11 Ways to Turn Your Blanket Into a Fashion Statement

When designers were working on their fall 2020 collections, they had no way of knowing that their collections would be shown during a global health crisis. The same goes for the Vogue staff; as we put together our seasonal trend reports, we saw the rise of blanket dressing as a welcome counter to the puffer coats and furry jackets of late, a smart revival of bourgeois codes, and as a clever new styling trick. Never did we think that humanity would be spending weeks on end in self-isolation within their homes.

But with the coronavirus pandemic and the social distancing that helps to prevent its spread, those of us who can are working from home and questioning every sartorial choice along the way. It’s important to get out of your pajamas every day. The blanket trend provides a helpful bridge between the runways and our new reality. In the spirit of Diana Vreeland, why don’t you drape a plaid throw over your shoulders and belt it à la Michael Kors? Perhaps you’d prefer to sling a printed blanket over your arm like Gigi Hadid did at Chloé and stage an impromptu living room fashion show? For a most daring look, pull the whole quilt off your bed and fashion it into a cape fastened by a giant metal pin like the finale looks at Rick Owens.

Before you think that the bedspread-as-fashion look isn’t for you, consider this: Martin Margiela kickstarted his career by cutting quilts into duvet coats in the ’90s, and before that, Norma Kamali became well-known with her quilt coat puffer in the ’80s. Just last season, Marine Serre made an evening dress out of bedsheets and a cocktail suit out of towels. The moral is that raiding the linen closet can be as fashionable as it is cozy.