There’s a reason a missing blanket sets off a holy grail-type expedition in the new film, “Elmo in Grouchland.” No other item makes us feel quite as snug. At birth, newborns are swaddled tight to make them feel as if they’re still bundled in the womb. Toddlers find comfort in a favorite object–usually a blanket–that somehow embodies warmth, safety and tenderness.
Now that we’re on the cusp of a new century, it’s only fitting that we’re once again bracing ourselves for the future in clothes that are as cuddly as Grandma’s afghans.
Hussein Chalayan went as far as titling his fall collection “The Bed” for the luxury knitwear line Tse and featured blanket-type labels on the outside of his garments. Other designers, too–Christian Dior, Donna Karan, Martin Margiela, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen–feel it’s time to bed down for the apocalypse in duvet coats, quilted jackets, ponchos and tribal capes.
“Protection in general is a big theme,” says John Bartlett, whose fall collection is punctuated by serapes, cozy knits and blanket striping.
“When I first moved to New York in 1985 to attend FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), I would walk out wearing a blanket,” says Bartlett. “It just seemed like one of the most radical fashion statements you could make here. . . . Clothing to me became a real tool of rebellion.”
Whether you’re the urban nomad or bucking against the grain in unrestricted clothes or still just like to feel safe and sound under your covers, you’re in luck. Bartlett for one doesn’t think blanket references in fashion are going away anytime soon.
“We can’t avoid the future,” he says. “But we’re also hungry for the human touch, the familiar.” And for that, nothing spells security quite like a blanket.
