Literary fame is normally measured in best sellers, Pulitzer Prizes and late show appearances. But Patrick Radden Keefe, a staff writer at The New Yorker, has achieved a level of celebrity that most of his literary peers have probably never even considered: He has been a fashion model.
Days into the new year, J. Crew released Instagram shots of Mr. Keefe modeling the brand’s zip-up Harrington jacket, knee-length trench coat and a suit and tie. Some of the outfits, like the trench coat over a navy suit and brown flecked tie, are quite “All the President’s Men,” casting Mr. Keefe, 48, in the throwback image of a hard-nosed reporter.
While Mr. Keefe described his swipe-and-you-missed-it modeling stint as a “lark,” he is not the first New Yorker luminary to model for a fashion label — and a mall-bound fashion label at that. In 1989, Joan Didion, then a year into contributing for The New Yorker, modeled in a Gap ad alongside her daughter, Quintana Roo. The pair, in matching black turtlenecks, looked like the chicest beatniks on the block. Ms. Didion was billed simply as “writer.”