The Wholesome Trend Even the Kardashians Are Getting Behind

by Isabel Slone March 13, 2018

If the Kardashians typically conjure beige body-con dresses, nude selfies and dramatic contouring for you, you’d be forgiven for having a moment of cognitive dissonance upon seeing them frolicking in a barn, wrapped up in quilts, for Calvin Klein’s Spring 2018 denim campaign. (The brand has one-of-a-kind vintage quilts available online for a range of prices. The lowest is an absolute steal at $1,120.) Yet there’s something undeniably current about the rustic Americana that quilts evoked in the Spring 2018 runway shows.

At Loewe, Jonathan Anderson trotted out diamond-patterned quilted trousers, while a severe white mock-neck dress channelled the manic energy of a patchwork-crazy quilt below its waist. Kolor showed a jacket with denim patches creeping across the shoulders, and almost every item on Sacai’s runway comprised at least three different fabrics, as if they were rations found at an army-navy store.

Quiltlike details hearken back to a bygone era when evenings were spent doing various handicrafts and the concept of “screen time” did not exist. The new-found popularity of the homemade aesthetic is perhaps best encapsulated by the wartime refrain “Make do and mend.” When life hits a snag, the best advice is to patch it up and keep going.