Hazel Nguyen

Hazel Nguyen, a character in the Hot Couture book, is your boss and the founder of the company where you work. She is also one of your love interests. She is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
Hazel has brown eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and fair skin. She wears a pink ruffled blouse, black herringbone patterned skirt, and dangling earrings.

Personality
Hazel carries herself as calm and collected, pragmatic and methodic. Her quietness and her straight-to-the-point blunt manner can appear intimidating to others. She does not dwell on past actions and instead prefers to focus on the present and future. She values competence and punctuality. She says she wouldn't sabotage somebody else to win; she wants to succeed or fail on her own merits.

Background
Hazel's parents were Vietnamese immigrants. It is unknown what happened to her father, but when she was a child, she lived in a two-room apartment with her single mother and all her brothers. She had to lie about her age for her first jobs, and even though she made good money as a model, it was a career that her mother wouldn't have wanted for her had she be given the choice. Hazel's first apartment was one she shared with three other models, and because of its limited space, they had to endure bunk beds.

As a designer, she used a lot of Vietnamese influences in her first collection which set her apart from other designers of the time. Her first big hit was based on the ao dai, a traditional Vietnamese dress typically worn over trousers.

Hazel Boutique focused more on womenswear than menswear.

Platinum

 * Chapter 7: Can't Stop (Mentioned)

The Elementalists: Winters Past

 * Chapter 3: Silent Night (Mentioned; Determinant)

Hot Couture

 * Chapter 1: Model Behavior
 * Chapter 2: Life of the Party
 * Chapter 3: Making a Splash (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 4: In Hot Water
 * Chapter 5: Flashing Lights (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 6: It Girl (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: Ramping Up
 * Chapter 8: Benvenuto a Milano
 * Chapter 9: Sabotage
 * Chapter 10: The Devil Wears HB (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 11: Crossroads
 * Chapter 12: All Sewn Up (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 13: Bring Down the House
 * Chapter 14: Allure (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 15: City of Lights
 * Chapter 16: A Star Is Born

Bridgette Gardner
Bridgette is Hazel's right hand, the Chief Creative Officer of Hazel Boutique. All job applicants have to go through Bridgette to get to Hazel. Because Hazel trusts Bridgette to handle the day-to-day operations of the company, Hazel is unaware of many of Bridgette's underhanded tactics, such as spreading rumors about your dismissal from the company and your work ethic.

In Chapter 13, the truth of everything Bridgette had done comes to light: her firing Cleo Burbank, their highest-ranking model and the face of the company, without Hazel's explicit permission, her claiming your designs as her own for the Milan fashion show, and her threatening to blackball anyone who wants to work for you. When Bridgette is flustered, she pushes Hazel and Hazel fires her for insubordination and assault. After this, they retain a negative relationship.

Your Character
"I can't decide if your youthful enthusiasm is tiresome or invigorating."

- Hazel to You

Hazel Nguyen has been your fashion designer idol for a long time. In Chapter 1, you arrive at Hazel Boutique to interview for an internship as a fashion designer. However, Bridgette does not believe you are qualified and before she kicks you out, Marco gets you a job as a model for his photoshoot. At his fairytale photoshoot, Hazel makes an impromptu visit and assesses you. She asks Marco to get you a ticket to the Tatin party.

In Chapter 4, if you decide to stay to talk to Hazel at her beach house, she talks to you about her past with Otto and you help her clear out her home of mementos of their relationship. She gives you her earrings because they inspired her to set her own path and not let anyone control her. In Chapter 11, you talk to her about Bridgette taking credit for your designs and she tells you that she cannot set the record straight. She has the Board of Directors wanting to blame her for the Milan fiasco even though it was Otto who sabotaged them. She says that she once was like you: hotheaded, ambitious, and considered herself to be an incorruptible artist. However, as she moved higher in the industry, she found herself spending less time working with the clothes by hand but delegating the tasks so she can keep growing the company. You have the choice to quit Hazel Boutique on your own terms, which she will later tell you that she was hoping you would do, or try to stay and toughen it out. If you choose the latter, she fires you to your surprise. She tells you that she was impressed by your work, but thinks you need to spread your wings on your own.

In Chapter 15, you have the opportunity to romance Hazel and kiss her. If you do, she tells you that she is not interested in a serious or committed relationship. Either way, she decides to join your "team" to help bring your fashion to life in Paris Week. Due to the series of events - from Otto stealing her Milan designs to her firing Bridgette for insubordination and assault - Hazel Boutique's Board of Directors fired her. They did not want her to help you financially even with her own money; they did not want her to uplift competitors in the market. If she fired you in Chapter 11, she will explain that she wanted you to have the freedom to design. She respects you and your work, and you have a fire in you that she admires.

Otto Thorndyke
Years ago when Hazel was a model, she met Otto Thorndyke on a photoshoot. He was a designer, and he introduced her to many things and opened many doors for her. She got caught in his whirlwind and fell in love with him. She loved his charisma; he had a way of making her feel like the most special person in the world and they could conquer the world together. They had their honeymoon in Scotland, where they golfed and she beat him by ten strokes; he spent the whole night fuming over that.

Because both she and Otto are in the public spotlight, their divorce became a free-for-all where many people picked through it like vultures. She experienced her fair share of humiliation and exposure. When his company steals her company's designs in Milan, she says his artistic genius has reached new heights of idiocy. She knows he won't destroy her work but instead will plagiarize them for his next collection.

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.

Trivia

 * She shares the same forename as Hazel from Hero, Vol. 1 and Hazel Harris from My Two First Loves.
 * She shares the same surname as Michelle Nguyen from the Endless Summer series.
 * She is first mentioned in Chapter 7 of Platinum, foreshadowing Hot Couture's existence.
 * She also has been mentioned in a premium scene of Chapter 3 from The Elementalists: Winters Past.
 * It is mentioned in Chapter 1 that she is nearly 40 years old. Your character thinks she looks younger.
 * She attended her first World Economic Forum in Davos when she was twenty years old.
 * She studied at Central Saint Martins.
 * Hazel is a second generation immigrant. Her parents were from Vietnam.
 * She has two summer homes. One is in Saint-Tropez.
 * In Chapter 16's bonus scene, her future is unknown. She states she might go to a creative retreat in Majorca or visit the Gili Islands.