Anyone who knows the ABCs of the publishing circuit can testify that when it comes to work attire, the literary elite is as textbook as they come. Not that that’s a bad thing. We extoll an office environment in which everyone from the editors to the IT guys can pass for an incarnation of Thomas Stearns or Hemingway (before his bloaty years).

For decades now, urbane outfitter Paul Smith has been supplying bookish folks on both sides of the Atlantic with a steady stream of mohair jumpers, chinos, and those ubiquitous yet very necessary black-rimmed glasses. This year, the British label rings in its silver anniversary by playing stylist to one of the world’s most esteemed literary magazines.

The cover art that graces Granta’s bumper Britain issue—launching worldwide next month—is Paul Smith’s tip of the bowler to an ethos he shares with the magazine, one that both cherishes and subverts the time-honored rules of tradition. Tom Wolfe and his suit collection would approve.