Title: What Might Have Been
Genre: Literary fiction/women’s fiction
Author: Lynn Steward
Website: www.LynnSteward.com
As a fashion buyer at one of New York’s most glamorous department stores, Dana McGarry is a tastemaker, her keen instinct for fashion trends and innovative ideas coupled with a razor sharp business sense. But like the elegant and conservative store that employs her, Dana is caught between two eras—between being liked and standing her ground, between playing by the rules and being a maverick. Dana is sensitive and beautiful, but what you see is not what you get. Behind the cool and attractive facade, Dana is both driven by her need to control yet impeded by her expectation of perfectionism. As she competes to replace women at the top of their game, she is challenged by jealous colleagues. And when a wealthy love interest wants to open doors and support her ambition, she embraces Coco Chanel’s mantra of “never wanting to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” As the women’s movement paves the way, Dana finds a path to the career she wants at the expense of happiness that was not meant to be.
Steward captures the nuances of 70s life in New York City and provides the perfect backdrop for an independent woman determined to make her mark. What Might Have Been is a story that transcends any period.
Fashion Industry – makes and breaks women. Your take on the not so glamourous side of the industry.
I think the industry has always been competitive and challenging for both men and women, more so today than ever. It all begins with the designer, and now that everything is evaluated quickly in the world of social media, it’s difficult to stay ahead of the curve. A designer gets reviews on-line during fashion week, before the clothes are in the stores, and a trend is born. Bloggers are the new fashion directors, a position that was created in the mid-1970s in department stores, but is either being redefined today or eliminated. The financial pressures are great for retailers and manufacturers and a few bad seasons can put a company out of business. Many stores and design houses are now owned by corporate luxury groups and while these companies keep the business afloat during bad times, the pressure on individuals to perform is great.
Lynn Steward, a veteran of the New York fashion industry and a buyer on the team that started the women’s department at Brooks Brothers, created the Dana McGarry series, set at a transformational time in the 1970s world of fashion and in the lives of multigenerational women. What Might Have Been is the second volume in the series. A Very Good Life, Steward’s debut novel, was published in March 2014.
LynnSteward.com
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Twitter: @LynnStewardNY
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