Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore

by Terry Newman

Discover the signature sartorial and literary style of fifty men and women of letters, including Maya Angelou; Truman Capote; Colette; Bret Easton Ellis; Allen Ginsberg; Patti Smith; Karl Ove Knausgaard; and David Foster Wallace; in this unique compendium of profiles—packed with eighty black-and-white photographs, excerpts, quotes, and fast facts—that illuminates their impact on modern fashion.

Whether it’s Zadie Smith’s exotic turban, James Joyce’s wire-framed glasses, or Samuel Beckett’s Wallabees, a writer’s attire often reflects the creative and spiritual essence of his or her work. As a non-linear sensibility has come to dominate modern style, curious trendsetters have increasingly found a stimulating muse in writers—many, like Joan Didion, whose personal aesthetic is distinctly "out of fashion." For decades, Didion has used her work, both her journalism and experimental fiction, as a mirror to reflect her innermost emotions and ideas—an originality that has inspired Millennials, resonated with a new generation of fashion designers and cultural tastemakers, and made Didion, in her eighties, the face of Celine in 2015.

Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore examines fifty revered writers—among them Samuel Beckett; Quentin Crisp; Simone de Beauvoir; T.S. Eliot; F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald; Malcolm Gladwell; Donna Tartt; John Updike; Oscar Wilde; and Tom Wolfe—whose work and way of dress bears an idiosyncratic stamp influencing culture today. Terry Newman combines illuminating anecdotes about authors and their work, archival photography, first-person quotations from each writer and current designers, little-known facts, and clothing-oriented excerpts that exemplify their original writing style.

Each entry spotlights an author and a signature wardrobe moment that expresses his or her persona, and reveals how it influences the fashion world today. Newman explores how the particular item of clothing or style has contributed to fashion’s lingua franca—delving deeper to appraise its historical trajectory and distinctive effect. Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore is an invaluable and engaging look at the writers we love—and why we love what they wear—that is sure to captivate lovers of great literature and sophisticated fashion.

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion, Art, History, Books About Books, Writing, Biography

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2017

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! Fashion? Literary figures? What's not to like? I'm only taking off one star because I wish that there was more detail about the clothes they wore. I felt that in some instances, this part was glossed over. I felt a bit more research could have been done and included for a book of this scope. All in all, this is a perfect book for literary nerds, fashion fiends, and also a lovely gift book as well!

[Meg]

Not sure if I want to read all these authors now or pick up the habit of wearing suits and hats everywhere.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and informative book. Lots of random facts thrown in that, while interesting, don't seem to have to do much with the overall theme of the book. And the writing is sometimes a bit clunky. A fun, easy read that I'm taking as a jumping off point to learn some more about these fascinating individuals!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish it was longer (more full, more examples, more pictures, more references). At the same time, it was very consumably-sized. Not daunting or off putting.

The bibliography is brilliant! It I read that whole thing, I would be even more the person I want to be.

Fashion + literature = my favorite

[Sarah W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on authors and fashion. Many 19th and 20th century authors are profiled, along with their take on style and preferred clothing choices. I did think color photos (when available) could have improved this volume, but otherwise, it made for a nice, light, and quick read.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many books I have been reading these days, I have been entertained by this one yet find plenty of room for improvement. In all honesty, this book could have been written/purchased/displayed/read as no more than a coffee table book, albeit an ambitious one that is more interesting than others in its class. If I see this book through that lens, its goal is achieved. However, if I look at this book as the picky, nothing-seems-to-satisfy-me reader that I currently am as I work my way through the books that have been relegated to the bottom of my pandemic library book stack, every writer featured seems to get a superficial treatment, with many of the references to clothing or style feeling a bit straw graspy. Dozens of writers are included; none are given more than a few paragraphs and pictures. Yet, the selection of pictures and anecdotes provided for each writer is genuinely very well done. Frequently, I forgot this was a book about literature and fashion and progressed through the pages happy to learn new information about authors known to me and, in a few cases, learn of writers I was entirely unfamiliar with. The subject matter might be better suited to fewer examples and more analysis dedicated to each, but, as I said — if this book is essentially a coffee table book designed to kill a few hours and moderately intrigue, why should I be so harsh? It probably won’t inspire a reader’s style or an academic thesis, nor is it a great example of diversity in the literary world, but the miniature bios for (most of) the featured authors have motivated me to re-prioritize my to-read pile.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the cover photo suggests - a slinky Joan Didion posed in front of a classic Stingray; looking the epitome of smart California cool - this book is a nexus of of personal style and cult authors. In some cases, the author/curator Terry Newman goes into more detail about how a famous author used clothing to represent themselves - Samuel Beckett and Sylvia Plath are particularly memorable - and at other times, Newman just gives us a sort of sartorial snapshot around a stylistic theme. Glasses, suits, hair and hats, for example. Some authors left behind their own commentaries on fashion/style and its importance - Virginia Woolf, memorably, and Zadie Smith - while others are represented by excerpts of their writing. All in all, it’s a very pleasurable mix of writing and images.

[nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a coffee table book with not enough photos

[Lulu Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 loved it, but needs more photos.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, at least “trendy” writers. Obviously the author of this book likes edgy rebellious literary figures. The text is an attempt to connect the writing style of the featured authors with their sartorial style. Covers signature looks of Hair, glasses, suits, hats, etc. Black and white photos. Bibliography and photo credits.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reminded of this book on my TBR after this recent LitHub article:
https://lithub.com/20-famous-writers-...

This was a fun book with some great photos & some interesting facts about the authors that I was unaware of. A nice way to spend a couple of hours.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great pictures; shame about the text.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read with great photos and quotes with an interesting group of authors and the added hook of fashion and personal style. Enjoyable!

[lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted more pictures!!!!

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whilst trying to compose a review, the thought I keep coming back to is imagining myself speaking to Terry Newman, and yelling "NO. GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN. START ALL OVER."

Gentle review-reader, I am angry.

The anger started early. If you want to write a book like this, and you want to go on about Samuel Beckett's footwear, you had better show me Samuel Beckett's shoes, but there is no such photo. Beckett is the first author discussed, and I should have accepted that this was what the whole book would be like: unsatisfying in an insulting way, because it's just so lazy.

Four times, features individual authors are split up by a section called "SIGNATURE LOOKS." They're all trite, but the one about "Hair"--the only section to feature more than one writer of color--is particularly awful and if you DO decide to read this book, I suggest you skip it entirely. It will improve the book considerably, mostly because you won't be throwing it at the wall. Speaking of writers of color, you might need both hands to count the number of nonwhite writers in this book, but only just barely.

I was never able to determine what the goal was here: were the "legendary" authors included because their style was somehow iconic? If so, what does "iconic" mean? And iconic to whom? I checked this book out thinking that the starting point was "legendary authors," but a few pages in I realized that the starting point was probably Terry Newman sitting on a couch, thinking about authors with particularly famous looks, and then retrofitting a title onto that idea. There IS a book based on that idea that could have worked, but trying to fit FIFTY! writers into that book, with eighty-ish photos, and somehow have a book that isn't a trite waste of time is a challenge. (This book did not meet the challenge.)

Finally: All of the photographs are black and white, and I do not understand this choice. If the photo is originally in black and white, sure fine fair; but if the photo is of a contemporary figure and we do, without question, have multiple, colorful, photos of them, and this is a book about fashion (... or something), why can't we see them in full color? WHY? We're already NOT seeing so many of the looks described; is there a reason we also can't see anything in color?

tl;dr NO. THIS IS NOT WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN.
PS Including Ginsberg is a bad plan and 2 seconds on Wiki would tell you why. Sheesh.

[Valerie Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book is seductive & appealing; it’s a shame that there are less than 100 black and white photographs, and the writing is terrible. It’s just dense enough to have substance, but really that’s achieved only by volume. There are only one or two pictures per writer (not nearly enough) and the text mentions, usually, several of their notable looks. And, the text seems to not know why it’s there; at times it gives an overview of the person or their work, and other times it seems to assume you know all that and just need to know about their sartorial statements. The worst entries are the ones in which the author chose to include quotes from the writers’ work based only on the fact that they include mention of style or clothing. These snippets are too stripped of context. It’s like the author swept through all their lives & work, and caught only snippets, all related to clothes, that on their own, really mean nothing. Still, I like the feel & concept of this book, so I’ll keep it around and I’m sure peruse it again.

[Shayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fascinating topic undermined by truly unremarkable execution. I'd love to see this subject tackled seriously, with more research, more photos, and more attention paid to the actual writing. The book suffers from not really knowing what it's doing with each section - the chapters, divided by subject and in no cohesive order, all seem completely separate from one another. Some sections seem like they're included for no reason other than the author likes the subject's work, with no discussion of the subject's clothing or personal style at all; if there is mention of style, it's all description, nothing deeper. There's very little actual analysis and no attempt to connect the ideas presented in the introduction to the actual contents of the book. It's a shame because the concept that fashion and literature shape one another is interesting unexplored territory.

[Madeleine]

Ironically this could have been way more fashion focused. Each author gets about three pages mapping their lives, social circles, and literary influence, but only a paragraph or two about "tweedy suits" or "loose drapes" and there could be way more writing about garments that make up the author uniform. If the thread is the fashions of these legendary authors, it's a loose thread and instead is a cluttered list of who's who that doesn't have the space to go into depth of the author's history and spends far too much time telling the reader who these legends are in the first place.

You could write an eight page Didion-style essay just on her sunglasses; which is what each chapter could have been with better execution.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so entertaining! It was choc full of interesting facts about each author's life and what made them unique. I was shocked by how many eventually suicided and it makes me ponder the link between eccentricity, creativity and mental health challenges.
I would've loved more photos. There's something so cool about 100 year old black and white pictures of people just hanging around looking effortlessly chic. The picture they chose of Hunter S Thompson, with the cowboy hat, aviator sunnies and skull pipe was *chefs kiss* iconic. I immediately had to google to see more pics of this guy. The same with the Willy Wonka-esque pic of Oscar Wilde.
A great coffee-table book.

[Cameron Toney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oooh, but this was right up my alley. Or, it should have been. It seemed haphazard, without criteria to say what made an author or their style legendary, and in some cases the style seemed to be "no style at all, because they were a rebel".
Hmmm.
I want to love this, but I do not. Some essays were very interesting (Mitford, for example, or Colette) but others were very bland. Also, as many have said, more pictures of the style would be appreciated! Or even more examples of the authors using fashion or descriptions of clothes in their works.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. I have always enjoyed learning the personalities, quirks and habits of famous authors. This book touches on their unique styles, their achievements and snippets of their personal lives. Some sections are dedicated to one specific style of hats or glasses, etc worn by authors. My only problem is I wish the book had been bigger with many more authors. Awesome photographs are big plus along with the authors' sections and stories.

[Elizabeth Bastos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, sartorial snack. I didn't know about Joan Didion's soigneeness or Twain's three-piece white linen suit "so white it hurt your eyes to look at it." But as far as choosing the "legendary authors" who counts as one? and you certainly can't cover them all, so some of my favorite "legendary authors" were missing. I wanted to know how George Eliot dressed, and Shakespeare, and more recently Caitlin Moran and Madeline Miller.

[Chain Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really internally divided on this book. Part of me hates that it exists, and thinks that what legendary authors wore does not matter at all! However, I still couldn't resist getting it from the library, and it was somewhat less shallow than I expected. It's more about the physicality and personal style of each person, and gives you a sense of what it would be like to come face to face with them.

[Fallon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure who this book is for? I really like the idea, but it sounds like something that started out as a Pop Sugar slideshow and less like a decent sized book. Interesting idea, but not really a book I'd pick up again.

[Flexnib · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favourite quote from this book:

The kind of people who always go on about whether a thing is in good taste invariably have very bad taste.
- Joe Orton, Transatlantic Review, Spring 1967

Agree with other reviewer wishing there was more detail about the clothes.

[Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting series of short chapters on writers, their style, and how fashion influenced their work. Newman covers everything from Tom Wolfe's white linen suits to Joan Didion's flawless style.

[Steph Pomfrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book with gorgeous photos and a selection of very safe choices in terms of the authors chosen. A bit like a literary Smash Hits, but with David Foster Wallace thrown in the middle for authenticity. Meh.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Authors and fashion. Perfect combo. So many terribly serious people dressed in statement clothing. I found the photo of a very young John Updike particularly endearing in it's
self-consciousness. Great book to enjoy one or two chapters at a time.

[Morter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur Rimbaud / David Foster Wallace / Sylvia Plath / T. S. Elliot / Edgar Allan Poe / Mark Twain / Fran Lebowitz / Susan Sontag / Donna Tartt / Dorothy Parker / Joan Didion / Virginia Woolf / Oscar Wilde / James Joyce

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting. I sat down and read the book in one sitting.