Murder Takes a Vacation

Having agreed to let Danny give her some fashion tips, Mrs. Blossom accompanies him to the atelier of his friend, Cece. Cece immediately advises Mrs. Blossom to change her hairstyle, which she says makes no statement other than, “I’m old, don’t look at me” (52). Cece fits Mrs. Blossom with a flamboyant caftan with vertical stripes, plum-colored sleeves, and a plunging V-neckline to emphasize her cleavage. Ordering Mrs. Blossom to “respect” her creation by not “mousing” it up, Cece gives her tips on accessories before Danny takes her shopping for shoes, scarves, bangles, and sunglasses.

Curious about his sexual orientation, Mrs. Blossom asks Danny haltingly about when he first knew he liked “fashion.” He answers that his love for clothes began at age five, when he saw his Pakistani father wearing a sherwani at a wedding. His parents broke up when he was six, and he never saw his father again. Most people, Danny says, don’t realize that clothes “tell stories” about who they are or who they want to be. He tells Mrs. Blossom that her fondness for bright, flowery prints may be an unconscious way of distracting others from really looking at her—that her “invisibility” may be a choice that she makes.