Some of us don’t get fashion. I count myself part of that group. I don’t understand why fashion designers create most of the stuff they come up with. I also don’t understand some of the names they choose to describe their creations. Remember the T-shirt dress? Is it a T-shirt or a dress? Make up your mind!
Now, the same people who can’t leave the vaunted T-shirt alone have decided they need to ruin the hoodie. If you’ve seen what is being marketed as the blanket hoodie, you know exactly what this post is about. A blanket hoodie is neither a blanket nor a hoodie. It’s hard to describe what this piece of clothing actually is. It might not even be clothing at all.
In, Not Under
The difficulty of referring to this article as a blanket is fundamental. A blanket is a piece of cloth you put on top of you. You lay or sit underneath. You may wrap it around you if you’re especially cold. But you absolutely cannot climb inside a blanket. It is not possible. You are either under it or it’s wrapped around you. You are never in it.
The blanket hoodie is worn just like a hooded sweatshirt. It completely envelops you. You are actually inside the garment rather than it lies on top of you. And of course, you don’t have to wrap it around you because you’re wearing it. In essence, there is no way the blanket hoodie is actually a blanket.
A Hoodie, Perhaps
It is easy to see why a designer would reference this product as a hoodie. Just like a hooded sweatshirt, the blanket hoodie has an ample hood to cover your head. In some ways, it even resembles a thick hooded sweatshirt. Yet there is no escaping the fact that ‘hoodie’ is just a slang term for ‘hooded sweatshirt’. And this thing is by no means a sweatshirt.
It has pockets on the front. It has long sleeves with elastic cuffs. It’s even made of the same soft material real sweatshirts are made of. But it’s way too big to be a sweatshirt. Calling this thing a hoodie is like calling a T-shirt dress a long T-shirt. Not even close, pal.
Let Hoodies Be Hoodies
The fashion world has not produced a product this inane since the snuggie. Remember that marketing atrocity? The snuggie was a blanket with sleeves designed for people who didn’t know how to wrap a blanket around themselves well enough to stay warm while still keeping their hands free.
Hoodie blankets seem to be in that same vein. Somebody came up with an excessively large piece of clothing intended to keep you warm if you’re not into wearing extra clothing. Whatever. To each their own, as they say.
In the meantime, I say let hoodies be hoodies. Let consumers shop at New York City’s Plurawl and get the traditional LatinX T-shirts and hoodies they have come to know and love. If we don’t draw the line somewhere, what’s next? Maybe tomorrow it will be hoodie swimsuits. After that, hoodie beach towels will be sure to follow. The madness will never end.
All kidding aside, marketing the product in question as a hoodie blanket is a stroke of creativity, if nothing else. You don’t even have to see an example to understand what it is. The name implies a warm piece of clothing (if that’s how you choose to view it) with an ample hood. If you find that intriguing, you’ll want to know more. At least that is what marketers believe.