Shelf isolation: stylish reads to keep your spirits up – The Guardian

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

It is the present we must reckon with, observes Thomas Cromwell in the final part of Mantels trilogy. You can say that again, mate. At 900 pages, The Mirror and the Light has arrived eerily perfectly formed for the present we are reckoning with and I dont just mean that the hardback version is the perfect size for putting under your laptop to avoid double chin on Zoom calls. Cromwell is a master of optics and power dressing five centuries ahead of his time: he sees the visual messaging in every embroidered cloak and the symbolism in every jewellery love gift. Also, the square necklines are very this-season Rixo.Jess Cartner-Morley

Even if you have yet to surrender to a full day in sweatpants, life probably feels less than glamorous at the moment. What better world to get lost in, then, than one described by F Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is the obvious choice, but if you pine after a cancelled holiday to, say, the south of France, the authors last novel is a good way to get your Riviera fashion fix. From bathing suits and corsages to the notion of dressing for dinner, there is plenty of style inspiration to stockpile.Leah Harper

If you have ever felt sheepish about having an interest in style, I urge you to read this book. It argues that clothes are far from a trivial or superficial pursuit, through potted fashion history and reflection from luminaries such as Jane Austen and Nancy Mitford. Most memorable, though, are the stories of women in horrific circumstances who have used clothing as balm; the image of a seamstress customising her fellow prisoners uniforms in Ravensbrck concentration camp during the second world war has stayed with me since I read it a decade ago. The book is a great read for where were at now joyful, hopeful and free of judgment. It seems to say: whatever makes you feel better, whatever you enjoy when life is otherwise bewildering, you should absolutely go for it. Hannah Marriott

Looking at the intergalactic fashions created by designer Larry LeGaspi is wonderfully escapist. Rick Owens, who curated this coffee table book after realising there was a LeGaspi-shaped hole in the internet, credits the designer as a big influence on his own otherworldly fashion aesthetic. Stage looks for Kiss, Labelle and Divine are just some of the treasures in this warm, magical scrapbook of 70s album covers, interviews, design sketches and backstage photos. Think Close Encounters of the Studio 54 kind.Priya Elan

If you havent read this fashion classic, now is the time, if only for the genesis chapter of the LBD: It was a warm evening, nearly summer, and she wore a slim cool black dress, black sandals, and a pearl choker. For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap and lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening of the cheeks. The book that invented the Little Black Dress is full of sage style advice. Its tacky to wear diamonds before youre 40, and even thats risky. They only look right on the really old girls.Jess Cartner-Morley

If its a complete change of mood you want, look no further than Alexa Chungs 2013 memoir-cum-picture-book. This scrapbook-style collection of the kinds of images beloved by fashion Instagram Annie Hall, Anna Karina, Twiggy and, of course, Alexa herself is ideal to fill the void between Zoom dates and online yoga. A pleasant, if surface-level, dip into the world of the not-yet-designer, filled with fun soundbites such as: I am obsessed with moisturising. I am also obsessed with cigarettes so I like to think the two balance each other out. It feels surprisingly dated at times but thats not necessarily a bad thing right now. Leah Harper

I wanted to see Kim Kardashian dressed up as Big Ben. I hoped Katy Perry would use a sundial as a fascinator. But this years Met Gala, which was to take place on 4 May, has been postponed. Luckily, the set text on which red carpet outfits were to be based is still ripe for enjoyment. Orlando is a funny, surreal, exuberant novel about a poet who lives from Elizabethan times until the early 20th century. It questions the very nature of time, which feels great right now. It is also brilliant on clothes as a symbol of something hid deep beneath The man has his hand free to seize his sword, the woman must use hers to keep the satins from slipping from her shoulders. More than simply keeping us warm, Woolf argues, clothes change our view of the world and the worlds view of us, which makes me think I should raise my Google Hangouts game at some point. Hannah Marriott

Set in the frock department of an upscale Sydney department store in 1959, this book was described as a deceptively smart comic gem by The New York Times Book Review when it was first published in 1993. Hilary Mantel has said it is the book I most give as a gift to cheer people up. The sassy attitude and jazzy aesthetic will appeal to fans of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, while its thoughtful comedy of manners delivers just the right degree of escapism.Jess Cartner-Morley

If youre after a chilling insight into modern society, look no further than Bret Easton Elliss American Psycho. Not for the faint-hearted, this bitter black comedy depicts stomach-wrenching brutality, although its main focus is the yuppie Wall Street mentality of the sharply dressed protagonist Patrick Bateman. The narrative jumps suddenly from his thrill at purchasing a new pair of A Testoni loafers to scenes of extreme violence. Bateman is obsessed with his image; from the finest clothes, as instructed in GQ, to the wealthy friends he hates, to being seen in the hottest clubs with the most attractive hardbodies he can find. Its a portrayal of dissatisfaction that arises from presenting a perfect exterior but being hollow beneath, something more apt in todays Instagram culture than ever. Not an easy read, but an engrossing one, and you will know what type of suit you can wear with cashmere socks once you are done.Peter Bevan

Audrey Withers, wartime editor of British Vogue, earned herself the nickname Austerity Withers for her gung-ho, can-do spirit. Beginning her editorship the day the blitz began in London, she achieved no mean feat in keeping the print magazine on shelves throughout the war. Vogue, she liked to say, was put to bed in a bunker like everyone else in London. This recent biography features jolly cameos from Cecil Beaton and Elizabeth David, but it is the stories of how her Vogue adapted its lifestyle to the zeitgeist, with features on growing your own vegetables and cutting your own hair, that make it perfect for today.Jess Cartner-Morley

When The Beautiful Fall came out in 2006, Karl Lagerfeld took author Alicia Drake to court for invasion of privacy. This fact should be enough to make anyone want to read the tale of Lagerfeld of fellow designer and frenemy Yves Saint Laurent from the 50s onwards. A mixture of gossip, hedonism, glamorous muses and fashion history, you will finish this with more knowledge of Parisian fashion over a key 40-year period, yes, but also an unmistakable desire to go disco dancing till the sun comes up, once quarantine is lifted. Lauren Cochrane

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Shelf isolation: stylish reads to keep your spirits up - The Guardian