Daniella Brodsky and Caravan teamed up to make book people the new black. As a stylish read, guests to the official Style 360 Spring 2011 Starbucks-sponsored EXPRESS YOUR LOVE show featuring Caravan, Boy Meets Girl, and bobi, at New York’s Mercedez Benz Fashion Week on September 14th, received a copy of Daniella’s new novel release Vivian Rising. The idea was inspired by Daniella’s first fashion week experience, which led her to write the successful series, The Girl’s Guide to New York Nightlife: “The energy I felt at that first catwalk show—the music, the models, the makeup, the clothes, the set—was palpable. I left knowing I had to do something creative, something great. By the time I got to my subway stop, I had the idea for The Girl’s Guide. The effect was that powerful,” says Daniella. Two great worlds, better together. The New York Fashion Awards named Caravan Best Boutique in 2008.
inspiration
The role of place in fiction
Lately I’ve been pondering the importance and influence of place in fiction. When I first started out, I was living in New York City, a struggling journalist from unglamorous roots, making her way in the most glamorous scene in the world—making mistakes like drinking out of a brandy snifter and having no clue how to use a fish knife. Naturally, my fiction was inspired by this world. In my fiction, I’d tried to revisit the landscape of my childhood back then, but I hadn’t been ready to do so properly, and the draft I’d worked up felt forced and phony. I’d shelved even the topic—which, in essence a coming of age story, was certainly universal—for nearly six years before I revisited not so much the topic, but as I was to learn later, the important bit: the condensed feeling of the experience, in an abbreviated sense, in THE VELVET ROPE DIARIES. It was much easier to explore this landscape—both physically and emotionally—because I’d distanced myself from it, and this made all the difference. So, you see—distance from a place is one way you can impact your use of it.