There’s something about the It Girl that society just can’t resist. From Lauren Conrad to Alexa Chung to Zendaya, her story never gets old—she’s cosmopolitan, stylish, and aspirational. It Girls don’t just capture attention; they define the cultural moment, embodying the values, aesthetics, and ambitions of their era. But in 2025, we find ourselves looking toward a new kind of muse: the Literary It Girl.
The Literary It Girl is not just someone who reads—she curates her identity through books. Her coolness feels effortless, with a nonchalant style that appears thrown together yet is meticulously considered. The aesthetic is feminine, yet clever (yes, we’re looking at you, Kaia Gerber). Her oversized tote almost always carries a Sally Rooney novel, and she makes reading modern literary fiction feel trendy. We aspire to be her in a way that’s different from other iterations of the It Girl because we’re at a place in society where individualism is currency.
The “Literary It Girl” is a byproduct of a decade’s worth of internet-born movements. In the 2010s, book aesthetics thrived during the golden days of Tumblr (aka the height of Twilight, John Green novels, The Hunger Games, etc). This momentum led to the creation of major celebrity book clubs like Reese’s Book Club and Belletrist in 2017. These spaces cemented a corner of the internet where books blurred into fan fiction, fashion, history, and pop culture, creating a hybrid aesthetic that still shapes the way we think about books today.
But nothing transformed the culture of reading quite like BookTok. During the pandemic, the need to escape was a necessity, and reading became more than a pastime—it was a shared digital experience. BookTok gave rise to a vast community the likes of which the internet had never seen. Viral recommendations catapulted backlist titles like The Song of Achilles and A Little Life onto bestseller lists, while authors like Sarah J. Maas and Emily Henry became household names. In just a few years, BookTok turned publishing into one of the fastest-growing cultural industries, reigniting a collective appetite for stories.
As the “trend” of reading caught on, a new aesthetic started to take shape. In 2021, Valentino launched their “Narratives” campaign that featured the written works of writers like Emily Ratajkowski and Brit Bennett, highlighting the beauty and simplicity of storytelling. Luxury brands slowly became fascinated with the idea of elevating reading into a literary lifestyle. Recently, Miu Miu hosted a 2-day “Literary Club” in Milan that focused on conversations with contemporary authors. JW Anderson’s spring debut with Dior also had literary ties—Book Totes that featured classic literature titles like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Fashion and publishing, once distant industries, are merging and positioning books not just as objects of consumption, but as cultural accessories—status symbols that reflect intellect and identity, much like the Literary It Girl.
We see the Literary It Girl embodied in cultural figures across fashion, music, and media. Dua Lipa, Kaia Gerber, and Laufey have each launched book clubs, featuring contemporary titles like Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Severance by Ling Ma, and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. Even Marc Jacobs has leaned in, sharing his current reads on Instagram—often photographed alongside his signature nail designs—blending literary taste with visual identity.
As consumers, we’re not just being sold clothing, music, or beauty anymore—we’re being sold intellectualism. Books have become cultural currency, a way to signal depth and individuality in a world where access to material goods is near-unlimited. When almost anything can be bought, it’s taste, knowledge, and the performance of intellect that feel scarce—and therefore valuable. The Literary It Girl represents that shift: she’s not only aspirational for her style, but for the suggestion that she’s thinking, reading, and engaging with culture in a way that feels just out of reach.
Is the Literary It Girl the new standard of aspiration in a world where everything else can be bought?
