More on Comforters - Suzani?

An article titled "Down with Comforters" is the article that got my attention a few days ago.  Insinuating that the Comforter, and Down in particular, is no longer suitable for bed covering.

The author suggests replacement with blanket, quilt or Suzani.  Now, blanket or quilt, I'm very familiar with, but Suzani?

Suzani - what is it really?  This website that the author links to is very interesting.  But, it is a seller of antique textiles.  The Suzani is aparently a 19th century Dowry Textile.  Typically embroidered on cotton by Islamic women for their dowry; things of value that a woman brings to her husband in marriage.  And, we're supposed to put this on the bed to sleep under it?  Not Likely.

The concept of Dowry Textiles is explained at this site on a Romanian Peasant museum display.  The concept of having a "good room" where the wife's treasures are kept, displayed, but never used is very familiar.  We have the "good china" that lives out its life in the china hutch and is very seldom used.  The "good towels" that are only hung in the bath when company is expected, and noone ever actually uses.  Some of us even have "good clothes" that are only worn to funerals, if then.

Suzani doesn't show up as listed in Dictionary.com.  But, eventually Reference.com has 2 references that I can finally come to peace with:  Needlework and "Tribal Beautiful".  Why didn't she just say so?
Suzani - 2 reference results

Suzani may refer to:

• Suzani an antique and decorative tribal textile made in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other Central Asia countries. Its name is from the Persian Suzan  which means needle. Art of making such textiles in Iran is called Suzankāri  (needlework).
• Suzani, Shamseddin Taj-ul Shu'ara is the name of a 12th century Persian poet from Samarqand.
• Suzani  is also a personal name coming from the variations of Suzane  and Suzana . The name meaning in Aramaic is "tribal beautiful".

But, just to get to the ultimate contradiction Next Tag lists a Natori Uzbek Duvet Cover inspired from a beautiful suzani motif for $699.99.  Probably still not in my budget this week......

Comforter/Duvet loosing out to Blanket/Quilt or Suzani?

While I'm all for the revival of the blanket or any Quilt, I think my reasoning is probably vastly different from the author's.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111797/down-with-comforters
The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! Finance have been running an article on the demise of the Comforter, or Duvet, and the revival of the blanket or quilt.  The design world is ready to change the bed !  Really?
The Comforter is cited as the "gateway to overheating and unseemly bulkiness".
"David Mann, designer of legendary interiors including John Lennon and Yoko Ono's New York apartment in the Dakota, said, "I never use down comforters mostly because they are too common…and hot.""
"Down's detractors curse the lumpy, untidy covering as not only a sweat factory, but a style error."
And the author goes on to compare a comforter as "the bedding equivalent of a ski parka."
The author also compares the Duvet to a wood-burning oven, folded standing as high as the Great Wall of China, freshly washed stank of farm animal, dressing a cranky newborn in a three-piece suit, and formless feathers corralled at one end and an empty carcass at the other end.

Meanwhile, the Suzani is offered up as the perfect replacement:
http://www.estherfitzgerald.com/site_built_sept05/page_sets/04_islamic/index_04islamic.htm

More later.............