How to Dress Like Your Favorite Book: 10 Cover-Inspired Outfits
Fashion, like literature, is about building characters and narratives, creating worlds with either words or textiles. Katja Horvat writes in her essay "Fashion & Literature" that the two arts "occupy a fetish for fantasy inside the minds of so many people." But what if instead of bringing characters from your favorite books to life, you could bring the books— the covers themselves works of art—to life? Maybe the dual impulses of writing well and dressing well are all part of the effort to answer the questions of “Who am I?” and “What am I doing here?”
Here, we present the fashion translation of 10 beloved books.
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
The poems in this book are exuberant, brave. They celebrate; they use exclamation marks—but not because they ignore what’s happening outside. Rather, despite it. So, really, what better time than now to clash prints unabashedly, to accessorize exuberantly? The world hurts—that much is consistent. And bright colors just feel good. —S.E.
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
You know those butterflies you get when your phone buzzes and it’s a text from your crush? Reading Mary H.K. Choi’s Emergency Contact is that feeling, times 400 pages. Lean into the tenderness of young love looking equal parts I want you, I need you, oh baby, and IDGAF. —E.A.
If They Come For Us by Fatimah Asghar
These poems are simultaneously elegant and playful, balancing the two elements with such formal innovation. The poet invents new forms and updates classic ones (like the ghazal)—much like how one might take a classic shape like the blazer, and drench the whole thing in sequins. A sturdy ankle boot, but acid yellow. —S.E.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This book is full of strong women and the enormous choices they’ve made. Choices that might require the armor of a sweatshirt worn as a top, a sumptuous but practical coat, some boots to run away in. And the unexpected twist—I can’t reveal the one in the book, so consider this little yellow snakeskin purse, instead. —S.E.
Mean by Myriam Gurba
To say this book exudes confidence is an understatement. Gurba’s writing is self-assured and she claims her seat at the table without hesitation. In the face of constant mansplaining, manspreading, and, well, sometimes just men in general, be bold, be assertive, and wear your true feelings on your t-shirt. —E.A.
Not Here by Hieu Minh Nguyen
Not Here’s cover is about contrast, about looking into a familiar landscape through an unexpected lens. Maybe you come out of this searching with a new understanding of pain, desire, or hope. Maybe fresh kicks and a bold necklace can help you get there. —E.A.
On My Way to Liberation by H.Melt
In H.Melt’s debut chapbook, they imagine a world where we value, love, and respect trans people in all corners of our communities. On your way to aid in the liberation of yourself and others, it’s best to look fierce and feel comfortable—how else are we supposed to smash the patriarchy, right? —E.A.
The Carrying by Ada Limón
This cover and the poems inside are a study in texture—the complex layers of womanhood, grief, and living in today’s trying political climate. Take this as an invitation to bundle up, hold yourself close, and remember the power of living your truth. —E.A.
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
The characters in this novel are so full, so crisp, that each one can be a protagonist depending on the moment; each their own saturated hue. Their interactions feel like color-blocking—vibrant salmon power-clashing with turquoise; olive and marigold and crimson and mustard taking turns cutting across the eye. And the book’s lyric, elegant as silk. —S.E.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The soft knit corset—its paradox of constriction and coziness, much like the loving but strict home of Acevedo’s protagonist. And, in the print shirt emerging in a riot of shape and color from above the cinched waist, I think of her, Xiomara, casting off all she was told she couldn’t do and be, and blossoming. —S.E.
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