If Marilyn R. Wilson's closet could talk, it would tell some fascinating tales.
She estimates about three quarters of her wardrobe is comprised of garments created by designers she has either met or interviewed in the 10 years she has been writing about fashion. For Wilson, a Richmond resident, covering the fashion industry has always been about more than luxury labels and seasonal trends. It's about the people behind the clothing and the stories they tell through their designs.
"It's always the people," she says. "And in general, I find artists can be some of most intriguing people to interview."
Inspired by the many stories she has heard at home and abroad, Wilson decided to compile 10 of her most memorable interviews into a book. Life Outside the Box was published by North Vancouver's Influence Publishing and will be available for purchase as of Feb. 1. Seven chapters feature people Wilson has interviewed in the past - from U.S. luxury shoe designer Ruthie Davis to Norwegian perfumer Geir Ness to textile artist and eco-fashion designer Katherine Soucie. The other three chapters are based on new interviews with spoken word artist Shane Koyczan, Beauty Night Society founder Caroline MacGillivray and the North Shore's Julie Salisbury, founder of Influence Publishing, who walked away from a successful career in product development in the U.K. to live on a boat for seven years before launching her current business.
Though the stories differ wildly, they all focus on passionate individuals who have overcome roadblocks on their respective paths to success.
"It is supposed to give you permission to be unique, to not fit the mould, to define your success individually," Wilson says of her book.
Life Outside the Box is Wilson's first book and the culmination of 18 months at the keyboard. Her writing career started 10 years ago when she answered a Craigslist posting seeking contributors for a New York magazine. That job opportunity fell through but, in the process, Wilson connected with a local photographer and ended up launching Fame'd Magazine, a Vancouver-based online and print publication that profiled professionals working in the fashion industry: designers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, pattern drafters, design schools, event planners and students.
After four and a half years, the magazine folded. Meanwhile, Wilson was also working as an editor and writer for New York-based online fashion publication Raine Magazine - a position she still holds - and freelancing for other publications. But she was craving something more.
"I began to want to move beyond fashion and I really wanted to tell life stories. That's what I love, I love interviewing," she says. "I happened to just stumble into a women's networking event one night where Julie from Influence Publishing was speaking and from the moment she started speaking I teared up. I just knew this was the person I needed to work with."
As a hybrid publisher, Wilson says Influence represented the perfect balance between selfpublishing and traditional publishing.
"Hybrid publishing gives you that happy middle space where you keep the rights to your book, but you control the costs and you get support."
Accustomed to writing magazine articles, Wilson says the process of authoring a 200-page book was quite different from what she knew. With magazines, she would often find herself having to cut a 1,700-word piece down to a lean 800 words. But writing chapters for Life Outside the Box presented the opposite challenge.
"When I signed the contract for this book, I truly felt it would not be a problem to write 5,500 words on each person," she recalls. The first day she sat down at her keyboard, though, she maxed out at 2,000. "It was a really rude awakening."
It meant having to go back and re-interview most of her subjects to get more details, personal anecdotes and the type of content that would allow the 10 stories to flow from chapter to chapter.
"There was a lot of panicky moments wondering if I would figure it out," she says, but adds that by chapter six she found herself getting the hang of things. "Writing is a very lonely process and then you throw yourself out there in the world hoping people will like it."
The Life Outside the Box book launch event, which coincides with a milestone birthday for Wilson, will take place Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. at FanClub in downtown Vancouver and feature a number of live performances.
"It is meant to be not a book launch in the standard sense. It's meant to be a celebration with the community that kept patting me on the back and saying, 'You can do this, you can finish, I'll buy your book.'"
Tickets and info can be found here.
Life Outside the Box will be available for sale Feb. 1 at amazon.ca and barnesandnoble.com.
