{"id":73452,"date":"2026-10-08T12:13:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=73452"},"modified":"2026-10-08T12:15:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T08:15:56","slug":"read-the-room-valentino-alix-earle","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/read-the-room-valentino-alix-earle\/","title":{"rendered":"Read the Room: Valentino, Alix Earle & Why Reading Still Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo: Valentino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This fashion month, the most revealing thing a woman could carry was a book.<\/p>\n

First came Alix Earle, who told Interview<\/em> she’s never read one. \u201cI\u2019ve never read a book,\u201d she said, before adding, \u201cLike, maybe Dr. Seuss<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0The internet took it about as well as you\u2019d expect, and, soon enough, the comment section on every Instagram post that reported this news was full of people labelling her \u201csad\u201d and \u201cembarrassing\u201d. But, beneath the jokes and indignation sat a more uncomfortable question: when did having no interest in books become a charming personality quirk? Just like the iced coffee debate was never about the actual coffee, this one isn\u2019t about the book.<\/p>\n

Then came Valentino. At Alessandro Michele\u2019s Spring\/Summer 2027 show, held in Paris\u2019s Biblioth\u00e8que Sainte-Genevi\u00e8ve, guests were asked to arrive with a book. Cynthia Erivo, for example, brought James Baldwin\u2019s Giovanni\u2019s Room<\/em>. Suddenly, and suddenly the front row had something to discuss beyond who was wearing what.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: @maisonvalentino, Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Read together, the two moments offered a remarkably neat portrait of our relationship with literature: something we can apparently dispense with entirely, and something we still reach for when we want to express who we are. And I\u2019m firmly<\/em> with Valentino. What unsettles me about Alix\u2019s admission is the ease with which a life without literature is presented to an impressionable audience as something amusing, even endearing.<\/p>\n

The world is in a dark enough place without making incuriosity aspirational. Books give us the space to hear people whose voices are routinely drowned out, to understand lives far removed from our own, and to question the comfortable assumptions we\u2019ve inherited. They ask us to sit with someone else\u2019s experience for longer than it takes to swipe past it. When so much public conversation trades in caricature and division, choosing to read feels like a small but necessary act of responsibility.<\/p>\n

So this is your invitation to visit a local bookshop this week. Bonus points for supporting a homegrown business before reflexively opening Amazon. Buy a book by a Black author, a female author, someone whose experience of the world is different from yours. Borrow one from a friend and ask why they loved it. You don\u2019t need an impressive reading list or a beautifully curated bookshelf. Just a little curiosity and the willingness to give someone else\u2019s story your attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29103,"featured_media":73454,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[260,35],"yoast_head":"\nRead The Room: Valentino, Alix Earle And Why Reading Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reading is as important now than ever, and the Valentino runway alongside Alix Earle's "I've never read a book" moment shows just that.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/read-the-room-valentino-alix-earle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Read the Room: Valentino, Alix Earle & Why Reading Still Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reading is as important 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