From the runway to the red carpet, books are having a moment on the fashion scene.
At New York Fashion Week in February, Coach announced a collection of 12 bag charms that are actual books, in collaboration with publisher Penguin Random House.
Dior’s 2026 summer collection reimagined the designer’s classic Book Tote to feature first edition book covers embroidered on them, as well as on other accessories.
And Miu Miu even hosted a literary club bringing together authors, musicians and other celebrities for lectures and conversations.
For CBC Books producer and BookToker Bridget Raymundo, it shows the power online fandoms have to influence culture, she said on an episode of The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing.
She noted the rise in popularity of BookTok and book-related trends online, such as one called “D.O.B.” in which people post their drink, outfit and book of the day.
Because that’s where the young audience is, brands and tastemakers are taking notice, and it in turn shapes what’s in style.
“I’ve also always seen the intersection of books and fashion in my sort of zeitgeist,” she said.
Books and fashion, a storied connection
nigel lezama, an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University researching fashion, luxury and literature, told CBC Books that books and fashion have gone hand in hand since the industrial revolution.
With industrialization, both art forms needed to find a buying public, so they used one another accordingly depending on which one felt more valuable at the time.
“Literature used fashion a lot, to create, construct characterization, also to understand its own position in the field,” he said.
But now, he sees a shift where fashion is using literature, like the Coach and Dior campaigns.
“There’s something retro in it. There’s something pushing against the current times by using literature in this way, saying that we are not part of this zeitgeist of super fast … we are slow.”
This partially refers to the concept of luxury consumers expecting high-quality products that don’t feel like fast fashion.
“It can come to symbolize that rarefied aspect that luxury is still trying to pretend that it has: that it isn’t industrialized, that it is handmade and human-made,” he said.
The speed of reading also adds a level of luxury to the product, says lezama. A 300-page book, for example, could take on average 10 hours to read.
“[The brands] understand that there is something luxurious in stepping out of time to read a book,” he said.
A publisher and a designer brand come together
For Adam Royce, the VP executive creative director of Penguin Random House, the U.S. book publisher that collaborated on the bag charms with Coach, the partnership was ultimately about championing books and expanding their brand.
He told CBC Books that Coach actually approached their team about collaborating, and it was a huge success, with the charms selling out and the campaign reaching the target Gen Z demographic and beyond.
He says that the key to that success was “authenticity” — the fact that the charms are actual books that you can read and that the celebrity ambassadors, actors Elle Fanning and Storm Reid, and WNBA star Paige Bueckers, also had a hand in choosing books that resonated with them.
“They were looking for books where people could see themselves and express themselves,” said Royce. “They had a very clear idea of the sort of stories, right down to some of the individual titles.”
The English-language books made into charms are all by women authors, featuring a range of contemporary novels and classics: I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson, Friday I’m in Love by Camryn Garrett, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.
It’s a big deal for a publisher to work with a fashion brand on a campaign of this scale — and shows a growing interest in reading from the public.
“In a lot of ways, books are having a moment right now, obviously, with BookTok and all the things, and this partnership really exemplifies that on so many levels,” said Royce. “It’s a proud moment for both the company and books and the team for sure.”
Books as art
While the Dior bags cost upwards of $3,000, the Coach bag charms, though already sold out, are $120.
Though that’s a lot to spend on a book, it’s a price that doesn’t feel outrageous for Raymundo, because the charms are actually readable, and are bound with leather.
To her, it goes hand in hand with the rise of the special edition books with features like foiled or sprayed edges.
“You’re seeing more of these books become these art objects,” she said. “If you go into a Canadian bookstore and you’re buying wholesale, it costs like $40 or $50 for a special edition hardcover. Part of me is like, ‘Well, if it’s going to cost that much for a hardcover book, at least make it look nice, make it look fun and fancy.’”
But does bringing books to the world of art and fashion actually get people to read more?
Raymundo thinks yes.
Even those picking up a book bag charm or a deluxe book edition to seem smart or well-read, will likely end up reading it in some capacity, she said.
“To the response of Gen Z reading these books as sort of cultural symbols of intellect or superiority — I like to believe in the genuine heartfeltness of most people,” she said.
“I think it actually requires more effort to pretend you’re a reader, to try to convince everyone, than to read the book.”
