The latest fashion is hitting snooze

In hindsight, you could argue that it all started with the Loewe puffer jacket, which was part of the fashion house’s FW2022 ready-to-wear collection. If at first glance it might have looked like a replica of the Michelin man’s uniform, just a few months later it had already moved into the wardrobes of high-profile celebrities. The garment feels exactly like it looks: a giant blanket wrapped around one’s upper torso to protect the wearer from the cold. It is almost as if you could wear your duvet outside the bedroom. The bedroom – a sanctuary space, way too often the victim of Pinterest mood boards, and also a place where one can be themselves, unpolished. Bringing the bedroom on the runway might reflect on people’s desire to slow the industry down, but also to glam-up the way we look in bed. Messy hair turns into a curated hairstyle, under-eye bags disappear indefinitely, and bedroom eyes get replaced with seductive looks. 

Loewe FW2022

JW Anderson FW2023

JW Anderson FW2023

JW Anderson FW2023

Following the bedroom theme, Jonathan Anderson brought bedcore back on the catwalk for the most recent FW2023 show of his namesake label, JW Anderson. Inspired by the idea of androgyny the designer asked himself how we package people these days. Why do we have binaries? Is there even a need for it – and do we even need all these metaphorical boxes for people? He wondered. Artistically exploring this idea, he had a model walking down the runway only wearing a pillow, whilst being painted with small tomatoes, the fruit of Italian greatness. The pillow was attached to a shirt and anxiously hugged by the model, reminiscent of comfort, rather than protection. At first, people claimed that it reminded them of the unforgettable Victor and Rolf FW2005 collection, where a model wore a dress which looked like a bed. The model Lily Cole walked it down the runway with grace, and it still serves as a timeless meme image on Instagram, nearly two decades later. «I honestly loved the pillowcases on the JW runway,» says New-York-based fashion journalist Alexandra Hildreth, «I think thematic accessories add to the overall message and tangible meaning of a collection – in this case they also support Anderson’s unbridled joy for the fashion he creates.» Some creators on TikTok see this collection as a testament to the designer’s craft and his origins, not reading too much into the potential symbolism of a pillow on the runway.

Viktor & Rolf FW2005

Viktor & Rolf FW2005

Viktor & Rolf FW2005

Staying in is back in fashion – only a few days later, Prada showcased their new collection, the first one since co-creative director Raf Simons closed his namesake label, which also featured the theme of comfort and pillows. Look 15, a giant puffed sweater was reminiscent of the social media gone viral Loewe jacket; look 16, a pillow shirt similar to the JW creation, only shown a few days prior in Milan. Co-designed by Raf and Miuccia, they wanted to create clothing that depicts the current reality but pushes it at the same time. As a result, they came up with masculine garments, which have a soft, almost comfortable edge. What ties the two collections together is not only the fact that they have both been shown in Milan but the way they depict different versions of bedcore within fashion. The JW look could be seen as a modern version of the Viktor and Rolf look, which glamorised the messy hair just gotten out of bed look – rejecting excessive beauty standards and gender binaries, whilst still looking polished. The Prada look on the other side turns the bedroom into something wearable, instead of just an aesthetic. It is straightforward.   

Prada Menswear FW2023

Prada Menswear FW2023

Prada Menswear FW2023

The second half of 2022 was arguably the end of on and off lockdowns in most European countries. In the two years prior to that, most people established an intimate relationship with their bedrooms. For instance, writer Emma Specter wrote a piece for Vogue nine months into the pandemic, describing her bedroom as her everything. Traditionally, the bedroom is a place to slow down, to rest – but in those two years, it was the centre of life. Now, the bedroom feels more like a distant cousin instead of an intimate companion. We come home after ridiculously long commutes just to leave it 10 hours later again. The intimacy we found in this room seems to be dissolved and we are yet thrown again into overstuffed trains, loud coffee shops and long queues. Are we maybe longing for some stillness, for some rest and silence again? During the pandemic, we complained about staying in, and now we do the same about noises, business, and the hectic nature of life. Analysing both collections, one could potentially detect a strange nostalgia for that time.

Even though we have returned to what we call normal life, an imaginary thread to our bedrooms is still inseparable, like an umbilical cord. We might be thrown back into a new reality, but maybe we are longing for the comfort of certainty within the uncertainty. Viktor and Rolf’s FW05 collection was released in times of extreme beauty pressure on women, reflecting a desire for authenticity in the language of couture. JW and Prada’s A/W 23 collections are shown in times of political unrest, inflation, climate change and rising energy prices – times when all you need is your bed, and a security blanket.