It’s a wrap

The It blanket is the ultimate status symbol this winter, says Laura Antonia Jordan

EVER NOTICE YOURSELF getting old? I received confirmation that my party days had finally gone to bed for good earlier this year when I chose to splurge not on a pair of dancing shoes or a look-atme dress, but a blanket. It was further confirmed when I found myself secretly wishing away the long summer so that I could finally snuggle under it. Who am I?

Blankets semaphore domesticity, comfort and early nights. They are the Horlicks of homeware. But this season they have acquired the unlikely mantle of an It accessory. I should interject here by ’fessing up that my purchase was £750 from one of the final Céline collections.

The humble blanket has gone haute. For A/W’18 Gucci, Alexander Mcqueen, Derek Lam all put blankets on the catwalk. And now the high street is joining in – this month Whistles debuts its quilts designed in collaboration with Brooklyn interior design brand Cold Picnic.

According to Paul Smith, the appeal is in the blanket’s versatility. ‘It is the perfect thing for a picnic in the park, a chilly long-haul flight or a battle against the cold wind,’ he says. At Roksanda, models wrapped yellow picnic-style blankets around themselves – they’ve since sold out on Matchesfashion.com’s home department.

The rise of the status blanket also chimes with shifts in technology. Social media has made our private domestic spaces into the public domain, 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, staying in has become an event in itself.

But perhaps our renewed love of blankets speaks to something deeper. ‘ Ththere There is a strong trend towards handmade and craft and I think that is a reaction to the times we live in,’ says Jessica Ogden, whose ongoing collaboration with APC includes graphic quilts. ‘People want something that feels grounded and sincere when everything around us seems so turbulent.’ And what could feel better than snuggling under the grown-up comfort blanket – Céline or otherwise?