Kaia Gerber and Dôen launch a book-club inspired summer dress

Kaia Gerber and Dôen dropped the Cordelia Dress on June 18, a $298 white mini that makes her book-club image feel less like an aesthetic and more like product. The new style is Dôen’s second collaboration with Library Science, the online book club Gerber co-founded with Alyssa Reeder, and it was built, the brand said, with “dreamy summer reading and vacation escapes in mind.”

The dress itself is pure polished ease: a ’60s-inspired silhouette with wider-than-spaghetti straps, a square neckline, a crisp cotton poplin body, a lace-trimmed hem and peach ribbon detail. Dôen has also framed it as a piece that can move through a day three ways, worn as an easy daytime dress, a swim cover-up or even a nightgown. That flexibility is the point. It takes the soft-focus language of reading culture and turns it into something that can be worn, photographed and sold without any extra styling homework.

Library Science officially launched in March 2024 with a tidy but smart mission, spotlight books outside the usual bestseller churn while backing debut writers, new voices and overlooked or underrepresented stories. Dôen traced the collaboration’s roots back to 2020, when Library Science started hosting Instagram Live interviews with Gerber and authors including Jia Tolentino and Jeremy O. Harris. That origin matters because the clothes are not just borrowing a vibe, they are borrowing the trust and intimacy of a very specific kind of cultural circle: the modern book club that doubles as a taste engine.

The launch came with a summer reading list that keeps the branding tight. Gerber’s July pick is Eric Rohmer’s Élisabeth, joined by Ruins, Child by Giada Scodellaro, Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth and Fairy Tales by Robert Walser. The message is clear: this is not generic “reader girl” merch, it is literary signaling with names attached and a wardrobe option to match.

Dôen and Library Science have done this before. In December 2024, they released the Lillian Nightgown, a $248 semi-sheer piece with eyelet trim, mother-of-pearl buttons and an embroidered LS crest. Dôen said 20 percent of profits from that item went to Room to Read, the nonprofit focused on literacy and gender equality, and the new Cordelia Dress keeps that same lane open. The business is obvious, but so is the appeal: Gerber’s book-club persona now comes with a white cotton dress that can move from lunch to the beach to bed, and that is exactly how soft cultural capital becomes an easy bestseller.