The word hygge comes from a Danish word meaning 'to give comfort, courage and joy'. Its origins are in the Old Norse word hugr - 'to think', which became hug, meaning 'soul, mind, consciousness'.
Interesting that prior to our pandemic life, the concept of hygge had seeped into British cultural life to such an extent that in 2016, hygge won runner up in the Word of the Year Olympics. (Can you guess which won the award? It starts with a 'Brr' and ends with an 'exit'.) Fascinating that one word meant 'embrace', and the other 'separate'. Politics have always polarised us, understandably. We all have different needs and perspectives. Some of us need the embrace more than others. Who we want embracing us also can divide us. But it is illuminating that the word 'to hug' came from the word 'to think, to consider'. And that is always the most hopeful element of being human.
What do you think of when you think hygge? From the perspective of a chronically ill sausage like myself, I have discovered more and more that my body needs to be housed in a little cosy bed of its own. Soft fabrics, loose where looseness is necessary, warming and cooling... an auto-immune body has contradictory demands. And it is near impossible to simply google fashion for lupus, or fashion for vasculitis, or EDS or ME... helpful implements, yes. And practical solutions, yes. But make it fashion? Less of a 'thing'.
Enter my fashion guru, Colette. Or Coco to those of us in the know. Coco has been holding my hand as I transition from the girl who was trying to climb on to the parallel tracks of a life more appealing than the one she was dealt... to the woman I sometimes struggle with accepting I have become. That sounds ominous, but really, it's never easy when you are dealt the illness card as a teenager and you spend the next decade or more collecting clothes and shoes that speak promises of a different tomorrow, while giving today the ol' heave ho.
So here's to making today as stylish and cosy as it is possible to be, while spending interminable amounts of time at home and in hospital. Coco and Shy invite you to what we hope will be a hygge wonderland of possibility.
