Luxury labels are turning to writers, artists and thinkers to reach audiences increasingly tired of consumer-driven content. From literary campaigns to exclusive book clubs, intellectual culture is becoming the internet’s latest status symbol.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1848 novella White Nights has become an unexpected hit among Generation Z, with TikTok users sharing passages from the story of a lonely young man in St Petersburg. At the same time, videos explaining French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of economic, social and cultural capital are introducing a new generation to concepts once largely confined to academic circles.
Across social media, skincare routines and fashion hauls now compete for attention with philosophical quotations, literary recommendations and discussions of complex ideas. A new type of online personality is emerging: the intellectual influencer.
Unlike traditional influencers, who often build their audiences around products, lifestyles or aspirational consumption, these creators sell something less tangible: knowledge. Their subjects range from philosophy and quantum physics to geopolitics and literary theory, offering followers new ways to understand the world.
Their recommendations can also have a longer life than conventional social media content. A book list or an explanation of a philosophical concept can be saved, revisited and discussed long after a video has disappeared from the feed.
The trend has become so widespread that Dazed magazine has described it as an “epidemic of explainers”, with so-called thinkfluencers producing videos on almost every imaginable subject.
Yet the quality varies. Some creators draw on extensive research, while others offer simplified explanations designed primarily to satisfy social media algorithms that reward high volumes of content. Even so, the popularity of these videos suggests that many young people want their time online to feel more educational.
Victoria Ballester, 19, believes the trend partly reflects anxiety among young people about wasting time on the internet. Lists of recommended books and philosophical quotations can provide a sense of intellectual achievement, she argues, even when users do not follow through by reading the works themselves.
For some, the attraction is less about acquiring knowledge than appearing knowledgeable. Quoting a philosopher or displaying a classic novel can confer cultural prestige without requiring the effort traditionally associated with intellectual pursuits.
A more discerning audience
Researchers examining the trend suggest that many followers are the same people who once consumed conventional influencer content. But their preferences appear to be changing, with audiences becoming more selective and increasingly tired of posts built around aspiration and consumption.
Rather than rejecting algorithms, the shift may indicate that users are seeking more substantial material within the same platforms.
BookTok offers one indication of the scale of the phenomenon. According to data cited by El País, 59% of users aged 16 to 25 said an intellectual influencer had helped spark their interest in reading. In 2025, the hashtag #intellectualinfluencer generated more than 370 billion views across 52 million videos.
Violeta Dávila, founder of cultural consultancy Be Cooltural, says the abundance of superficial online content has encouraged audiences to seek a refuge in literature, art and philosophy. The same shift is influencing brands, which are increasingly interested in associating themselves with writers and cultural figures rather than conventional influencers.
Such content can also provide relatively welcoming spaces for discussion, often avoiding the polarisation and confrontational exchanges that dominate other parts of social media.
Luxury brands turn to writers and artists
Fashion houses have begun responding to the trend by incorporating intellectual and literary figures into their campaigns.
In 2025, Bottega Veneta chose novelist Zadie Smith for its Craft Is Our Language campaign. Smith, who publishes relatively infrequently and has expressed reservations about social media, offered the brand an image of intellectual independence and distance from the online noise.
Prada took a different approach, commissioning novelist Ottessa Moshfegh, author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, to write an original work of fiction for its spring-summer campaign. The story was published as a limited-edition volume with luxury binding and sold in the brand’s stores.
Other luxury labels have also moved into literary territory. Miu Miu launched an exclusive feminist book club that attracted large crowds during Milan Design Week, while Chanel organised a writers’ retreat at La Pausa, Gabrielle Chanel’s former home in Provence.
Valentino sponsored the Booker Prize in 2024, and Saint Laurent opened a bookstore on Paris’s Left Bank.
The growing relationship between fashion and literature is not limited to campaigns or cultural sponsorships. Books have also become fashionable objects in their own right. Zara sells T-shirts bearing the words “Read More”, while celebrities including Dua Lipa, Reese Witherspoon and Charlotte Casiraghi have turned their book clubs into influential platforms for literary recommendations.
Dávila argues that the cultural image of the nerd or bookworm has undergone a transformation. Intellectual interests, once considered unfashionable in some circles, are increasingly associated with attractiveness and good taste.
Ballester, who is reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, has noticed a similar development among her classmates. Carrying a copy of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy’s War and Peace in a transparent tote bag has become a way to signal literary taste.
When reading becomes a status symbol
In an era of endless scrolling and fragmented attention, a physical book can communicate something about its owner. It signals an interest that requires time, concentration and effort — qualities that are increasingly difficult to maintain in a digital environment.
Reading is also becoming a marker of distinction at a time when basic comprehension remains a challenge for many. Recent PISA results have highlighted difficulties among students in understanding written texts, reinforcing concerns about declining reading proficiency.
Books may therefore have acquired some of the appeal associated with other scarce or difficult-to-obtain things. The ability to concentrate on a long text, absorb complex ideas and spend time away from a screen can itself become a form of cultural capital.
“Reading is a virtuous activity,” Ballester says, arguing that readers are often presumed to possess a distinctive personality, making the habit attractive to others.
The intellectual influencer’s visual identity reflects this growing appeal. Carefully arranged bookshelves, handwritten notes, highlighted passages and minimalist desks have become familiar features of online posts. Dark turtlenecks, oversized reading glasses and warm lighting complete an aesthetic designed to suggest sophistication and intellectual authority.
But the popularity of this carefully constructed image raises a question: are audiences developing a deeper interest in ideas, or simply adopting a new way to display status?
The answer may lie somewhere between the two. Intellectual content can encourage genuine curiosity while also turning books and cultural references into accessories. As fashion brands move further into the literary world, the challenge will be to ensure that the pursuit of knowledge remains more than just another trend.
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