Some books are made for summer reading.

As the season reaches its end, we asked members of our Luxury Law Alliance advisory board about the books on their summer reading shelves.

Not surprisingly, Louis Vuitton’s Tiffani McDonough just finished a fashion biography, By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register by Piper Huguley. This is the untold story of how Ann Lowe, a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves, rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design former First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress. Tiffani’s business reading has focused on editing her chapter for the new edition of The Business and Law of Fashion and Retail (Kolsun/Hand, Carolina Academic Press). Originally published in 2020, she co-wrote the employment law chapter. The edition is slated to be released at the end of the year. At Louis Vuitton, Tiffani serves as a director and senior counsel for employment and litigation.  

For Marc Jacobs’ global in-house counsel Ava Farshidi, her summer book bag included two business books. She describes the first, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin, as an easy read into the psychology of why some brands sink and why others become a purple cow. “Like Seth Godin’s other books, he makes you think about your own practices in a digestible format that is still relevant despite being published 20 years ago. It’s the perfect size for travel or a beach read,” she said.

The second book is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Reviews of the book note that it may be the right read if you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding. Ava explains: “Haidt reframes the question and makes you question moral standards and how they are established in society. It then helps shape why constituents support certain parties and groups and whether it’s nature versus nurture that dictates our own belief system.” An interesting read indeed for the November presidential election in the US.

Burberry principal counsel Glenda O’Hara also has two books on her summer reading list. When Glenda saw The Intelligence Trap by David Robson’s sub-title: Revolutionise your Thinking and Make Wiser Decisions, she said to herself: “How can I not read a book described in this way?” The book’s premise is that smart people are not only just as prone to making mistakes as everyone else, they may be even more susceptible to them. It’s a fascinating and provocative debut book for Robson.

Glenda describes Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard as her “fun” summer reading book. “I’m looking forward to reading her thoughts on the cultural assumptions about women’s relationship with power,” she said. In the book, Beard addresses the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Beard herself. Women & Power traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial.

Kate Anthony Wilkinson said she “devoured” five novels during her summer holiday. Kate is group general counsel and company secretary at Group General Counsel & Company Secretaryat at  Mulberry Group. “I have just come back from my hols, during which I devoured five novels – holiday reads and certainly not business books given that I spend most of the year reading technical books,” she said. She enjoyed and recommends The Secret River by Kate Grenville. Starting in London in the 1800s, the book is broken into different sections, each one following a period in the life of William Thornhill, a waterman on the River Thames and his wife. Painting a vivid picture of the tough life lived in the early 19th century, the reader learns how Thornhill makes ends meet and claws his way up to a bearable life. Until one mistake puts everything, including his life, in jeopardy. Pleading his way out of a hanging, Thornhill’s sentence is to be transported to Australia for the rest of his natural life.

Kate said she was drawn to this book for its subject matter as her son is currently working in Australia. “I have extended family who emigrated there in the early 20th century – £10 poms, not convicts. The descriptions of familiar places in London were vivid enough that they could be smelled; whilst the images painted of the secret river and the basic homesteads were full of graft but hope. With a colourful cast of characters, the book was a page-turner.”

Hadrian Beltrametti Walker, most recently general counsel of Kempinski Hotels, has a summer reading list that rivals Kate’s. While at the London Luxury Law Summit in June, he picked up two Law Over Borders titles, which are published by GLP. The first is Luxury Law edited by Fabrizio Jacobacci and Alan Behr and the second is Fashion Law, edited by Julia Holden. “I will be leafing through them to keep up to speed on relevant areas of the law. I have lots of free time this summer and what better time to learn something new than when in-between jobs,” he explained.

Beyond legal reading, Hadrian is reading four novels including La Regazza che Toccava il Cielo by Luca di Fulvio. The story takes place predominantly in Venice, a place Hadrian calls his home away from home, and was a gift from a dear friend. “Through this, I can escape to holidays even when stuck in day-to-day life,” he said.

He’s also reading a book his father lent him, Le Labyrinthe des Egares by Amin Naalouf, in which the author explores the polarisation of the world from a historical and political perspective. With Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pincker, Hadrian is reading about the human condition in the third millennium. If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives despite the world’s formidable problems. “It’s a more positive worldview, a breath of fresh air,” he said.