If you’re guilty of carrying around a beaten-up New Yorker tote (it’s okay, you’re among friends), perhaps look to Emily Ratajkowski for slightly less omnipresent literary merch.
The model and author took a stroll in New York City today, wearing a brown oversized leather jacket over a graphic tee, green Helfrich Collective sweatpants, Dezi sunglasses, and pair of neon green Loewe Cloudtilt sneakers. But on her head was the pièce de résistance: a navy baseball cap embroidered with The Paris Review’s name in light pink.
Ratajkowski regularly cites the books she’s reading on her Instagram, from authors such as Hilton Als, Joan Didion, Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton, and Ocean Vuong—and is also, per IG highlights, putting her New Yorker subscription to good use. She cements her literary babe status with accompanying merch: In 2020, she was spotted carrying an Online Ceramics tote decorated with authors including Shel Silverstein, Mary Shelley, and…J.K. Rowling. (It’s probably no coincidence that the bag hasn’t seen the light of day in a while.)
Ratajkowski wore her The Paris Review hat at a moment in which such attire is a hot topic for the first time since the Sally Rooney Beautiful World, Where Are You bucket hats went live in 2021. The brand Minor Canon recently released a collection of “Contemporary Women” baseball caps, featuring the names of female authors including Zadie Smith, Elif Batuman, Rachel Kushner, and Joyce Carol Oates. While some lauded the hats, others were more conscious of their potential virtue signaling—we get it, you read!—amplified by the fact that the brand had not asked the living authors for permission to use their names. The brand’s founder, Saelan Twerdy, has offered an apology and paused orders until he is granted formal permission to use authors’ names. Perhaps he’ll come back with a hat for My Body author Emily Ratajkowski?
