With Fashion Week currently gallivanting about New York, I figured it’d be a good time to check-out the latest and greatest in lit scene fashion. So grab your pince-nez and let’s inspect what’s out this season. For in the words of James Joyce, “Never put on tomorrow what you can wear today. Parallax!”
PARALLAX, INDEED, LITERARY FASHIONISTAS!
T-shirts:
With their witty slogans and generally flattering fits, T-shirts dominate the lit scene marketplace. Seriously though, for next season, somebody needs to tell the literary world that—SURPRISE! —they make T-shirts in colors other than black. Okay?
T-shirts: The perfect garment for writers because you don’t have to iron them. Let’s take a hot, hot peak.
Two Dollar Radio
$20
Love books and fashion? Two Dollar Radio is the publisher for you. They release a new T-shirt every year, making them superior to pretty much everyone else out there.
While I’m not loving their 2015 Flag shirt as much as I loved their astoundingly awesome 2014 Radio shirt, I have to commend TDR’s vision. Their T-shirts are like the T-shirts of your favorite band, which is back on tour after a mysterious hiatus. This is some great stuff, America. And I’m guessing like me you can’t wait to don next year’s design too!
Melville House
$20
Listen Herman, no one’s more into not doing things than me. And who doesn’t have a soft spot for ole Bartleby the scrivener.
But this T-shirt? Not feeling it. It’s highbrow Hot Topic. It’s trying too hard. The black background is dull, the font uninspired, and the quote a bit played-out. Really I think it’s time for Melville House to roll out a new line of nautical numbers, some garments colorful and grand, and excoriate this dullard from their catalogue. Give us a splash of pizzazzle, Herman.
Tin House
$20
Gorgeous. Love it. My favorite shirt of the season.
Visually, the typewriter keyboard design is alluring, and accessible to non-book snobs too. Even from a distance it’s like nice. The Tin House branding is smart and subtle. The base color of charcoal gray has got this wonderful heather texture to it. Overall, a masterpiece.
This T-shirt truly is the excellent foppery of the world.
The Rumpus
$25
Here’s the thing: if you’re going to put the word “motherfucker” on a garment you have to own it.
Instead The Rumpus has opted to shape Cheryl Strayed’s inspirational quote into a tiny, cozy heart. This really dulls the making-a-statement factor. And by including “Sugar says,” referring to Strayed’s old advice column where the quote originated, the shirt comes across as too specific. It lacks the flair one typically associates with motherfuckers.
Why not just let the quote sing forth in bold—and by this I mean bold like a motherfucker?
Tote bags:
Although it pains me to say it, tote bags are all the rage this season. And my favorite—if I’m professionally obligated to have one—is the array of offerings from Litographs.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tote: featuring silence, exile, cunning, and a very sturdy handle
Colorful, creative, and fun, Litographs’ designs—which turn their T-shirts into garish monstrosities—lead to some wonderful totes. There’s your Alice in Wonderland tote, your Thoreau tote, even a Declaration of Independence tote, just in time for this hellscape of a presidential election.
Whether you’re looking for a sack in which to fit all your finds from Porter Square Books or somewhere to stick your head in the middle of the workday, these tote bags will make due nicely. But caveat! There is a strict limit on just how fashionable tote bags can be. Sorry not sorry, toters.
Books, The Perfect Accessory
Books—they go with every outfit. Day or night, you just have to have one with you.
Along with the pure pleasure of reading them, books are superb accessories because you can also use them to:
A.) thwack douchebags
B.) signify your coolness to strangers
C.) hold open the door of a subway car
D.) feel morally superior to that lamewad playing Candy Crush on his iPhone (since why play Candy Crush when you could be reading, America??)
E.) thwack additional douchebags
And honorable mention: If your book club is having an ugly T-shirt contest, wear this!
In Penguin’s defense, they didn’t design this T-shirt. I found it on Redbubble. Still, it is atrocious and that smug Penguin is partially to blame.
Now you know what to wear to AWP and for all your other extravagant literary affairs.
Stay tuned for literary fashion news all this week … here at Entropy!
Entropy Fashion Week Line-up
- Monday: “LIT SCENE FASHION REVIEW”
- Tuesday: “From The Franzen to the Litbro: What Outsider Artists Can Teach Male Writers About Fashion”
- Wednesday: “Best Accessories of the 19th Century (Or Fashion Tips from Chekhov and Austen)”
- Thursday: “Fashion Week Special Edition: An Outfit For …”
- Friday: “The Many Fashions of The Queen of the Night“
#fashionfashionfashion
