How The Haute Blanket Became The Ultimate Lockdown Accessory

If you've found yourself stranded in a state of childlike vulnerability over the past year, you’re not the only one. The pandemic has made us all feel like infants. Wouldn’t it be nice to just find a quiet corner, clutch onto your comfort blanket and wait for this to all go away?

But there’s no reason why the blanket needs to spell psychological regression. In fact, they’re now utterly grown-up, super stylish and, in this strange new(ish) world, arguably an imperative investment. Consider JW Anderson's new limited-edition blankets created in collaboration with artists Dame Magdalene Odundo DBE and Shawanda Corbett; now available to pre-order, these tactile treasures deserve future heirloom status. I think I might be content staying home forever with one of those for company. Out this month is A.P.C.'s latest collection of patchwork quilts, created in collaboration with Jessica Ogden and inspired by the brand's architecture. Erdem and Victoria Beckham are just two of the womenswear designers who have translated their aesthetic into blankets.

It makes sense. In a year when we've all spent way too much time at home, we've put more thought than ever before into what those homes look like. If you're staying in, you might as well enjoy being there. Blankets semaphore domesticity, comfort and early nights, they are the Horlicks of homeware. But they have also acquired the unlikely mantle of an it-accessory.

Of all the interior trends, the rise of the haute blanket feels like a logical one. It not only has a practical appeal (something to snuggle under now, or even to host a picnic on when the time comes), but an emotional one. ‘There’s nothing like a bit of homely comfort when you’re feeling vulnerable, especially in uncertain times,’ Begg x Co. creative director Lorraine Acornley told Grazia last year (their graphic, cashmere styles are a go-to for the expert hibernators among us).

I couldn't agree more. Blankets became one of my specialist subjects around the same time I suspected I was getting old, receiving confirmation that my party days had finally gone to bed for good a couple of years ago when I chose to splurge not on a pair of dancing shoes or a look-at-me dress, but a menu blanket from one of Phoebe Philo's final Céline collections. It has felt, over the past 12 months, like one of the best investments I've ever made (next on my hit list is one of Norlha's handwoven Tibetan Yak felt throws).

The rise of the status blanket also chimes with shifts in technology. ‘We have opened up our homes on social media and they are a very visible product,’ says Charlie Hedin founder and creative director of Tekla - the Danish brand that has single-handedly made soft furnishings cool - who adds that: ‘I think it’s the climate up her in Scandinavia that makes us love blankets’ (Tekla's blankets are perfect for picnics).

Indeed, social media has made our private domestic spaces into public #content (see how during this current crisis, the working from home outfit – the WFHfit – officially became a thing), so it’s not illogical that we might want to accessorise our homes in the same way as we do ourselves. Furthermore, thanks to the convenience of app culture, and the moreishness of Netflix, even when things are ‘normal’ staying in has become an event in itself. If turbo trainers are catnip to FOMO-ers, then blankets are the equivalent for the JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out) generation.

But perhaps our renewed love of blankets speaks to something deeper. ‘There is a strong trend towards handmade and craft and I think that is a reaction to the times we live in,’ Jessica Ogden told me last year. ‘People want something that feels grounded and sincere when everything around us seems so turbulent’.