Since The Devil Wears Prada 2 has just been released in theaters, it’s only fitting that this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo features sapphic books with characters working in fashion.
For this square of the bingo card, read a book with a main character who’s involved in the fashion industry. She could be a designer, a stylist, a model, a creative director, or a fashion journalist or editor.
15 sapphic books with characters working in fashion
Below, you’ll find 15 recommended sapphic books with characters working in fashion.
Truth and Measure by Roslyn Sinclair
Jules Moretti is newly single, an aspiring writer, and the hyper-competent assistant to the most powerful woman in fashion. It’s a tough job, but her ice queen boss won’t settle for less than perfection.
Vivian Carlisle helms the internationally revered fashion publication Du Jour. She might be smack in the middle of a messy divorce, but you have to make sacrifices to be the best. That’s what she tells herself, anyway.
When the unthinkable happens, Vivian’s regimented world is turned upside-down. Her life is about power, success, and dominance—not a baby!
This single, shocking moment throws boss and assistant together into an intimacy neither could have imagined. With their lives in chaos, every day brings a new challenge bigger than the last. But everything will work out…just so long as they don’t do anything totally ridiculous. Like fall in love.
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Not Today, Satan by TB Markinson & Miranda MacLeod
One gossip column photo. One meddling family. One fake relationship that got way out of hand.
With no job, no apartment, and no money in the bank, unemployed chef Harley Plotkin didn’t think her life could get any worse. Until she accidentally destroyed a high fashion photoshoot and got one of her best friends fired.
Now she has exactly one chance to repay her debt and get her friend his job back. All Harley has to do is survive ten weeks at the beck and call of Santana Torres, legendary designer, control freak, and all-around boss from hell.
But when menial servitude turns into tabloid fodder, suddenly Satan herself needs a favor. And for the first time, Harley has the upper hand.
The rules are simple. No feelings. No complications. Absolutely no funny business.
The problem? Harley never did know how to follow the rules.
A hilarious sapphic romance about fake relationships, real feelings, and the alarming discovery that this job from hell might lead to a match made in heaven.
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Forever Theirs by Anna Stone
For florist Chloe Campbell, life isn’t all sunshine and roses. Deep in debt and haunted by a past she’s desperate to leave behind, she can barely keep her little flower shop running. So when Mistress Media executive Gabrielle Hall strolls into her shop to hire her for a company event, Chloe jumps at the chance. She’s irrevocably drawn to the alluring woman.
And when she comes face to face with Dana Obi, Gabrielle’s world-renowned fashion designer girlfriend, Chloe is drawn to her too. Both women like to take control. Both women want Chloe. And they’ll do whatever it takes to get her.
Swept into a whirlwind of sensual delights beyond her wildest fantasies, Chloe can’t resist her two mistresses. As their relationship deepens, all three women wonder if the love they’ve been searching for is within their grasp, but secrets and past shadows stand in the way. Can Dana and Gabrielle do what it takes to make Chloe theirs for good?
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Corrupt Goddess by April Gaisford
Catherine Marzanna
Owner of Marzanna Fashion and Shipping
Kansas City
I started Marzanna Fashion and Shipping ten years ago, and we made a name for ourselves across the country. Recently, they told me we need fresh talent; I reluctantly agreed. New designers are good for business, even if I am misanthropic. I let my team handle the hiring process. Then they hired her- a gorgeous, voluptuous girl. My first thought was Mine.
She is my employee. She is younger than me. Yet, all I can think about is how she will feel in my arms. My life is too dark for her, too dangerous. But the need to claim and pleasure her is overwhelming. I can keep her safe if I keep her close. The war between keeping her close but removed from my secrets is relentless. I can’t stay away from her.
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Nice Jewish Girls by Elizabeth Andre
The past can cast a long shadow on a relationship.
Susan Hay just wants to find a nice girl. Is that too much to ask? Susan thinks it is until she meets Ali Sams. To no one’s surprise, Susan, a long-haired femme, falls hard and fast for the cute and sexy soft butch who looks strangely familiar.
Ali falls just as fast, but Susan realizes that the familiarity she feels is linked to a painful childhood incident that sends her running away. Ali doesn’t remember the incident, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to make things right.
All Ali needs to do is get Susan to see her as more than who she was in the past, but Susan is not about to make that easy.
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Beauty and the Boss by Ali Vali
Ellis Renois is at the top of the fashion world and has built the Renois Company into a success that dominates the runways of the world. Ellis loves creating clothes, and she loves the beautiful women who wear them. While Ellis deals with design, she leaves the business aspect to others. It’s a mistake that could cost her more than just her life’s work.
Charlotte Hamner has worked her way through school and is ready to make a better life for herself and her daughter Sawyer. She’s far from the teenaged mother who worked a string of dead-end jobs to fulfill her dreams, so she’s not about to fall victim to Ellis’s easy charm.
A summer job presents Charlotte with the chance to learn from Ellis, but it might also land her the position of head designer for Renois. But her promotion will come only through betrayal and perhaps at the cost of her heart.
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Kiss the Rain by Larkin Rose
Phone sex operator on speed dial. What more could a girl want?
Fashion designer Eve Harris has it all: perfect career, satisfying single life, and her very own phone sex operator in her back pocket. Lexi fills the sexual void when Eve’s hectic life leaves no time for relationships—relationships she has no desire to find.
Jodi Connelly enjoys the few phone sex clients she has left—one in particular, Eve, who makes her close her eyes in dreamy lust with sharp, lonely cries of release. How will Jodi hide her secrets when the stunning Eve lands on her side of the Atlantic for London fashion week, the picture-perfect reality of her fantasy woman? And how will Eve react when she discovers the new woman in her life, Jodi, and her secret fantasy phone date, Lexi, are one and the same?
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Sanctuary by I. Beacham
Cate Canton has only one goal: to crush her professional rival, Dita Newton, and reclaim the future unjustly stolen from her. The only obstacle is her attraction to the woman she has vowed to destroy.
Young Cate Canton dreams of becoming a designer and running Seraphim, the Boston fashion house her late mother started. Born into a loving family, and with everything to live for, she loses it all when misfortune and tragedy strike. In the aftermath of betrayal, Cate vows to reclaim her destiny. Fueled by revenge, she becomes a ruthless businesswoman with her own successful fashion empire, plotting to one day take over her mother’s business by any means necessary.
But one person stands in her way—Dita Newton, the beautiful, gifted designer who now runs Seraphim. Cate will need to crush her lifelong adversary to succeed, but Dita strikes back in the most unexpected way—by stirring Cate’s fragile, hidden heart. A contemporary high-stakes drama between two driven, passionate women.
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Model Behavior by MJ Williamz
Fashion photographer Ronnie Mannis loves women. She loves to photograph them, and she especially loves to sleep with them. But when she meets model Lana Ferguson, she knows she’s found the one for her. Lana has never been happier, and this time it could even be love.
Ronnie is finally ready to settle down, but her ex, Whitney LaRoche, isn’t going to accept that she’s moved on. When Whitney’s jealousy ends in an attack that leaves Lana disfigured, Lana’s world comes crashing down. Her career is over, and life as she knows it changes forever. Certain that Ronnie, surrounded by the world’s most desirable women, couldn’t possibly want her now, Lana pushes her away.
Despite her guilt over the price Lana has paid for her past mistakes, Ronnie vows to convince Lana she’s just as beautiful as ever in all the ways that matter most.
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Love Like This by Melissa Brayden
Sometimes the most imperfect match is the most perfect surprise.
Hadley Cooper believes in happily-ever-afters with her whole heart. Described by her friends as a wide-eyed, eternal optimist, she looks for the bright side in most any situation. However, when her job as the assistant manager of Silhouette, a posh boutique on Rodeo Drive, is on the line, she realizes it’s time to pull her head out of the clouds and find a way to turn business around, and that just might mean partnering with the most stubborn up-and-coming fashion designer she’s ever encountered.
Spencer Adair has a passion for fashion, but hates the fact that it rhymes. She’s serious about her designs, fiercely protective of her work, and is waiting patiently for her big break. What she didn’t plan on, however, was the unsolicited opinions of that overly-friendly blond boutique manager. Or the way her heart beats faster every time she’s around.
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Lost Treasures by Jazzy Mitchell
After working at a Manhattan clothing boutique for a little over a year, Torry Hansen requests permission to design the window displays. This is a big step for Torry since she associates fashion with her mother, who died in a tragic accident.
The decorations cause quite a stir, even catching the attention of Evelyn Allbright, who decides to have her magazine, Trending, feature the shop, its designs, and the window display designer. Recognizing Torry’s talents, Evelyn becomes fascinated and decides to convince Torry to leave the boutique for bigger and better things. As Evelyn’s interest in Torry transforms from professional to personal, so do her actions during her quest to keep Torry in her life.
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Taking the Plunge by Amanda Radley
When the marketing agency Regina Avery worked for declares bankruptcy, she’s forced to take a temporary position at a women’s fashion brand. She’s never worn anything more fashionable than a polyester suit, but beggars cannot be choosers. She definitely didn’t choose to work with her ex-girlfriend Margot. Margot never got over the whole forgot-her-parents’-names incident more than a decade ago, because she assigns Regina to a marketing campaign within the lingerie department. Not that there’s anything wrong with lingerie exactly, but Regina’s blushing modesty makes her less than ideal for the position.
When Regina meets model Grace Holland—the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen—between rows of fancy knickers, she doesn’t have a clue how to flirt, date, or hold on to a relationship. In fact, she can barely maintain eye contact with Grace, who seems to be going out of her way to bump into Regina.
Never feeling more like a fish out of water, Regina must take the plunge with Grace and hope she manages to swim before Margot or her own shyness sinks her chance at love.
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Fashioning a Star by Abigail Taylor
Mystique Miller always marched to the beat of her own drum, which made her an easy target for bullies growing up. However, as an adult, she has reinvented herself to become the strong and confident Jade Miller. She sticks up for herself and is following her dreams of starting her own fashion line. But when the new her is met with an old face from the past, her life gets turned upside down.
Monica Hart has always lived a charmed life. She was queen bee of her high school and still on top fifteen years later as news anchor, Monica Starr. Even though she had everything money could buy, she didn’t feel as lucky as she once did. All she wanted was to be herself, but she wasn’t sure who that was. When she meets an unlikely stylist, suddenly, her eyes are opened.
Can the past predict the future? Or do we all get second chances to start over?
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Thaw by Elyse Springer
Abigail is content with her quiet life as a librarian. But when she’s invited to a high-profile charity auction, she finds herself dancing with one of the most beautiful women she’s ever met. Abby’s sure she’ll never see her again, but then Gabrielle calls and asks her on a date. And soon after, another.
Supermodel Gabrielle Levesque has a reputation as the Ice Queen—cold and untouchable—except she warms up whenever she’s with Abby. Only Abby isn’t interested in the heat between them; she’s asexual, and she’s worried that admitting as much to Gabrielle might spell the end of their blooming romance.
They’re two different women from two very different worlds, but Abby knows she can love Gabrielle. Her passion for books, travel, and theater prove there’s more to the Ice Queen than meets the eye. But they’ll have to overcome Abby’s fears—and Gabrielle’s own threatening secrets—in order to find their way to love.
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Love Makes Mochi by Stefany Valentine
Lilyn Jeong is living her best life—in Tokyo! She gets to learn from the legendary yet notoriously terrifying tailor Mrs. Matsumoto. Getting a glowing recommendation from her could be Lilyn’s ticket into her dream fashion school.
So when Lilyn is tasked with designing an entire collection, panic sets in. She has only weeks to figure out how to mix her goth aesthetic with traditional Japanese style. Thankfully, Mrs. Matsumoto’s rebellious, tattooed, rainbow-haired daughter Yua offers to help.
But going on cozy dates with this cute girl is way easier than sewing yukatas. Can Lilyn find a path forward in fashion and love? Or will she watch as everything falls apart at the seams?
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Free ebook
To celebrate Short Story Month, my sapphic romance short story Impulse Buy is FREE for a few days only!
It’s a sequel to my medical romance Bachelorette Number 12, where a warm-hearted nurse accidentally wins a date with the prickly ER doctor she can’t stand at a singles auction.
You can download the free ebook on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, and many other bookstores until May 9.
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Leave a comment
What sapphic book will you be reading for the “sapphic books with characters working in fashion” category? Let us know in the comments!
4 Responses
Oh dear, you forgot Captain of Industry by Karin Kallmaker! Jennifer Lamont is the hottest, and her journey with geeky Suzanne Mason is unforgettable.
You can’t go wrong with a Karin Kallmaker novel. My lists always include only 15 books to keep them manageable, but there are many more books fitting each category.
Hi Jae! Thanks for all the category choices and and thank you to all the authors. I chose On the Same Page by Haley Cass for this category. The MC has her own line of women’s lingerie and is an online influencer for fashion, makeup, etc. It’s a fantastic love story of unrequited love that finds their HEA. I highly recommend the book as another option for this category.
Karen
That one is a great fit too!