S7 Ep. 26: En Vogue: Sally Franson on Fashion and Literature

Novelist Sally Franson joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about Fashion Week 2024, the role fashion plays in characterization, and how stylish authors and characters have modeled and influenced tastes and trends. Franson reflects on her time working in the industry and discusses insiders’ perceptions of various Fashion Weeks around the globe. She discusses literary style icons including Isabel Archer, Nancy Mitford, James Baldwin, and Bridget Jones, and considers the influence of fashion in her first novel, A Lady’s Guide To Selling Out, which has just been reissued in paperback. She reads an excerpt from that book.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Sally Franson

A Lady’s Guide To Selling Out 

Big In Sweden (forthcoming)

"Shoe Obsession for the Ages: Prince’s Killer Collection of Custom Heels, Now on View" August 3, 2021 | The New York Times

Others:

"Top 10 best-dressed characters in fiction" by Amanda Craig, July 1, 2020 | The Guardian 

“The Best Looks from New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024” | Elle.com

"Off the page: fashion in literature" by Helen Gordon, September 18, 2009 | The Guardian

"Literature-inspired menswear collections for summer 2024" by Paschal Mourier| France24

"Anna Sui’s new collection is inspired by Agatha Christie, so obviously the runway was at the Strand." by Emily Temple | Literary Hub

James Baldwin

Joan Didion

Not-Knowing by Donald Barthelme

Rachel Comey and The New York Review of Books

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh  

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

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