I’ve been working on revisions to my women’s fiction book, trying to make it more realistic and three-dimensional. Since some of it takes place in the world of fashion, I’ve also been doing some research in the form of looking through magazines like In Style. I can now spout off some names of big designers — Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Prada, Carolina Herrara, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel…see, that wasn’t so hard, especially since I only pull out my non-big-designer dress-up clothes pretty much just for writing conferences and funerals. But there are several things that have mystified me during this research:
1. That there’s a magazine out there with more than 400 pages that has a huge percentage of those pages devoted to ads for fragrances, designers, etc. I used to work for a magazine, and it was our goal to have as little ad content as possible and be able to pay the bills.
2. That some of these models have enough energy to stay upright on their torture device high heels. Do these girls eat? I just want to say, “Hello, will you please eat something more than the lettuce leaf that is your daily diet.” They look like a good swift breeze would knock them over.
3. While I think some of the clothes in these magazines are pretty, there are a lot that just make me shake my head and wonder who buys these things. I mean, some of that stuff is just butt ugly, but because it’s got some big designer’s name on it, it’s all the rage.
Well, if I don’t totally understand the world of fashion (the people on What Not to Wear would have a field day with me), I think I have a lot of good fodder for my story, enough to make my designer heroine seem realistic. And that’s really all I was going for. I mean, unless I get a huge book deal soon, I can’t even afford to look at a Prada handbag or daydream about wearing a Vera Wang evening gown (though that would sure be cool for the Golden Heart ceremony).
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