On what to wear on his book tour, Sedaris says: ‘I found a full-length robe made of raw linen, and I’m thinking, what if I wore that on tour? I like looking like I’m in a cult.’Anne Fishbein/Supplied
The Land and Its People is the latest collection of essays from David Sedaris, and it finds the bestselling essayist older, crankier and as sardonically insightful as ever.
In the book, out May 26, Sedaris safaris in Kenya and gets bitten by a dog in Portland, Ore. He has an audience with the Pope and gets mistaken for Woody Allen. He airs his grievances about iPad kids, New York scaffolding and people who don’t vote. When he’s not cataloguing the limitless expanse of human weirdness, however, he’s often obsessing over clothes.
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In one story, the American writer describes his love of Swiss luxury underwear; in another, he splurges on a cashmere cape by designer Rick Owens. He spends much of his visit to the Vatican coveting the ceremonial robes of the papal entourage before making a stop at legendary Roman tailor Gammarelli to buy a cassock of his own.
The Land and Its People isn’t a book about fashion per se, but that topic is one on which its author is always happy to hold forth, as he did when The Globe and Mail spoke to him on the eve of its launch and ahead of his book tour later this summer.
Is the big fashion haul dead?
Have you picked out outfits for your book tour?
It’s a hard thing, because when I’m on a book tour, all I think about is when I can do my laundry. If I’ve got trousers that need to be hung to dry, hotels don’t do that, so I need to pack things that can be washed and dried in a dryer. I found a full-length robe made of raw linen, and I’m thinking, what if I wore that on tour? I like looking like I’m in a cult.
Where did you get it?
Egg. It’s a store in London, and every woman I bring there goes absolutely crazy for it. Their clothes are really simple, but in amazing fabrics, and everything has big pockets. It’s one of my favourite places.
Have you been wearing the papal robe you bought in Rome?
All the time. I don’t wear it with the collar, but people still treat me really well when I wear it. I’ve been accessorizing it too – unbuttoning it to the waist with a raw linen tunic underneath and a black nylon skirt with netting over it. It looks great.
Do people often ask you about your clothes?
I was at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta wearing a Comme des Garçons vest that comes down to my knees and gives me the shape of a peanut, with a white Comme des Garçons skirt, when a concierge came up to me and asked, ‘Is that the native costume of your land?’ There’s nothing better you could hear.
Have you observed any trends in your recent travels?
Everyone needs to be comfortable all the time. When I’m doing a lecture, you think that everybody would say, ‘I’m going to a show tonight, I’ll get dressed up,’ but no, people just want to be comfortable, so I’ve brought people to the front of a long signing line just because they’re dressed nicely.
I think that’s how they should board planes: with the well-dressed people first, and then the people in pyjamas and gym shorts last. You’d see a lot more well-dressed people at the airport.
Any new designers you’re excited about?
A.Presse. I found them in Stockholm and was immediately taken. And there’s a designer called Kiko Kostadinov that I recently found – I bought two pieces that I really love. And JW Anderson for Dior. I really like some of what he’s made, though that’s a very different price point. I bought a pair of his shorts that cost $6,000.
Was it worth it?
They charge by the pound. They’re so heavy that the models on the runway all had their hands in their pockets, holding them up. I don’t even know how to describe it. They’re based on an early Dior dress, and they look like the Sydney Opera house, with wires and fins coming out of the back. You couldn’t just wear them out to dinner, because there’s no guarantee you’d be able to sit down in them.
It’s also hard to wear a jacket with them – the architecture of the fins would interfere with the bottom of a sport coat unless it was cropped. So now I need to find the right sport coat. It’s never-ending.
Do you have a go-to clothing gift you give people?
Years ago, Comme des Garçons made these scarves – just cotton, but really thick, really bright colours, and they didn’t cost that much in the scheme of things. I bought a lot of them to keep on hand. Not everyone would love them, but anyone who cares about clothes would be absolutely delighted. I wish I’d bought more when I had the chance.
David Sedaris will speak at Indigo bookstore in Toronto on June 2 and Vancouver on June 8.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
