Where I got all my book tour outfits

Since you asked!!!

Weekly Q&A:

Q: How do you put together your book tour lewks?

A: Bless you for asking. As both a delulu girly and a try-hard, I delight in the ~costuming~ aspect of book tour. The looks can serve almost as an extension of the book, or a world-building element, if you want them to! For my Wordslut events in 2019, I just wore a ton of bright yellow to match the cover. Since it was my debut book, I was all about simple, joyful, to-the-point brand recognition. Then I sadly didn’t get to go anywhere when Cultish came out since it was the middle of 2021 COVID lockdown, but I took a bunch of promo photos in a long, billowy, Midsommar-esqe white dress. For that look, I was truly just leaning into the culty bit. By contrast, theTAOMO book tour aesthetic involved a great deal of plaids, suiting, matching sets, and bold glasses. The vibe was cheeky professor-core. Brand IDs are below!

I found this Staud suit on super-sale and splurged on it for my book launch in LA with Pauline Chalamet. The blazer is still available online at Saks Fifth Avenue for $185! The shoes are Jeffrey Campbell and I wore them allllll throughout the tour. Glasses are Warby Parker. Photo by Juliet Jackson.

What I wore to my NYC event at The Strand. It’s an English Factory puffy sleeve top (I live for a puffy sleeve) with a massive collar you can’t see here, a Doll’s Kill skirt, and a Doen sweater vest I got as a holiday present, some sheer tights, and those same Jeffrey shoes. Photo by Jasmeet Arora.

I outfit-repeated this pink English Factory suit for two Big Magical Cult Shows, just with different styling. This look is from my Chicago event, complete with a Doll’s Kill one-piece and Anine Bing silver heels. Photo by @hannahdigitals.

Another English Factory plaid suit! I dig this brand because the clothes are sassy and not too expensive. I wore this Clueless-esque set (which came with a blazer and matching skort) to a couple different NYC book engagements paired with my favorite Main Character zip-up sweater, which I thrifted for like $30. Socks are from a trendy boutique in my neighborhood called Haley Solar. Glasses are Warby!

This is a silk Doen dress I got last Black Friday. I wore it to my Portland book event, but I also wear it in my real life all the time. I even wore it to get engaged lol.

This was a chic little book event I got to do at the Rachel Comey store in LA with my friend, novelist Sheila Marikar, whose second book Friends in Napa launched a week before TAOMO. I wore this matching Rachel Comey set and continue to wear it about once a week to get my money’s worth lol.

The above video is from my Washington DC event! The leather pants are Levi’s, silver shoes are those same ones by Anine Bing, and the blazer is by a brand called Lattelier. It’s actually still available and currently on sale!

There’s less than a month left to sign up for my Italy trip :)

Bookings for my write-and-travel-with-me excursion in Southern Italy this October 13-19 close the second week of August, which is swiftly approaching! If any part of you is curious about this adventure, I SO hope you tap the button below to learn more. This trip requires absolutely zero literary background and is genuinely for folks of all travel/writing experience levels. The point of the trip is not necessarily to outline your novel, it’s to romanticize your life! Watch the above video for a taste of the vibes, and click below for more info :)

This week on Sounds Like A Cult…

If you’ve ever seen a suburban lady wearing a tee shirt that reads, “I wine because he whines” or “I’m not a normal mom, I’m a wine mom,” then you have likely born witness to a follower of this week’s “cult.” Wine moms may have nailed the merch aspect of modern-day fanaticism with their culture of “rosé all day,” and there’s certainly valid solidarity in venting about the hardships of American motherhood over a glass of Prosecco or two. But… ten? At the kids’ soccer practice? Is any group that aims to cutesify alcoholism en masse ever not at least a “Watch Your Back”-level cult??? To help us figure it out, please welcome this week’s special guest host, survivor of both the wine mom cult AND the cult of MLMs (no small feat!!), author and sobriety coach Emily Lynn Paulson. The episode drops first thing tomorrow!

I started taking a pottery course… and I’m really bad at it lol.

I’m trying a new hobby this summer as a way to get out of my workaholic era, and goodness me, am I terrible lol. Bottom 10% of the class for sure. And there are only 10 of us. Any tips for not getting discouraged as I fumble my way through this new pottery pursuit? Pls and ty!

A weekly roundup of books, podcasts, TV shows, tchotchkes, and anything else I’m currently “cult following.”

Book: Women

This transformative 2014 novella by Chloe Caldwell was my bisexual awakening. It was just re-released by a big publisher, which is a rare and exciting thing. Buy it!!!

TV: Sunny

Anyone else watching this new A24 Rashida Jones series on Apple TV? It’s kinda scratching my macabre-comedy upmarket SciFi itch as I wait for Severance to come back.

Music: Sometimes

I loveeeee the girl-band Trousdale (fans of Haim, prepare to fall in love), and I loveeeeee the artist Ben Abraham (he sings like Phil Collins and written for Ben Platt), so naturally, I loveeeeee this jaunty new summer song they just put out as a collab!

Unnecessary purchase: Grown Alchemist Polishing Facial Exfoliant

Here’s 2017-era beauty editor Amanda recommending a bougie-ass face scrub. It smells like a fancy LA spa and makes my face feel like butter. I have it in the little travel size, which is only $15, but a little goes a long way!