Review: DRIVE by Stephanie Fournet
I have loved everything I’ve read from Stephanie Fournet, and DRIVE did not disa[...]
Please give a warm welcome to Cara Elizabeth Vescio! She’s stopping by today as part of her blog tour for Elegantly Wasted to share about the fashion of the Wasted Series! Check out her post below, and then be sure to enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter for a chance to win 1 of 3 prize packs!
Elegantly Wasted (Wasted #1)
by C. Elizabeth Vescio
On the eve of her high school graduation, proper socialite Francesca “Frankie” Fairholm rebelled against her elitist and controlling family to pursue the dark lifestyle of a contract killer for the enigmatic Osiris Corporation. Years later, with her training complete, she believes she’s doomed to the life of a sociopathic lone gun until a botched hit brings two unlikely allies, her cousins Addison and Katharine.
Using Katharine’s etiquette school, Elegance, Inc., as a front, the trio weave through Frankie’s dark underworld, carrying out contracts, drinking too much wine, and trying not to get each other killed.
Trouble follows the team home when the death of the cruel Fairholm matriarch reveals more than they ever wanted to know about their family. As the funeral preparations play out, the trio begin to realize there is much more to their employer than meets the eye and their family connections run deeper than they ever imagined.
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Killer Fabulous: Using Fashion in Fiction
by C. Elizabeth Vescio
Killer fashion is a term I take quite literally. While I write about guns, action and death, I have a need to make it all look as good as possible. Label dropping and characters with an endearing shallowness for designer brands is an undertone in my books. It’s a high fashion, high stakes kind of ride.
Whether or not you like the dynamic of high-end fashion, it’s an interesting world in which to immerse yourself. It’s fun to imagine, even when you know you could be spending your money on charity instead of Fendi. Would I drop two grand on a purse, even if I had that spare change just laying around? No. Yes… well, maybe. I do have my share of items I’ve spent too much on. Even now, with vintage coming back so fiercely, and hipster style taking over- it’s still a decent chunk of change. I think the easier approach was to make my characters care about it more that I would. Much cheaper for me and I still live a bit of the dream.
In my novels Elegantly Wasted and Uncontrollably Wasted, the contract killing agency uses a grammar and etiquette school as a front. This school is run by the main character’s cousin, Katharine Fairholm (pictured). Kat regards style, grace and class as the most important social aspects in life. She’s also a raging alcoholic and helps her cousin, Francesca, kill people on weekends, but at least she has some standards.
The character of Kat led me back to the wannabe fashionista I keep locked up. I took to Pinterest to put together a world of fashion. As an author, Pinterest is the perfect place to storyboard your characters. I divided my fashion into two groups: the contract killers and the Fairholms. Both have good taste in clothes. This helped me out in character development because there was no limit to what I could dress them in. It’s like playing grown up dolls… if my dolls were elitist alcoholics hiding a contract killer or two in their family.
I found myself browsing department store websites and putting together full outfits for fun. What would these characters wear to work? The outfit pictured can be bought online at Neiman Marcus.
As I put these graphics together, it led me to research styles, colors and trends… I felt that combining the two worlds of fashion and underworld espionage isn’t necessarily new, but would add the intrigue and depth I wanted in a story. You look nice, you dress fancy, and you kill people. It’s elegance and class with a gun.
About the Author
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Author C. Elizabeth Vescio likes to play in the dark world of cynicism and death. Her first novel, Elegantly Wasted touched on the demented and humorous side of a delightfully dysfunctional family.
She enjoys cynical debates, cupcakes, making her mother-in-law sew her aprons that she never wears, zombies, the Fifth Element and Tomb Raider. She gathers her life inspirations from Neil Gaiman, Julia Child and Paul Simon. When she isn’t out photographing her next project, she’s studying color, concept and design or writing stuff down in hopes it makes sense one day… or she’s on Pinterest.
She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and three dogs.
Many thanks to Cara for having me as part of the Elegantly Wasted Blog Tour!
Giveaway
Tour Schedule
Monday, February 10th – Wine, Books & Fringe
Wednesday, February 12th – The Best Books Ever
Friday, February 14th – Midwest Galley Girl
Monday, February 17th – Cloey’s Book Reviews
Wednesday, February 19th – Mythical Books
Friday, February 21st – Crystal in Bookland
Monday, February 24th – Paper Charade
Wednesday, February 26th – A Book and a Latte
Friday, February 28th – Aspiring Joy
Thank you for having me on the blog! Love it! <3
Why is it that all the bad girls get all the great accessories? Hmmm, maybe I should change my ways LOL!
Fun fashion items for the character