{"id":1581,"date":"2010-07-22T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2010-07-22T06:00:31","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T10:00:31","slug":"the-season-of-windblown-hair-or-the-zeitgeist-of-book-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=1581","title":{"rendered":"The Season of Windblown Hair \u2014 Or, the Zeitgeist of Book Covers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m so curious about how book-jacket trends develop. It’s probably just something in the zeitgeist that brings a whole season of, say, close-ups of hands or stripey socks and tennis shoes or flowers illuminated as if shot on a lightbox. Or close-ups of girls’ faces, or face parts, or the backs of teenagers’ heads, or blue-jeaned hips. Or, for that matter, entire herds of dustcovers with photos of dramatically lit girls framed by dark foliage or fabric.
\nBut I like to imagine a sort of book-cover Bryant Park fashion show, setting the trends for an upcoming season. It would go something like this:
\nWelcome, designers! So good to see you. We’re excited about the shape of book fashion these days; there are so many striking covers, gorgeous images, playful fonts. Let’s get started. Bring out the models!
\nThis year, we’re seeing a lot of florals:
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\nSpeaking of foliage, covers are really branching out:
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\nWings are not walking the runway as often this season as they were last fall, but they’re still making a bold statement:
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\nLadies and gentlemen, if you’re trying to find the true key to your readers’ hearts, look no further:
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\nThe male silhouette is enjoying a renaissance not seen since the 1970s. To a lesser degree, women and two-headed butlers try on this style. It’s catching on like a house afire. It’s always chic to flaunt a bold silhouette.
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\nAlso on the runway: photographs of modern girls in period costume. It’s a trend that’s gaining momentum.
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\nNo matter what century, gowns are always a la mode<\/em>. They look particularly fetching against a natural background:
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\nA hair tip for you ladies: girls these days are wearing it straight, long, and across their faces. (Edited to add some examples pointed out to us by alert reader Kelly Jensen, whose book-related blog is called Stacked<\/a>.)
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\nSometimes, a girl finds herself alone out in the big wild world. Once in a while, she has someone to share it with.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nSpeaking of couples, hands are in favor this season. lovers holding hands, almost holding hands, holding hands behind their girlfriends’ backs, hands forming hearts and stars, holding objects, hiding things…. Well, you get the picture.
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\nDo you have a face prepared to meet the faces you will meet? Below is just a sampling of the year’s models. Here’s looking at you, kid!
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\nTell me, fashionistas: what trends have you spotted? And what do you predict for next year?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m so curious about how book-jacket trends develop. It’s probably just something in the zeitgeist that brings a whole season of, say, close-ups of hands or stripey socks and tennis shoes or flowers illuminated as if shot on a lightbox. Or close-ups of girls’ faces, or face parts, or the backs of teenagers’ heads, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}