2023, The Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Costume conservator Sylvia Early is preparing The Hollywood Glamour Exhibition at the Smithsonian, featuring costumes from famous movies from the 1920s to present day. As she gingerly places the gown that is to be the centerpiece of the show on a mannequin, she discovers another name beneath the label, leaving her to wonder - who is Zora Lily?   1924, Seattle: Poverty stricken twenty-one-year-old Zora Hough sits beside her mother every day in their candle-lit ramshackle house, looking after her younger siblings and sewing up holes and fixing hems for clients to bring in extra money. By day Zora works her fingers to the bone just to survive, but at night, as she lies in the bed she shares with one of her three sisters, she imagines what it would be like to have the freedom of choice. She secretly dreams of becoming a designer like Coco Chanel and Jeanne Lanvin and finding a place for herself in the