A FASHION FAIRYTALE: NOTES ON THE MEN

Adam Tan: 

He was initially thought to be around 35, but I think as I wrote him, he became a bit older in my mind. I had in mind the owner of a fashion retail and distributing company, but really, the image is of a 'suit' figure. I think in my mind's eye, he really is made up of all the suits I have known, the money men, the bankers and etc.

It is assumed that Adam Tan got to know Dana Lee through fashion events and parties through the years, definitely on a professional level a few years back before the story started. 

Eventually I got a sense that Adam probably was in love with Dana from the very beginning of their relationship. In fact, the first drafts of the story had Adam as Dana's college friend, so the relationship certainly isn't new and seemed likely to work. 

Later Adam, became a bit more of a prosperous banker type, a lady's man, confident with a practiced charm. There's always something slightly negative about his wealth, something a bit vulgar. I think I got that from the global financial crisis and the feeling that it is caused by the money men of the world with their rapacious greed and amorality. That he eventually, and quickly switched from Dana to Bella shows just what he is made of. 

I think Dana Lee does get rather seduced by the ease and luxury of his world, coming as she does from fashion and all its materialistic concerns; But I think Dana rather romanticises this aspect of Adam, and doesn't truly know very much about him.

Eli Kee: 

Eli is the younger man, I never thought how much younger, but perhaps Eli is about 30? 

He's very talented, a musician, and of course he's very beautiful, which is what sparked Dana's interest in him. She first comes across him at a photoshoot and he's lit like a vision. I always thought of Eli more as a cellist; the piano playing thing came from Jay Chou! 

Dana doesn't know, doesn't even think that Eli is from a wealthy family, so her passion and emotion for him is 'true'; she yearns of course for the real (talent, beauty, etc) because her world is of the surface, the superficial. Her longing for nature comes from the same place. 

I couldn't let Dana end up with a pauper, so I gave him a lovely old rich family and a vast garden where hopefully they will be married.