Bathrobes have traditionally been a private matter. They were something you threw on between the shower and the wardrobe when you were still damp, or wore guiltily to answer the door for a delivery. They weren’t meant to be seen, and they certainly weren’t meant to be admired. But then Covid confined us to our homes and Instagram beamed those homes out into the world, and what we wore to lounge around in stopped being merely a backstage costume.

This felt like a major shift. For as long as most of us can remember, beautiful attire has been something to wear out of the house. Nineties films are a testament to the fact that, by the end of the last century, being at home meant pulling on the comfiest, scruffiest clothing you had at hand. This was as true for men (think Brad Pitt in Fight Club) as it was for women (even impeccably put-together Elle Woods in Legally Blonde wears an oversized blue terry cloth robe at home). The hotel bathrobe was of course the exception – as evidenced by the glories of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

But in the process, we all forgot something everyone knew in the 1950s: that feeling good behind closed doors is often just as important as feeling good out and about in the world.

“Not to be all Stepford Wives about it,” says stylist Anna Smith, “but I think we unnecessarily purged a lot of glamour from our lives when we started putting all our effort into dressing well for the office and for dinners out with friends, and just slobbed around in a tracksuit and stained dressing gown [at home] with our romantic partners.

“I would never suggest women return to the days of wearing a dress and heels to serve their husband’s dinner, but I personally love the feeling of getting out of the bath and putting on a pretty nightie and a beautiful bathrobe even when I’m doing nothing more interesting than watching television with my husband.”

Equally, we now live in the era of interior porn: Victorian baths, Fired Earth tiles, perfect shelves of antique bottles, vintage soap dishes placed on the sink. Even away from the camera, bathrooms have turned from practical spaces into personal sanctuaries, and are often styled as carefully as sitting rooms.

In some cases, we are even dedicating hard-earned space to them: instead of the cupboard-like room of the past, city dwellers are converting second bedrooms into something that more closely resembles a home spa (think candles, stone trays, artisan soaps, linen towels). Once your bathroom looks that good, the battered old towelling robe with the fraying cuffs simply will not do.

Brands that merge our current love for beauty, interiors and self-care into one aesthetic universe are also the ones that are doing particularly well right now. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, of course, sells bathrobes, as do many high-end lifestyle brands like designer department store Liberty London and the global club for creative types, Soho House.