Wanderful Interview: Danielle Gold | The Velvet Dress
The Wanderful Girl
The “Wanderful Girl” is a modern bohemian. She’s a nomadic bon vivant collecting perspective and style inspiration around the globe. - from "Wanderful: The Modern Bohemian's Guide to Traveling in Style"
As I traveled around the US researching, writing and photographing the destinations featured in Wanderful one of the brilliant things that occurred was meeting this particular type of girl. I met them in a variety of ways... on beaches as they were road tripping along the coast, or as they played music in local cafes, one I met as she was working in a local community as a healer and another who was the resident farmhand on a 50 acre ranch.
The wanderful girl has the spirit of an old west explorer and the eye of a budding artist. She is a lover of mountains, seas, cities, and all the in-betweens. She’s delicately nostalgic and playfully potent, she lives every day with wild abandon.
As an introverted extrovert (Leo sun, Capricorn moon) I meet quite a few of my wanderful friends via instagram. As the release of the book draws closer I'll be introducing the wanderful girls featured in the book of course, and then other wanderful girls that I continue to meet as I journey forward. Today's featured girl is a digital friend - isn't that the cool thing about IG!? We can make friends all over the world, develop lasting and meaningful friendships and sometimes we've only spent moments of real life time together. Read on....
Interview: Danielle Gold | The Velvet Dress
Meet Danielle Gold, the style blogger behind The Velvet Dress. Danielle has the style of Stevie Nicks meets Wednesday Adams and I, for one am OBSESSED with everything she wears. She shares festival fashion and vintage shopping tips 🙌🏽 and clearly draws inspiration from her home in Santa Barbara, California (another obsession for me, btw).
AE for Oui We: Your style is so glamorous, always so elegantly chic! What’s one clothing item you always take with you when you're going on an adventure?
Danielle: Oh thank you babe! Funny enough, as you may have noticed, I always have sunglasses with me...like always hah, usually multiple pairs in case I lose them or they break/fall. Clumsy me needs to plan ahead.
OW: What is the earliest trip you remember taking that inspires you now?
DG: Though it wasn't my earliest memory of a trip, I traveled around Costa Rica for a few weeks with my family when I was about 9. I did art a lot as a kid, but this was the first time I remember really getting into writing/drawing as all I had was a pen and paper.
OW: What decade was your favorite for style?
DG: I would have to say the 70s. Velvet everything! The fabrics were perfect and I love all the funky pieces hah.
OW: What's your favorite place to take visitors to when they come see you in Santa Barbara (we're hanging out on my next visit btw)!
DG: Yes, babe! Oh, Santa Barbara is such a fun place to show people because the mountains and the beach are so close. To be honest, it mostly depends on the person’s interests, but there's so many beautiful nature and yummy food spots so we always have a good time.
OW: What's your favorite quote or saying?
DG: Oh I have quite a few, you've probably noticed I'll post quotes sometimes with my fashion photos. I'll try to narrow it down to my favorite fashion quote:
"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman."
And a close second (because I obviously couldn't just choose one, hah)
"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."
OW: What's the biggest risk you ever took?
DG: I'd have to say switching my major to fashion and deciding on that as my career choice. Also stepping away from my vintage shop and focusing on just blogging and styling work instead.
OW: What was your favorite childhood game?
DG: I was actually kind of a tomboy as a kid as I grew up with brothers and basically all boy cousins. I loved to climb trees as a kid and was almost always barefoot even on hikes- though I loved super smash bros, hah!
OW: Do you have a favorite object or charm that you keep with you? Or something that's special that no one really knows you have?
DG: Though I don't have any particular object that you wouldn't be able to see, my jewelry is very special to me and I wear the same rings a lot as I've had them for many many years. I own a lot of jewelry but wear only a few pieces daily. Something special no one might know I have is my lucky lighter.
OW: Tell us about a time when you believed magic was real?
DG: Nature makes me think magic exists. I also feel like there is magic in art. Certain fashion pieces will have that effect on me as well- they are like magic, though man-made, they are still beautiful.
OW: What is your favorite "pinch me" moment? Go ahead, we want you to brag!
DG: I think for a lot of people they might be looking for a certain following number. But for me I would say it’s when a brand that I always loved since I was a kid started following me: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's brand Elizabeth and James.
Girl, we feel that. Olsen love forever.
Thanks for reading wanderful friends!
Want to shop Danielle's style? Do so here:
