The Chinese synthetic of Emily’s frilled gray blouse had the faint shimmer of mother-of-pearl. Emily’s chestnut-brown hair had been done by machine, with elaborate braids and little Dickensian curls at the temple. She wore long malachite earrings and a round cameo hologram at her neck. Emily’s video image was very twenties, a modern reaction against the stark, dress-for-success look of generations of businesswomen. To Laura’s eye, the fashion suggested an antebellum southern belle filled to gushing with feminine graciousness.