factory will receive at least one thousand orders.”

She was helpless. Over the past week, she had basically figured out the power dynamics in the factory.

To give her the green light, Factory Director Liu had arranged for Deputy Director Zhang to be in charge.

But everything has two sides.

The three deputy directors were the closest to the factory director’s position. Once the factory director retired or was transferred, one of them would likely become the next factory director.

So, at this time, they were all on opposing sides. Whoever’s achievements were greater would inevitably cause an imbalance in the situation.

That’s why Deputy Director Wang was constantly picking flaws and finding fault.