Literature and fashion meet once again as Club Monaco has announced that its flagship retail location will host a bookstore when it opens up this week, leaving us to ponder: what are our favorite authors’ fashion-label counterparts?
The Brontë Sisters: Rodarte
This one is way too easy: sisters, both are kinda goth, and it’s inconceivable that the Mulleavys haven’t read Jane Eyre at least once.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Brooks Brothers
Another easy one: Fitzgerald was known to wear this classic American brand and referenced it in some of his work — and Brooks Brothers also designed the suits for Baz Luhrmann’s adaption of The Great Gatsby.
George Orwell: Jil Sander
While you might hear Orwell’s name and instantly think “dystopia,” such fashion-related terms as “architectural,” “sparse,” and “military-inspired” could also come to mind. Same goes for the German-born fashion designer we’ve paired with the Nineteen Eighty-Four author.
Jack London: Pendleton
The California born-and-raised White Fang author and the cozy Oregon company both share a rugged West Coast sensibility that never seems to go out of style.
Edith Wharton: Elie Saab
One gander at Saab’s lookbook, and suddenly you’re able to costume an entire film version of The Age of Innocence or The Custom of the Country in a contemporary New York City.
Charles Dickens: Burberry
Burberry has been an iconic British brand since 1856, about 20 years after Dickens first established himself as one of the country’s greatest authors. Since both remain untouchable in terms of their stature, the two are a natural fit.
Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse: Ralph Lauren
Let’s face it: Ralph Lauren is undeniably American, but he has long been obsessed with England. These last few years have seen him indulging in his anglophile tendencies more than ever, and he could easily outfit a new remake of Brideshead Revisited or design a suit for the modern-day Bertie Wooster.
Virginia Woolf: Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel brought Modernism to fashion, Virginia Woolf was one of the best Modernist writers of her time (and after…), and they both pretty much influenced everybody after them in one way or another.
Arthur Conan Doyle: Barbour
We love tweed and the great suits Benedict Cumberbatch wears on Sherlock, but we could really see an updated version of our favorite detective taking his Barbour in to get rewaxed around this time every year.
Oscar Wilde: Thom Browne
We’re pretty sure the Picture of Dorian Gray author would approve of some of the dandy-on-acid designs Browne has dreamed up.
Lewis Carroll: Alexander McQueen
If you think there is a designer alive who could create better costumes for a live-action Alive in Wonderland film than the late McQueen, then you’re probably doing a lot of expensive drugs.
Grace Metalious: Kate Spade
Do we need to explain why the preppy queen of color works well with the Peyton Place author?
J.D. Salinger: Jack Spade
You walk into a Jack Spade store, and it feels like you entered Holden Caulfield’s bedroom after the maid cleaned it up.
Ernest Hemingway: L.L. Bean
Rugged, sporty, and undeniably American: the only thing that L.L. Bean and the For Whom the Bell Tolls author don’t have in common is the fact that Bean is from Maine and Hemingway was born in Chicago. Oh, and L.L. Bean has excellent customer service while Hemingway would just get drunk and be like, “You want to return these duck boots? You’ll have to fight me first!”
John Irving: Band of Outsiders
Here’s the thing about Band of Outsiders: they make clothes that your dad might have owned in 1982, but you want to wear them anyway.
Here’s the thing about John Irving: your dad was reading The World According to Garp in 1982, but that doesn’t stop you from reading it now.
Tucker Max: Christian Audigier
This one doesn’t really count, because we still aren’t actually sure we’d consider Tucker Max an author, but we also don’t really want to admit that the man who draped a million guys that would read Tucker Max in Ed Hardy T-shirts is fashion either.
Alas, we figured we should mention the pairing.