Table of Contents

1. Key Highlights:
2. Introduction
3. A library as runway: why the setting mattered
4. The books themselves: personal narratives on display
5. Celebrity reading as deliberate personal branding
6. Books as accessories: a seasonal trend or timeless tactic?
7. Nostalgia and ritual: readers reclaiming slowness
8. Climate urgency amid couture: when nonfiction becomes a statement
9. Language, heritage and the politics of translation
10. Digital habits: Kindle, doomscrolling and the attentional economy
11. Libraries, visibility and the cultural afterlife of public institutions
12. Real-world echoes: fashion and literature intersect elsewhere
13. Practical takeaways: how to make the library ritual yours
14. The cultural aftershocks: what this gesture might influence
15. FAQ

Key Highlights:

• Alessandro Michele staged Valentino’s show at Paris’s Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève and asked guests to bring a favorite book, turning the runway into a coded conversation about memory, identity and civic space.
• The books chosen — from Jane Eyre to The Sixth Extinction to Icelandic sagas — mapped a range of personal narratives: childhood nostalgia, environmental alarm, linguistic heritage and intentional reading versus doomscrolling.
• The event reframes a longstanding fashion tactic: objects that accompany outfits now function as statements. Carrying a book becomes an accessory that signals values, history and a curated public self.

Introduction

A Valentino show unfolded not on a gilded runway or in a modernist atrium but among stacks and reading tables, within the shadowed vaults of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. Guests arrived not only in couture but clutching volumes: classic novels, children’s tales, nonfiction manifests. The gesture was simple but loaded — ask a roomful of public figures to bring a favorite book and the result is an intimate gallery of private selves displayed in public.

That intimacy mattered. Naomi Watts, standing among stone and ironwork, described sudden nostalgia for a pre-digital habit: rifling shelves for hours, learning to study through deliberate, patient search. Zoey Deutch grabbed Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction straight off her apartment shelf on the way to the show and explained why the book still resonates. Alexander Skarsgård and Joe Alwyn reached for stories from childhood and homeland. Thai star Jeff Satur brought a bedtime ritual to share. The books became touchstones: personal relics, political manifestos, preservation of languages and myths.

This was more than a visual flourish. Valentino’s invitation to bring literature reframed consumer spectacle as cultural curatorship. The choice of setting and the decision to request books pulled a thread about what reading means now — as a private act, a public statement and a form of resistance to the attention economy. The volumes guests carried are windows into the ways memory, heritage, environmental concern and childhood shape contemporary public identity, especially when filtered through the high-stakes theatre of fashion week.

A library as runway: why the setting mattered

Fashion brands have long chosen evocative stages. Museums and opera houses provide atmosphere; warehouses and urban streets bring grit. Choosing a library, especially one as storied as Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, does more than offer a pleasing backdrop. It activates a set of associations — knowledge, civic life, quiet concentration — that collides productively with the ostentation of fashion.

Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève is itself a cultural signifier. The building’s iron-and-stone reading room and high arched windows recall an era when public collections anchored community learning. Setting a show there shifts the conversation from mere commodity display to an invocation of continuity: clothing for bodies that think, talk and remember. The location invites reflection on the durability of material culture — books and garments both survive as artifacts that carry histories.

Naomi Watts’ comment about pressing a button replacing hours of physical searching crystallizes the contrast. Libraries require time and attention; they reward slow discovery. A fashion event that stages itself inside such a space draws attention to absence as well: the quiet rituals that have become rarer, especially among people whose work now plays across screens and feeds.

The library also reframed runway voyeurism into a different kind of performance. Attendees were not asked only to look; they were asked to offer. A book is a donation of taste and memory. When celebrities clasp a volume, they reveal something ranged between private confession and careful brand-building. That tension — between authenticity and curation — is at the heart of modern celebrity culture, and the setting amplified it.

The books themselves: personal narratives on display

The specific titles guests chose read like a map of motivations. Books reveal what people return to when they imagine themselves at ease, upset or reflective. They also act as props that code particular values.

• Naomi Watts — Jane Eyre Watts called Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre her “first love” and recounted walking with her nose buried in the book as a child. Jane Eyre is a classic of personal integrity and moral autonomy, a bildungsroman that’s equal parts romance and social critique. Choosing it as an emblem of early reading is also a way to signal literary seriousness while pointing to formative emotion: childhood love for a character that remains resonant into adulthood.
• Zoey Deutch — The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert) Deutch’s choice moved from private nostalgia to public urgency. Kolbert’s nonfiction account of human-driven species loss is a meticulous, journalistic chronicle that won a Pulitzer Prize and reframed popular conversations about extinction and habitat collapse. Carrying it to a fashion show functions less as a fashion accessory than a clear political signifier: an assertion that ecology matters, even in rooms devoted to style. Her mention of adopting Kindle reading adds an additional layer — a shift in medium that does not necessarily diminish the message.
• Joe Alwyn — James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl) Alwyn’s pick gestures toward mischievous childhood wonder. Dahl’s stories carry dark humor and a playful sense of danger. Choosing a children’s book reminds observers that adults keep childhood alive as an element of identity. It also softens public persona with an image of playfulness hard to achieve through garments alone.
• Jeff Satur — Muddy Face (Rachel McGrath) Muddy Face conjures ritual and memory. Satur described nightly readings as a child and emphasized the hope of passing that memory on. This book-as-ritual-sigil suggests another dimension: reading is not merely a solitary pastime but a connective practice that ties generations together.
• Alexander Skarsgård — Isländska Sagor Skarsgård’s decision to bring Old Norse-Icelandic sagas in Swedish underlines heritage and myth. The sagas function as cultural DNA: epic narratives that preserve community memory, law, genealogy and worldview. Bringing them in the original or translated language signals commitment to roots, to stories that form national or ethnic identity. His comment that he prefers fiction and dislikes doomscrolling situates him in the broader debate about the quality of attention.

These choices show how books can be intimate objects for public performance. The variety — classic novel, climate reporting, childhood tale, bedtime ritual, mythic saga — also underscores how reading binds together personal taste, political priority and cultural belonging.

Celebrity reading as deliberate personal branding

Public figures have long used belongings to craft identity: cars, homes, jewelry. Books add a cerebral layer. A book carried in hand is a statement in three registers simultaneously: what the person likes, what they want to be seen liking, and what they may wish to signal to particular publics (literary-minded, environmentally conscious, nostalgic, culturally rooted).

The optics are powerful because books are legible. A passerby can recognize a title and make a quick inference. That immediacy makes books a useful tool for branding yet harder to stage than an accessory that has no legible content. When a celebrity holds a copy of Jane Eyre rather than a blank notebook, an audience receives a specific story about the bearer.

Celebrities also use books to display distinctions: intellectual curiosity, moral concern, cultural capital. Zoey Deutch bringing The Sixth Extinction signals alignment with environmental discourse; Naomi Watts’ Jane Eyre signals literary pedigree and emotional continuity; Skarsgård’s sagas highlight heritage. These are not accidental choices. Public figures and their teams choreograph appearances to produce narratives that extend beyond the clothing.

Yet there remains a tension between authenticity and performance. Naomi Watts’ admission of doomscrolling more than reading offers a candid counterpoint to curated image-making. That blend — a carefully staged reveal combined with a frank admission of modern habit — can enhance credibility. The most effective uses of books in public life balance visible curation with small, believable moments of vulnerability.

There’s also a practical branding advantage. A book’s portability allows for quick, repeatable performances. At a red carpet, at a press junket, or on a subway, a book is a consistent prop that communicates across contexts. The fashion world’s embrace of the book-as-accessory is an efficient way to add conceptual depth to a look without altering the clothes themselves.

Books as accessories: a seasonal trend or timeless tactic?

Fashion has always used objects to communicate. Handbags, hats, sunglasses and scarves are traditional accessories. Books introduce a different register: objects of thought rather than mere ornament. That difference matters because it encourages spectators to interpret rather than merely admire.

When guests carry books to a show, the object does the work of storytelling. The act of holding a book rather than a phone flips expectations about attention. A phone suggests constant connectivity and performative sociality. A book implies absorption, focus and personal investment. The contrast is rhetorically useful, especially at an event that is saturated with images and instant commentary.

It’s difficult to say whether this will become a sustained trend or remain a striking one-off. Objects that confer layered meaning tend to be adopted quickly by fashion-conscious audiences seeking ways to stand out. If more shows ask guests to bring objects — poems, records, heirlooms — the broader effect could be a mild revaluation of accessories: from status-signaling markers to narrative devices.

Street style photographers often seize on unusual props. A person seen carrying a book that aligns with their public persona can amplify attention. Some designers may incorporate books into their staging or even produce limited-edition volumes as brand collaborations. Given the appetite for novelty, expect the appearance of books at shows to repeat — though the sincerity of the gesture will vary.

Nostalgia and ritual: readers reclaiming slowness

Naomi Watts’ emotional reaction to returning to a library captures a broader cultural craving for slow ritual. Libraries anchor habits: deliberate search, quiet reading, tactile interaction with printed pages. Those practices are increasingly rare for a generation whose default interactions with text are fleeting and mediated by algorithms.

The memory of walking with “nose buried” in a book speaks to formative sensory experiences that shape identity. Childhood reading imprints not merely content but modes of being: linear attention, deep concentration, the pleasure of discovery. Recreating that scene in a public, performative context is a way to assert value for those modes against a backdrop of constant distraction.

That assertion carries social significance. When high-profile figures publicly celebrate slow reading, it can normalize and valorize habits that run counter to the dopamine-feedback cycles of social platforms. It also highlights the social inequities in access to slow time: reading requires not only books but space and time to read. Libraries, as public institutions, are one response to that inequality.

The ritualistic element also matters. Jeff Satur’s desire to pass on Muddy Face as a bedtime tradition emphasizes reading as a connective practice rather than a solitary consumption. Stories structure families. They provide continuity across generations and preserve the rhythms of domestic life that fast-moving careers and public attention often disrupt.

Climate urgency amid couture: when nonfiction becomes a statement

Zoey Deutch’s decision to bring Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction introduced clear political content into a room that can otherwise be aestheticized. The book is a rigorous, reportorial account of biodiversity loss and human culpability. Bringing it to a fashion show is not an abstract gesture; it aligns an aesthetic institution with a scientific and ethical urgency.

Fashion has been grappling with sustainability for years. The industry’s environmental toll, from textile waste to carbon-intensive supply chains, has spurred campaigns and design pivots. A celebrity publicly endorsing a climate book at a major fashion event converts individual taste into institutional conversation. It suggests that the culture surrounding fashion can — and perhaps should — accommodate urgent topics.

The symbolic power of such a choice is amplified by the audience. Fashion weeks draw journalists, buyers and influencers. A visible interest in climate nonfiction among attendees can accelerate dialogue within the industry and encourage wider media attention. It also signals that environmental consciousness is not just a backstage concern but part of the cultural identity brands and celebrities wish to project.

Yet symbolism alone is not sufficient. The gap between pronouncement and practice remains wide. A book carried by a guest should ideally connect to tangible actions: sustainable sourcing, transparent supply chains, circular design. Still, the presence of a climate book on a guest list raises the stakes of conversation and may nudge behavior.

Language, heritage and the politics of translation

Alexander Skarsgård’s Isländska Sagor illustrates how literature functions as cultural preservation. Sagas are repositories of law, myth and social memory. Carrying them publicly reasserts lineage and national storytelling traditions.

Selecting a text in one’s native language adds another layer. It reminds observers that not all culture aligns with Anglophone or globalized literary canons. Presenting a book in Swedish at Paris Fashion Week makes a visual argument about multilingual worlds surviving inside global culture. The choice resists homogenization and claims space for local histories.

Language choices also influence reception. A Swedish-language book may be opaque to most attendees, complicating the immediate semiotics of the gesture. But opacity can be meaningful: it preserves privacy even while signaling depth. The book becomes an emblem that resists full translation into a simple public message, creating curiosity without the demand for explanation.

This is a point fashion often courts: the mystique of not-fully-legible objects. A garment whose fabric is unfamiliar can provoke more interest than one completely legible at a glance. Similarly, a book in another language invites questions, fosters dialogue and foregrounds the diversity of literary worlds.

Digital habits: Kindle, doomscrolling and the attentional economy

Several guests offered candid remarks about their current reading habits. Zoey Deutch said she had “adopted the Kindle life,” while Naomi Watts admitted to being “a bit more of a doomscroller than a reader these days.” Alexander Skarsgård explicitly said he “tries not to doomscroll.”

These confessions reflect a wider cultural shift. E-readers offer convenience, portability and access, and many readers have moved partially or wholly to digital formats. That migration changes the phenomenology of reading: page-turning yields to screen swipes; physical weight vanishes; discoverability increases. For some, the Kindle enhances reading habits by removing logistical friction. For others, it erodes edges of ritual and sensory pleasure.

Doomscrolling — the compulsive consumption of bad news online — has emerged as a competing attention pattern. Unlike reading a book, doomscrolling tends to be discrete, diffuse and anxiety-promoting. Public figures who admit to doomscrolling humanize the tension many people feel between informed citizenship and emotional overload.

The celebrities’ remarks suggest an awareness of these trade-offs. Some embrace e-readers for practical reasons; others insist on fiction or traditional texts to preserve a particular quality of attention. The fashion event itself favored the tactile: real books for a tactile tableau. The choice might be performative, but it also offers a small counterstrategy to the ubiquity of screens.

Libraries, visibility and the cultural afterlife of public institutions

Staging an event inside a library reframes public institutions as part of contemporary cultural life rather than relics of the past. Libraries occupy a paradox: they are public, municipal resources but also intimate personal spaces. Their participation in high-profile events can highlight their ongoing relevance.

Visibility matters. When a fashion show brings cameras into a library, it introduces that institution to audiences who might not otherwise visit. The increased attention can lead to donations, renewed interest in programs or partnerships between cultural institutions and fashion houses. Yet there’s also a risk: turning civic spaces into branded backdrops can feel like instrumentalization rather than partnership.

A balanced approach requires reciprocity. If brands use libraries for spectacle, they could also support them materially — donations to collections, funding literacy programs or underwriting community outreach. That would connect the aesthetic choice to civic stewardship, anchoring the spectacle in sustained public benefit.

For visitors, the tactile architecture of places like Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève matters. Libraries embody a commitment to shared knowledge. Their presence at fashion week is a reminder that cultural life rests on public infrastructure: places where ideas are stored and exchanged. Bringing fashion into those rooms reframes the industry as part of a larger cultural ecosystem rather than a closed, self-referential market.

Real-world echoes: fashion and literature intersect elsewhere

This Valentino event is not an isolated phenomenon. Designers and brands have long woven literary references into their work. Collections have been inspired by iconic writers, and fashion houses have staged shows in cultural institutions. But asking guests to bring books literalizes the link between narrative and apparel.

Publishers and brands have experimented with collaborations: limited-edition books, branded bookmarks, and special covers. Celebrity book clubs and endorsements can boost sales dramatically; Oprah’s Book Club remains the most famous example of how celebrity readership influences publishing markets. When fashion celebrities choose books publicly, they can have measurable effects on visibility and, potentially, sales.

Even beyond commerce, literature influences design thinking. Storytelling structures inform seasonal narratives, mood boards and advertising campaigns. Designers borrow characters, settings and plot arcs to craft collections with narrative coherence. Conversely, books sometimes draw on fashion imagery in their covers or promotional campaigns.

These exchanges are mutually reinforcing. A fashion moment in a library underscores that cultural production is porous: visual design, written narrative, performance and civic life intersect constantly.

Practical takeaways: how to make the library ritual yours

The Valentino show made reading look fashionable. For readers who want to recover a library ritual or simply read more, practical steps can help translate spectacle into habit.

• Schedule short, regular reading blocks. Ten to twenty minutes before bed replaces doomscrolling without demanding an overhaul of your day.
• Choose physical books when you want ritual and e-books when you want portability. Each format offers distinct benefits; mixing them can preserve both convenience and sensory pleasure.
• Make reading social. Book clubs, gifts of books to friends, or sharing a passage at dinner turn reading into a connective practice akin to Jeff Satur’s bedtime ritual.
• Curate your environment. Create a small reading nook: a lamp, a comfortable chair, a stack of titles. The environment signals to your brain that this time is different.
• Use library resources. Libraries loan books, offer community spaces and host programming. Membership is often free; making use of these resources saves money and supports civic institutions.
• Reclaim attention. Turn off notifications or use focused time apps during reading sessions. Approaching reading as an intentional break rather than fragmented moments can preserve depth.
• Start with short or familiar texts. Children’s books, novellas or essays can restore confidence in concentrated reading. Revisiting a favorite childhood book, as many celebrities did, can reconnect you to why you enjoyed reading initially.

Those tactics emphasize habit formation rather than perfection. The point is less to reclaim a lost ideal of uninterrupted reading than to replace scattered online browsing with moments of attentive focus.

The cultural aftershocks: what this gesture might influence

Events like Valentino’s library show ripple slowly. In the short term, social feeds will fill with images of celebrities holding books, journalists will note the titles, and bookstores might see spikes in interest. Longer-term effects are subtler.

First, the gesture may encourage other cultural institutions to collaborate with fashion in ways that emphasize content rather than only spectacle. A museum exhibition might invite designers to respond with garments, or brands might invest in literary programming. Second, the visibility of library spaces at high-profile events might bolster public support for funding and preservation. Third, the use of books as accessories can normalize intellectual signaling in celebrity culture, shifting fashion’s language from purely visual to narrative.

Finally, the event underscores an ongoing negotiation about attention. Whether the library moment catalyzes sustained changes in reading habits remains uncertain. Still, its publicness matters. When celebrities admit to doomscrolling, carry climate books or reflect fondly on childhood tales, they open space for conversation about how culture allocates value between speed and depth.

FAQ

Q: Which celebrities attended and what books did they bring? A: On the guest list referenced, Naomi Watts brought Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre; Zoey Deutch brought Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction; Joe Alwyn brought Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach; Thai star Jeff Satur brought Muddy Face by Rachel McGrath; and Alexander Skarsgård brought Isländska Sagor, a collection of Icelandic sagas in Swedish.

Q: Why was the show held at Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève? A: The space’s historical and architectural character offers cultural gravity. Libraries connote knowledge, memory and civic life, creating a setting that contrasts with commercial spectacle and foregrounds a dialogue about attention, heritage and ritual.

Q: Are celebrities genuinely choosing these books for personal reasons or for publicity? A: Motives vary. Some choices clearly reflect personal history and taste — Naomi Watts’ lifelong affection for Jane Eyre, for instance. Others carry political weight, like Deutch’s climate nonfiction. A mixture of genuine preference and considered public signaling is common; authenticity and curation often coexist.

Q: Did the books function as fashion accessories or as statements? A: Both. Books operated as accessories because they accompanied an outfit and contributed to visual storytelling. Simultaneously, they functioned as statements by signaling political concerns, childhood memories or cultural heritage.

Q: Will this trend influence how fashion houses stage future shows? A: It may. Designers continuously seek meaningful settings and novel gestures. Using cultural institutions and asking for participatory objects creates richer narratives. Whether this becomes a sustained practice will depend on audience reception and how brands convert spectacle into substance.

Q: Where can I find these books? A: Most titles are widely available through bookstores, libraries and e-retailers. The Sixth Extinction and Jane Eyre are standard offerings in both print and digital formats. Children’s titles like James and the Giant Peach are available in many editions. Check your local library for copies or request them through interlibrary loan if needed.

Q: How can I avoid doomscrolling and reclaim reading time? A: Set aside short, consistent reading slots; establish a cozy environment; switch off disruptive notifications during reading; alternate between physical books and e-books depending on need; and join book groups to make reading social and habitual.

Q: Does carrying a book at a public event have measurable cultural impact? A: Impact is difficult to quantify immediately but can be meaningful. Celebrity endorsements and visible choices often increase attention to titles, potentially boosting sales and public discussion. More broadly, such gestures can normalize certain values — attention to climate, heritage or reading rituals — within cultural conversations.

Q: How can brands support libraries beyond spectacle? A: Brands can commit funding for acquisitions, donate to literacy programs, endow community outreach, offer paid partnerships that respect institutional autonomy and promote access rather than merely using libraries as backdrops.

Q: Is the choice of book genre significant? A: Yes. Fiction often signals a preference for storytelling and empathy; nonfiction like Kolbert’s signals a political or civic concern; children’s books emphasize ritual and generational continuity; mythic texts highlight heritage. The genre informs the message a bearer intends to send.

Q: Will fashion's relationship with civic institutions change public perception of libraries? A: It might. High-visibility events can introduce libraries to audiences who hadn't considered them recently. But sustained changes in public perception require ongoing engagement, funding, and programming that extend beyond episodic events.

Q: What does this event say about the relationship between culture and commerce? A: It exposes an interplay where commerce leverages cultural capital for meaning while cultural institutions gain visibility from commercial platforms. The value of that exchange depends on whether it produces mutual benefit and respect rather than mere instrumentalization.

Q: How can I participate in similar cultural moments in my community? A: Attend library events, volunteer for literacy programs, bring a book to public gatherings as a conversation starter, organize local "book as accessory" nights, or collaborate with community spaces to host readings and talks that pair literature and local creative industries.

Q: Do books carried at events need to be recent or can they be old favorites? A: Either works. Old favorites emphasize continuity and personal history; recent titles can reflect current concerns or recent intellectual engagements. The key is intentionality — the chosen book should communicate something meaningful for the bearer.

Q: Are there ethical considerations when brands use cultural spaces? A: Yes. Ethical use involves ensuring the institution consents, benefits materially or visibility-wise, and retains ownership of its mission. Brands should avoid commodifying civic spaces without reciprocal support and respect for institutional integrity.

Q: Can a single public gesture (like bringing a book) change reading habits in society? A: A single gesture rarely transforms habits alone, but repeated visibility from public figures can normalize practices and influence culture over time. Practical habit change depends on infrastructure (libraries, access), personal time, and social reinforcement.

Q: What else did attendees reveal about their reading habits? A: Several admitted shifts: transitioning to Kindle for convenience, resisting doomscrolling, or preferring fiction as a refuge. These small admissions make the public image more relatable and suggest that even highly visible figures negotiate modern information environments.

Q: How do national or linguistic choices (like Isländska Sagor) affect the gesture? A: They emphasize diversity and the persistence of local narratives within global culture. Language choices complicate immediate legibility but expand the discourse to include multilingual heritage, resisting homogenization.

Q: Where can I learn more about Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève? A: Visit the library itself, check its official websites and exhibition schedules, or consult architectural and historical resources that discuss its design and role in public life. Engaging with local archives and cultural programming will offer context about its collection and public mission.

Q: Should fashion show guests always bring books now? A: There is no obligation. The practice works when it aligns genuinely with the event’s theme and the participants’ intentions. When done thoughtfully, the ritual can add depth. When performed superficially, it risks becoming a hollow gesture.

The Valentino library show reframed a fashion moment into an argument about attention, memory and public culture. Books, when carried by public figures in a civic setting, ask spectators to read people as much as they read pages. Whether this translates into sustained changes in reading habits, institutional support or industry practices remains uncertain, but the image of celebrities moving through stacks with beloved books in hand has already remapped what accessories can mean: not only taste but testimony.