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As creatures of comfort, we’re resurrecting ELLE.com’s Cozy Week. In order to armor ourselves for 2021, we’re prepping you during the hazy days between Christmas and NYE, covering all things sweatpants, bath goods, and all the feel-good content we deserve to close out the year.
This year, nothing was as cozy as snuggling up to a space heater scrolling through TikTok, dismantling systemic racism in your favorite hoodie, or wearing a fuzzy beanie while standing in line to vote early, but overall, 2020 was a time we struggled with the term ‘cozy’ altogether. Living through a year plagued with a global pandemic, social unrest, and political turmoil has been a never-ending act of self-preservation that a face mask never soothed. The act of forced relaxation has, for many, induced an anxiety attack that makes you question, How can I be cozy while the world is burning?
The worldwide pandemic unsurprisingly created a rise in anxiety and depression amongst young adults, and quarantine eerily resembled that hazy week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, where days melt into one another and your parents’ general acts of kindness suffocate you. As our stay-at-home orders lengthen, we’re prepping ourselves for 2021 with the armor we need to make it through the end of the year: We’re resurrecting ELLE.com’s Cozy Week to get our feel-good needs met.
But first, let’s get figure this out: what is cozy in 2021? Do the old iconographies of hygge still hold true? Are fireplaces actually cozy, or just cozy in theory? We investigate and ask you, our fine readers, to weigh in. Remeber, this isn’t a matter of whether you like the following things—who doesn’t enjoy a toasty fire or roasted butternut squash blitzed into a creamy soup—but whether they are actual bring you the feeling of comfort and ease. Sound off on all the disputed symbols of coziness in our contentious quiz below.
String lights
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I once engaged in a lengthy discourse over our love of string lights, but has the romance faded? Now relegated to dorm rooms, string lights don’t twinkle quite like they used to. But can a cozy space even be established if tiny bulbs aren’t scotchtaped to the walls? Becasue if string lights can’t live through this year, what will light our path to the new beginnings of 2021?
Editor’s note: string lights in a backyard is totally different and forever OK.
Leggings
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If quarantine taught us anything, it’s that sweatpants are the superior leisurewear bottom. Leggings, by contrast, are tight by definition. Unless you’re working out, how many of you actually love a restricted calf, suffocating in lycro?
Leather couches
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The cabincore aesthetic of a chesterfield couch or a well-worn brown leather sofa is cozy on paper, but what happens when skin-to-leather contact occurs? Velvet couches can also take a seat in this conversation because sweating is not cozy, and therefore a debatable.
Drinking a hot beverage in bed
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According to scientists and Instagram influencers, people sometimes drink tea atop plush duvet covers. Brazenly handling a mug filled to the brim of dark liquid really makes you appreciate side tables, but when your home has become your entire world through the pandemic, it only makes sense to sip a bev in bed. This activity should be reserved for Getty stock images and 2000s-era indie movies we can no longer stomach watching in full, but how many of you deem it cozy?
Heated blankets
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The benefits of a toasty throw blanket is undisputed, but heated blankets are a fire hazard. Maybe for some, the anxiety of baking a yeast infection is lower than others. Cozy, or not?
Bonfires
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Sitting at a bonfire is a schooching game of musical chairs. Loser gets smoke in your eyes.
Nap dresses
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The trend of nightgowns as day dresses spurred the nation this year, as lounging in one definitely helps cosplay as a Jane Austen heroine. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t find hiking up a dress to pee in the middle of the night to be a cozy pursuit.
Monochrome living rooms
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If you don’t spill red wine over your eggshell bouclé couch or your freakishly clean faux sheepskin rug, I just don’t think we’d get along on a spiritual level. Monochrome living rooms are becoming an aspiration interior design aesthetic, but how cozy are they? Does living in an all-white room make you feel safe and snug, or are you trapped in a sci-fi film?
Wool
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We, as a society, have evolved past this inherently itchy fabric thanks to cashmere and faux fur throws. Sure, wool blankets look cozy across an armchair, but who wants to bundle themselves up in a scratchy textile to watch Bridgerton when your skin is suffering from seasonal eczema?
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