I remember my first gold medal winner. My first world record holder. First prisoner of war, first best-selling author.
They were guests, targets if you want, I’d hoped to tick off during the passage of some unspecified time frame. The thing is, the things you plan and prepare for – sometimes they work out and other times they don’t.
Come to think of it, it was professional dancer Gordana Grandosek-Whiddon who told me, “Not everything we plan happens, so live day by day and enjoy life.”
An important mantra because one thing I can tell you for certain: I never foresaw an instance when two of my guests would come into contact in an entirely serendipitous manner. Call it fate if you will, or just plain old coincidence. Either way, when award-winning fashion designer Luke Archer, a previous guest of mine, ran a competition for one of his exclusive, one-of-a-kind designs, the chances that our #RoadtoRio star Esther would be the one among more than two-thousand Twitter entrants to win it at the very least deserves a mention.
And what better starting point than the dress itself.
“The rare embossed fabric that the dress was constructed out of,” Luke tells me, “I had it a very long time, around six years before I did anything with it. The baccara dress was constructed in 2014 at my studio in Hertfordshire, England, and first appeared in the campaign promoting our autumn/winter sample sale. It is one of a kind and truly limited edition.”
There’s plenty more I could say on the twist of providence which brought two of my guests together, and I’d love to put myself in the role of fate-maker, but on the latter: I had nothing to do with it so can claim no such accolade; and of the former? Well, there are times when a good writer knows when to shut up. Alright you harsh bunch, a writer who aspires to be good. In any case, I shall hereby let the pictures, which Esther kindly sent me, do the talking. Out.
My sincere thanks once again to my most frequently featured guest, Esther Akihary, as well as the fabulously talented designer Luke Archer. Thanks also to John Silk, CEO of Luke Archer Limited, for his input and support.
Stay tuned for our next Road to Rio installment with Esther..
Images copyright Peter van Nobelen, used with kind permission.