As we start chatting, I find that Carly has this wonderful gift of making you forget that she’s, well, Carly Mattsson. She’s totally comfortable in her own skin, jumping into a story about how little Jude’s new favorite word is the F-bomb (“honestly, it’s better than his last favorite word: ‘won’t’!”) without an ounce of self-consciousness, and I start to feel more comfortable too. As we dig into bowls of truffle risotto with glasses of rich Burgundy, I tell her about my experience at the fashion show yesterday and Alex’s comments about my own sketches.

“I don’t know if I have it in me to be a real designer, though,” I say. “It feels like such a stretch from just me doodling in my sketchbook.”

“I get that,” Carly says. “But think of it this way. When you were a kid, singing alone in your room, dreaming of one day singing on a stage, did you ever think you’d actually become a K-pop star? I’m sure at the time that dream felt impossible. And yet, here you are.”

She’s right. I nod slowly. I’ve never thought of it that way before.

“You’re in a good position to start thinking about your own fashion line if that’s what you want,” she says. “You’re passionate and talented and you have fresh ideas, not to mention you have connections in the industry.” I cringe, thinking about the missed opportunity to make another fashion-industry contact last night, ruined by my unsticky sticky-boob. Carly doesn’t miss a beat. “What’s that face?” she laughs.

I blush and hesitantly recount the story from last night. Carly’s eyes widen when I get to the part about my weird wardrobe-malfunction-preventing dance moves, and she bursts into laughter. “Don’t laugh!” I say, laughing myself. “It was mortifying. I feel like there are all these unspoken rules in the fashion world. It’s so intimidating. I just don’t want to mess up, you know?”

“I know,” she says, her laughter fading into an understanding smile. “But the thing is, Rachel, sometimes when you look back on your biggest successes, you realize that they didn’t happen because you just sat back and did what you’re told. It’s okay to break the rules every once in a while. Life’s more fun that way.” She winks.