Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview.
Today’s guest for the WHAT is Tessa Arlen, author of A Dress of Violet Taffeta, a sumptuous novel based on the fascinating true story of La Belle Époque icon Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon, who shattered the boundaries of fashion with her magnificently sensual and enchantingly unique designs.
Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?
Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon has been with me for the last thirteen years: since I wrote my first published book, the Lady Montfort mystery series, set in Edwardian England. In Vita Sackville-West’s novel The Edwardians Lucy was mentioned obliquely as “That woman who owns a shop.” She was also referred to as a social climber because she married “up” an unforgiveable sin in England’s rigid class divide; criticized by haughty society hostesses for her scandalous divorce; and later, when she became a success, was branded as the woman who refused to go back to help the drowning Titanic survivors by the British press. She sounded like the average arrogant aristocrat’s wife. How wrong I was!
All this changed when I saw an exhibition of Lucy’s label: Lucile Ltd. at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Coming in from a cold and dreary February afternoon Lucy’s stunning gowns lit up the day! They gleamed in such an extraordinary way that it wasn’t until I was up close that I realized that Lucy’s gauzy silk layers were delicately embellished with tiny, beaded embroidery, cobwebs of lace, true lovers’ knots and garlands of minute handmade silk flowers. Her use of color was so subtle that the delicacy of the detail could scarcely be seen at a distance, though the effect was a faint shimmer. Each dress of alive with color! Lucy even gave names to her favorites: Passion Flower’s First Kiss; The Sigh of Lips Unsatisfied and a glorious dress designed for a debutante: Happiness. These were not the grand gowns of the House of Worth or Paquin. They were every bit as elegant, but gloriously feminine. There was wit and playfulness in Lucy’s designs—they were both sophisticated and light-hearted. They whisked me away from the burdens of our speedy high-tech lives back to a time when the rich led a life of leisure, and women changed their ‘costumes’ four or five times a day. Of course, I had to write about this woman.
Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?
I had the V&A’s illustrated book Lucile Ltd which detailed the way she made her clothes and her slow progression to success, and it was in her journey to become a top couturiere that I formed the beginning of a plot.
Lucy would never have designed a single solitary dress as a professional if she had not been abandoned by her alcoholic husband (he ran off with a pantomime dancer) leaving her almost destitute with a five year old daughter. She had made doll’s clothes when she was a little girl—the envy of her playmates. And she had designed and made her sister’s wedding dress and her own clothes, but she was from the upper-middle class so there was no reason at all for her to make her own living. Trade was for the lower classes and the upper-middles were flawless at aping their betters, so when she became destitute her life changed completely.
A Dress of Violet Taffeta is a riches-to-rags-to-riches story. I saw Lucy’s supposed ruthless ambition (a woman’s success must have stuck very hard in the Edwardian craw) as the driven need to support her child; her so-called arrogance as the confidence of a woman who has pulled off her plan to survive and who found joy and purpose in her originality and creativity. I imagined how a woman in 1893 might begin to achieve building a business in the cut-throat male dominated world of fashion when it was Paris that rich Americans flocked to for their wardrobes. Lucy had the courage to be inventive, to give women the clothes they wanted for a new, modern 20th century.
The story is shown from two POVs, that of Lucy and her scullery maid, Celia (the only servant Lucy could afford to keep) who represents a young woman in her career whose practicality and ability to do math, helped Lucile Ltd. achieve such massive success. Celia provides us with insights into the sweat labor of the ‘rag-trade’ and the plight of the many have-nots in Edwardian society, and Lucy shows us the truly sad dilemma of uneducated women ill-prepared for independence or a useful life.
Lucy reaches dizzying success: opening salons in London, New York and finally Paris, marries again this time to a man who adores and supports her, and then it all comes crashing down with the sinking of the Titanic and the British Board of Trade Inquiry that followed it. I wanted to show Lucy’s resilience, loyalty and spirit under public criticism and false accusations, so the denouement is about recovery.
Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?
The plots usually stay put once I have mapped them out. It’s how we get there that changes. If I am writing about a real life person I try to keep the facts available to me accurate. But the way my characters interact, the power they have to impact the plot often changes. I hope that the reader will see my characters develop over the arc of the story.
Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?
My agent would tell you that I am teaming with ideas! I am always ready with several when we have our what’s-next chats. It is my job to have the ideas and it is Kevan Lyon’s, job to tell me which ones will appeal. I am fascinated by British history, love to read and there are so many women who did so many remarkable things (for their time) that I don’t have enough years to write their stories.
How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?
I just choose my favorite ideas and pitch to my wonderful agent, and then she helps me decide which way to go! I take my time when I write, so I am only comfortable writing one book at a time. As I wait for edits that is when I mull over what’s next.
I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?
Wow—six cats! I bet your Dalmatian is well behaved and respectful!
I have two corgis. Corgis are a herding breed so they are bossy and opinionated. They are with me all the time I am at home and in the garden, so I have to put up with a lot of instructions (barking) enthusiastic love (jumping on my lap) and demands for walks (intense staring). Sometime they alert bar:, sharp, loud and long, which jumps me out of my inner world, and I would truly love to strangle them. But I can’t imagine my life without my dog-companions. The writer, Edith Wharton, referred to her little dog as “The heartbeat at my feet.”
Tessa Arlen is the author of the critically acclaimed Lady Montfort mystery series—Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman was a finalist for the 2016 Agatha Award Best First Novel. She is also the author of Poppy Redfern: A Woman of World War II mystery series. And the author of the historical fictions; In Royal Service to the Queen and A Dress of Violet Taffeta. Tessa lives in the Southwest with her family and two corgis where she gardens in summer and writes in winter.