When Natalie Merchant was a twenty-something chanteuse fronting 10,000 Maniacs, she was every nerdish schoolboy's crush. With her unadorned voice, intelligent lyrics and librarian chic, Merchant broke a few million hearts and spawned the Lilith Fair generation in the process.
—Geoff Harkness, "Natalie Merchant," Kansas City Pitch Weekly, June 27, 2002

At Luella Bartley they came in fifties-inspired black and white, reminiscent of gym sneakers, and at Miu Miu, the look was sexy librarian.

The trend got a boost from Nicole Kidman, who made anti-fashion de rigueur in her Oscar-winning performance of The Hours. It's also linked to the changing tastes of an aging demographic, and a collective longing for the honest and down-to-earth.
—Deborah Fulsang, "Dorky shoes step out What's the latest runway look? Librarian chic," The Globe and Mail, April 5, 2003

It is time for afternoon tea. He settles down and pours; she brings the biscuits. Domestic bliss in the housing estate outback of south London? Not quite.

There is something surreal about the very normality. East End born-and-bred Tim Gane, 31, and his Parisian girlfriend, Laetitia Sadier, 27, look like right-on Londoners in their librarian chic needlepin cords and Marks & Spencer cardies. You wouldn't guess that they are, respectively, the multi-instrumentalist and the cryptic Marxist wordsmith of an experimental lo-fi pop outfit called Stereolab.
—Veena Virdi, "Marx and sparks," The Times of London, September 20, 1997