Helsinki's Design Museum Traces the History of Loungewear in New Exhibition
‘Comfort Revolution’ explains how your favorite hoodie came to be.
2020 was the year of sweatpants, hoodies and Crocs — if you’ve ever wondered how, exactly, loungewear came to reign supreme, head to the Design Museum in Helsinki. The Finnish institution’s upcoming fashion exhibition, Comfort Revolution, is dedicated to all things informal.
Documenting the history of modern day wardrobe staples including leggings and T-shirts, the show explores how dress codes have become increasingly informal, even before COVID rendered sweatsuits the new norm. Highlighting the history of 100-year-old Finnish loungewear brand Nanso, curator Liisa Jokinen — the founder of vintage shopping app Gem — traces the rise of casual dressing and how this shift reflects changes in society.
“Clothing is more and more a matter of emotion,” Jokinen said in a press release. “Formal requirements dictate our clothing choices less and less. ‘Comfort Revolution’ is an entity that also challenges us to think about the next steps in dressing and our relationship with the contents of our own wardrobe,” she said of the timely show.
Comfort Revolution opens at the Design Museum on June 11 and runs through August 29.
Design Museum
Korkeavuorenkatu 23
00130 Helsinki, Finland
