The latest lifestyle, fashion and travel trends
They say that fashion trends serve as an accurate economic indicator. So it’s safe to say that in autumn 2019, you’re probably better off staying in bed.
Blame Brexit fatigue. Blame social anxiety. Blame the rain. Whatever the cause — perhaps it’s all of the above? — Sleep is big business, with the name of your mattress (Emma or Eve?) now a greater marker of the zeitgeist than your cocktail order.
Confirmation of this comes via an annual retail report from John Lewis & Partners — the UK’s largest employee-owned business and therefore a reliable barometer for what the great British public are eating, who they are wearing and how they are operating.
In it, the brand noted that Jomo had officially replaced Fomo, with the Fear Of Missing Out squashed under the unparalleled Joy of staying in (and possibly the weight of a 14.5 tog ethically sourced luxury feather duvet).
This was reflected across the store: in the furniture department, buyers noted a return of the home bar, with sales of drinks trolleys up 136 per cent and decanters, champagne stoppers and spirit measurers also topping bestseller lists. In beauty, indulgent home salon treatments are on the up, not just with sales of devices such as the Dyson Airwrap styler — the chain sold 15,000 of them during the last festive period alone — but also with high-tech beauty products proving to be one of the leading causes for John Lewis’ home insurance claims for customers’ carpets and sofas this year.
And as further evidence of our collective desire to retreat, home movie nights are also trending, with sales of 82-inch TVs spiking 377 per cent and 8K Ultra HD TVs also up by 17 per cent, along with corner sofas up by 9 per cent. But perhaps most tellingly of all, sales of luxe loungewear are also at an all-time high with the department store noting a surge in sales of 129 per cent.
It’s not alone: The White Company — perhaps the original “staying in” retailer — has listed a cosy rise in profits, while M&S has extended its loungewear offering by 170 per cent this year. This quarter, the retailer will sell one million pairs of flat-pack PJ sets alone — that’s 12,000 a day, every day of the week, for 12 weeks — as well as extend its ever-popular Rosie Huntington-Whiteley lingerie line to include the aptly titled lounge bra — which is soft-ribbed, non-wired and the stuff of dreams for that sector of society who usually whip off their bra as soon as they walk through the front door.
John Lewis attributes our interest in hibernation wardrobing to the prediction that half of the UK workforce is set to work remotely by 2020, noting that “customers want to feel comfortable, but polished, whilst logging in from their sofa”. It also credited the growing trend among office-based nine-to-fivers of changing out of work clothes into chic comfies rather than straight into sleepwear, with plush velour tracksuits proving the most popular option, along with luxurious heavy fleece robes.
It’s the same story across the high street, with loungewear no longer an afterthought but something worth splashing out on. At Selfridges, loungewear as a category is up by a quarter, with sales of soft cashmere doubling, and luxury silk PJs from the likes of Olivia von Halle and Asceno a regular sighting at the tills.
Matchesfashion.com has also invested heavily in new names in designer comfort dressing, such as LA-based sweat pant specialist Les Tien — a favourite with Gigi and Bella Hadid — and soft cotton separates brand Loup Charmant, along with a capsule collection of pyjamas by London Fashion Week designer Emilia Wickstead, inspired by cocktail loungewear of the Twenties and Thirties.
Last Wednesday, Liberty London celebrated the launch of its first sleep collection under new design director Holly Marler in fabulous fashion by inviting the night owls of the fashion industry — including model Daisy Lowe — for a dinner party at Annabel’s members club with its silk pyjamas as the mandatory dress code.
Increasingly, it seems that socialising in a Jomo climate must comply with a new set of rules. As Liberty’s pyjama party proves, casual suppers with a 7pm start time are the new closing-time-unspecified after-party. For mere mortals, the mid-week meeting with mates is the new Saturday night out. Come the weekend, the only dancefloor we’re interested in is the one on Strictly
When we do venture out of our front door, we want to take our curated comfort zone with us. East London-based Lazy Oaf has also rebranded its nightwear offering to loungewear after noting a trend of shoppers opting to wear its sleep collection outside the house too, through pictures tagged on Instagram.
Clothes designed to look as good on the street as they do between the sheets is not the only motivation behind our abject refusal to wear anything that doesn’t feature an elasticated waistband. It comes down to is a desire to feel safe. Certainly, it seems now more than ever — at a time in which politics has more plot twists than an EastEnders episode and the future is framed by a prolonged, impending sense of doom — we’re seeking to cocoon ourselves with wearable comfort blankets. Whether it’s a £650 cashmere dressing gown or your favourite pair of M&S flannel jammies, we’re choosing to prioritise the clothes that makes us feel better.
Net-A-Porter notes that the brands dominating its loungewear sales — which are up 30 per cent on last year — are those which champion beautiful everyday basics cut from elevated fabrics. Among them, New York label Skin which specialises in unchallenging, organic cotton separates in a soothing palette spanning oatmeal to cream, and the newly launched Leset which was conceived as a line of ultra-soft knitted jersey matching sets
Back at John Lewis HQ, the store became the first high street retailer to introduce weighted blankets at the start of September which have been an instant hit with sales up 190 per cent week on week. Made from pure cotton and filled with pockets of weighted glass beads, the blankets are available in six different weights — they recommend selecting one that is around 10 per cent of your own body weight — its designed to swaddle you while you sleep or be wrapped around shoulders or across your lap to reduce restlessness while you binge-watch The Politician. It may not cure political unrest, but for now we’ll settle for a good night’s sleep
