Licentiate Column 24/10/13: A Fluffy Jumper is Like a Mother’s Love

Maybe that’s a little TOO fluffy… (via)

There are few things that can mimic the warm comfort-giving of a maternal hug. It’s toasty, it’s snugglesome (excuse me for deploying such technically precise terms) and, most importantly, all your troubles dissolve once you are encircled in it. You are loved. You are safe. It’s also extremely rare to replicate that hug with another person, no matter how close you are. It’s a shared moment born out of unconditional love and close-quarter living.

It’s odd, then, what can safely stand in for the mother hug in lieu of the real thing. Soup is one – though it depends entirely on what type of soup you’re comfort-eating. I like a nice seafood chowder. In second place is potato and leek. I think it’s all the starch and fat that has such a tranquilising effect. Very few people get the Mom Effect from a nice miso, as good for you as it might be. There’s umami in spades, but no actual Mammy.

We depend on a primary level on our senses to give us that sense of warmth and safety. Taste and smell are the two biggies, but the sense of touch is not to be underestimated. For the ultimate in Mother Hug feeling, you can’t beat a good fluffy jumper.

A true fluffy jumper is exactly that. It’s is fluffy. Unfortunately, it can be hard to draw the distinction between ‘fluffy’ and ‘extremely itchy’. A lot of people buy seemingly fluffy jumpers only to discover, after a sweaty jog to the bus stop, that they have been duped into buying one of the itchy, skin-reddening numbers.

The fluffy/itchy jumper has been much maligned not only because of the discomfort factor, but also because of its more uncomfortable associations with late 80s Laura Ashley floral tomfoolery or getting a bit overheated at a 90s rave – the unfortunate results looks a little bit like a novice who has gotten lost in a sex dungeon.

If you’re going to buy a non-itchy fluffy jumper, go with angora. Better still, go with a nice angora. I did just that yesterday at Cos, which should be everyone’s first stop for affordable yet well made clothing. This jumper (I’m wearing it at the moment) is relatively itch free and has a slightly racy sheer back. It’s black. It’s grown up. It’s a hug in a knit.

It’s more than a coincidence that the person to buy this knit for me was my mother. She and my father came to London for a jaunt (and to visit me, I think) last weekend. It was nice to see them. It’s always nice to see them. We have dinner and my mother always gets me a little something in repayment for making me watch her try on an endless amount of patterned shirts.

Now, they’re at home. At least here in North London, if I get a little lonely (for even strong independent women such as myself *jazzily clicks fingers* are no strangers to that feeling), I can reach in my chest of drawers, draw out my warm, fluffy jumper and put on a nice motherly hug.