The latest fashion is hitting snooze From JW Anderson to Prada, the relaxing charm of bedcore

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. 

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.