Fashion's swot team

Fashion has long sought to elevate its perception beyond surface-level aesthetics, but in a sea of AI slop, those who think the loudest stand out. At the spring/summer shows the keenest front-row flex was not the Hollywood starlet but the woman of words.

Zadie Smith attended British-design star Louise Trotter’s debut at Bottega Veneta (as well as starring in her first campaign). Miranda July and Ottessa Moshfegh were guests at Celine. Louis Vuitton’s SS26 campaign saw Jennifer Connolly draped across a pile of architecture and design tomes. And Dior’s new book totes are emblazoned like an A-Level reading list: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary.

Performative reading is as old as the printing press, but lately a more nuanced status has arisen around the culture of deeper thinking. Fashion brands are ditching parties for panel talks and discussions; at a Prada event in October, guests enjoyed appearances from architect Elizabeth Diller and the artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien.

There is, of course, a look to work with this lean into this showy intellectualism. Broadly, it’s preppy classics with a dose of scruff: shirt collars peek out from crewneck jumpers; knee-length skirts with pussybow blouses, socks and court shoes; half-zip sweaters; collegiate scarves; statement wire-rimmed glasses.

In earlier times, fashion influencers on social media simply pictured their outfits, but the new viral voices are nerds. Hanan Besovic (@ideserevecouture on Instagram) has found fame – and a place on the Fashion Awards judging committee) – through his geeky fashion history-attuned critiques. A recent post featuring a potted history of Issey Miyake garnered 31,700 likes.

“There’s a reinvention of cerebralism as cool, and intellectual kudos as a bragging right,” the trend forecaster Lucie Greene says. Greene connects the trend to the onslaught of AI and “the dumbing down of uniquely human skills like critical thinking, empathy, writing and creativity. Real, actual knowledge is becoming fetishised.”

It fits that Substack is an emerging platform of choice among the well-known: popstars such as Charli xcx and Doechii have both recently taken to essay writing. “The idea of what an influencer is is shifting,” Greene adds. “I’m seeing architecture, literary and history buffs.” It’s never been cooler to be a swot.

Photograph by Angele Chatenet