Otto Thorndyke

Otto Thorndyke, a character in the Hot Couture book, is Hazel Nguyen's ex-husband and current adversary and rival in the fashion industry. Although he is first pictured in a magazine in Chapter 1, he first appears in person in Chapter 2.

Appearance
Otto has brown eyes, graying-blond hair, and tan skin. He keeps his facial hair in a circle beard. He wears a gold cravat tucked into a white dress shirt and prussian blue blazer with black lapels and gold floral leaf pattern.

Personality
Otto is an egomaniac and a narcissist. He is not lowkey or mysterious, and would rather be given credit for something he did or gave than remain silent. He is considered the king of the fashion world, although word in the industry is that he is less of a designer and more of a showman.

He has a reputation for dating his much younger models and dumping them when he gets bored. In reality, he has blacklisted at least two models when they dumped him instead.

Platinum

 * Chapter 7: Can't Stop (Mentioned)

Hot Couture

 * Chapter 1: Model Behavior
 * Chapter 2: Life of the Party
 * Chapter 3: Making a Splash (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 4: In Hot Water (Off-Screen)
 * Chapter 5: Flashing Lights (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: Ramping Up (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 8: Benvenuto a Milano
 * Chapter 9: Sabotage
 * Chapter 10: The Devil Wears HB (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 11: Crossroads (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 12: All Sewn Up (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 13: Bring Down the House
 * Chapter 14: Allure
 * Chapter 15: City of Lights
 * Chapter 16: A Star Is Born

Hazel Nguyen
Otto is Hazel's ex-husband and ex-business partner. They had created Hazel Boutique together as Hazel handled the design half and Otto handled the business half of the company. Their divorce was bitter, as he started a rival label, Tatin, afterwards and tried to poach all of Hazel Boutique's employees. Now his company is just as big as Hazel Boutique.

From their rivalry, it is unclear if he truly hates Hazel or is just a fierce competitor and wants her to fail. In Chapter 9, he sabotages her chances at Milan Fashion Week by bribing the Italian customs office to hold her shipments and give them to him, with the intent of using her designs for his company in the future. He reasons that it is just a part of their competition, but Hazel tells you that she would never stoop to his level.

In Chapter 16, at the end of the Paris awards ceremony, Hazel tells him that he never really loved her, that she was just good for his collection of pretty objects. She believes all his betrayal and sabotage of her company has made that clear. For a moment, he looks remorseful but he does not say anything and she walks away.

Your Character
You meet Otto for the first time at his Tatin party in Chapter 2. He tries to use you as an example to Hazel but you shoot down his hypothetical job offer and anger him slightly. In Chapter 8, when you go to Tatin's Milan venue to look around, he invites you inside and gives you a tour. He makes comments about Hazel's impeding failure, leading you and Travis McKenzie to question him about it. He admits to delaying Hazel's shipments to Milan and even if you try to plead with his past feelings towards his ex-wife, he tells you that it's just part of being competitors.

In Chapter 13, he attends your Open House in New York and comes to see you in your apartment afterwards. He offers you a contract with Tatin to showcase your designs at his venue in Paris. Later, he sends Isak & Kasi with bribes to tempt you into accepting.

Trivia

 * His character model resembles Mac Hornby from Veil of Secrets.
 * Otto originally hails from South Africa. He still has family there, who he introduced to Hazel when they first became engaged.
 * Otto is over 44 years old. It is mentioned that when he and Hazel divorced, he was 44 years old and went on to date a 19 year-old model. It is not clear when they divorced, but is assumed to be at least several years ago since he created Tatin afterwards, grew it to become a big name in fashion, and won the last few straw polls during Milan Fashion Week.
 * He wrote an autobiography.
 * His pink tiger-striped checkbook is considered infamous as it is used to keep everyone under his thumb.
 * One of Otto's mansions is in the village of Larchmont.