In her Tonight Show debut in 2021, comedian Mary Beth Barone defined certain types of people that she should not “legally” be allowed to date. On the list: marathoners, men who considered The Beatles their favorite band, and guys who had navy sheets with one pillow. “Where were you then, Federal Government?” she lamented.
Barone’s bit touched on a certain anecdotal—though perhaps not totally unfounded—truth: bachelors love blue sheets. “I designed about 400 apartments in New York City when I lived there and most were for bachelors,” says Kiel Wuellner, a senior creative director at Vesta Home, a luxury home staging company. “And they all had blue or gray sheets.” The joke isn’t just that it’s a frequent motif in single men’s homes, but rather, a red flag. “The trope of the navy sheets with satin or silky sheens and that sort of ’80s/’90s bachelor pad just has kind of an ick factor to it,” adds Sarah Henley, a designer based in Salem, Massachusett
According to Instagram memes and TikTok videos, navy sheets signify the type of man who is wary of labels, will ghost you without warning, and is definitely emotionally unavailable. Though the stereotype’s origins are a bit murky, most say it stems from the fear that the sheets could be dirty, the dark hue hiding stains. “As long as I’ve been a 20-something adult, it’s been an urban legend, if you will,” says Sydney Gore, a journalist and creator of the design newsletter Nobody’s Home, who wrote AD’s definitive guide to design red flags in 2023. But now, designers and consumers alike are rethinking the scrutinized hue—it might just be time for a second act for navy sheets.
According to Google Trends, interest in blue sheets has spiked significantly over the past year. “With trends changing, navy blue is one of the colors we’re considering launching under our linen line,” Wuellner says. (Vesta only uses its own line of bedcoverings in its staging designs.) Likewise, Henley recently used navy sheets in one of her projects—the redesign of her own guest suite. “I was easier to convince than a client,” she says. And while white sheets are still “the go-tos” for many, Henley sees people becoming more open minded about their bedding. “In the last few years, people have become more comfortable with multicolored and different styles of bedding in general,” she says.
Claire Dean, a TikToker who posts about interior design, first noticed the rise in navy sheets last year. “I was seeing it in a lot of the inspiration photos I was drawn to,” she says. Last June she got a set of blue linen sheets from Quince, which she was drawn to because of the way the hue pairs with her acacia bed frame. “Navy goes so well with woods,” she adds.
This shift coincides with broader interior trends, which have swayed from all-white-and-bright rooms to more richly colored, layered spaces. “As a brand, we’re not necessarily leaning towards dark colors for the sake of the drama of it, it’s more around the depth,” says Kristen Deyko, the chief creative officer at Boll & Branch, a luxury home-textiles brand, which recently launched a collection of coastal navy sheets, following success with deep plum and dark brown offerings. “People want spaces that they can retreat into that feel calming and really effortless.”
Henley notes that broader wellness trends might also be impacting the increased interest in dark sheets. “Everyone seems to have trouble with sleep these days,” she explains. “Darker sheeting is definitely a tool to use to make a bedroom more restful.” Wuellner adds that a deep blue is particularly good for this purpose. “It has a calming nature to it based on overall color theory.”
To create a blue bedding scheme that says “ready for rest” instead of “male manipulator”, designers recommend paying close attention to the sheet’s finish and the room’s overall styling. In her third-floor guest suite, Henley wallpapered the space—including the room’s eaves—in an olive-colored botanical print. “I wanted the space to feel like a tree house,” she adds. “So it was all about it being dark, layered, and cozy.” In this context, the blue sheets look more like a complementary hue, rather than an unconsidered default. “In a lighter room, blue might look really dark. But in an already dark room, they read more like a jewel tone with a lot of vibrancy,” she says.
Similarly, Wuellner recommends pairing navy sheets with olive, camel, and walnut hues or exploring a monochromatic look. “Color drenching in that way is really popular right now,” he adds of the latter.
The fabric’s finish can make or break the bed. Designers suggest linen or brushed cotton, which will result in a softer, less shiny bedscape and circumvent any connotations of a bachelor cliché. “The stereotype has deterred people for many years…but blue is a fun way to bring in an accent color that’s not too loud,” Wuellner says.
Whether or not you decide to add them to your own bed, it might be time to retire any assumptions about the men who have been participating in this trend all along. “Blue sheets are really low when it comes to actual red flags. It doesn’t really matter as long as they’re clean,” Gore says. “Plus, I’d take navy sheets over a mattress on the floor any day. That’s still such a hard no.”
Originally published in Architectural Digest
Text by Katherine McLaughlin
