Where to begin? Well, like many of you, my early sleepwear consisted of little polyester sleepy footie jammies. Then there was the long series of scratchy polyester themed nightgowns (Snoopy, Holly Hobbie, Wonder Woman). Luckily, these got replaced in my household c.1981 by "Lanz of Salzburg" flannel nightgowns. We called these "flannie nighties", and I always preferred to wear them backwards (buttons in front). We wore them until they were smooth, pale shadows of their formal selves, and then we used them to polish the silver and got a new one for Christmas. Lovely. (Side note: Maddeningly, you cannot buy the same nightgowns for your daughter because they are now made only in crappy flame retardant blech stuff. If anyone has a source for good old plain unretarded flannel nightgowns for kids, let me know. Until then, they're in equally-flammable but super soft Hanna Andersson long johns.).
At some point, though (Paul reports that it was well after college), I switched to the top-and-bottom form of sleepwear, aka jammies. I think I got tired of battling the leg-wrap-n-trap problem of long nightgowns, and also started enjoying the option of wearing my jammies for most of the day on weekends, which isf frankly just a little harder to pull off in a flowered nightgown. Once I had the babies, nighttime nursing seemed easier in a two-piece rig as well.
While I have owned and still do own some nice matching jammies (similar to this Garnet Hill pair, e.g.)
most of my sleepwear now consists of just really soft old t-shirts (LS in winter, SS or tank in summer) and drawstring cotton pants that, I will admit, mostly came from QT. None of it is remotely stylish, cute, charming, insouciant, alluring, beguiling, or anything else (besides really comfortable) that sleepwear could, in theory, be. Am I missing an opportunity here? How might my life be different if I had some of those awesome bedtime outfits that Betty Draper has? If we believe our clothes "say something" about who we are, what does schlumpy mismatched sleepwear say? I don't think I want to know...
In the meatime, those crafty clothing companies have figured out that we like to wear our jammies all day and also, a la Fred Rogers and Don Draper, we want to shed our work clothes as soon as we get home at the end of the day. So they invented loungewear. Loungewear is so handy! You can sleep in it, of course. You can wear it for what my younger daughter calls a "home potato" day - those rainy cold weekend days where you don't have to leave the house for any reason. You can wear it to yoga class, drive the kids to school in it, walk to the dog, and curl up on the couch with either your morning coffee or you late night martini. Almost all the major clothing companies some kind of loungewear line which is distinct from both their sleepwear and their workout gear. I note, though, that there is a considerable variation in the fanciness of so-called loungewear. The stuff that J. Crew calls "weekend lounge" is dressier than 80% of my wardrobe. I guess they mean "to go out to a cocktail lounge" rather then "lounge around the house on Friday night eating coffee ice cream at catching up on four days' worth of the NYT". Gap loungewear falls under the broader "Gap Body" line, and is more the lightweight hoodies and wide-waistbanded drawstring floppy pants of my loungewear ideal. (Note that Gap even has a maternity loungewear line!) J. Jill has no loungewear that I could find - odd. Target appears to allocate approximately 14% of its floorspace to loungewear. I ducked in to AnnTaylor LOFT today (or do we just call it "LOFT" now?) and investigated their "lounge" line - all stretchy black & white & grey, and frankly a little "gym" for my tastes. I like my lounge more jammies than jumping jacks. Victoria's Secret clearly agrees with me, as they pair the two in sleep + lounge line...
In reviewing my "jammies drawer" (yep, it's actually called that), I see that I've just blended my loungewear and sleepwear. If and when I buy clothes again, I think I'm going to upgrade the loungewear -- I crave those fleecy buttery soft gray pants that pair perfectly with a silky stretch cami and chenille hoody. Ummmm....can't wait. But upgrading the actual sleepwear???? Probably not.
My sleepwear questions for you:
- What do you wear to bed and why?
- If you share a bed, what does your bedmate think of your sleepwear? At the risk of TMI, are there any occasions for alternative forms of sleepwear?
- How far outside of the house (and outside of sleeping hours) will you wear your sleepwear? (Front stoop to pick up a paper? Down the block to mail a letter? In the car to drop your kid off at school?)
- Is there a loungewear/sleepwear distinction in your wardrobe?
- Where do you get your sleepwear? Did some or all of your sleepwear have a former life as regular clothes?
- Are there any must-wear or won't-wear fabrics or formats?
- And...if you're willing to share: undies or no undies with sleepwear? (Did your mom ever tell you that your body has to "breathe" at night?)
I wear 100% spaghetti strap cotton nightdresses from HANRO (via Garnet Hill or Bare Essentials) which have an attractive silhouette, bounce back after many washings and pack well. I have about 12 of them in white, pink, black, blue and ivory. I wouldn't wear them too far out of the bedroom without a robe, but they are the only thing I would wear to bed. My bedmate seem to like them, though he never really discusses it with me. My loungewear is completely separate. No one in their right MIND wears underwear at night.
ReplyDeleteI like to wear vintage slips that I find in either trendier versions of consignment shops but sometimes find in thrift stores, too. they are comfy and i like the cleavage support while i sleep because. they have sex appeal, but are actually comfy, too. in the morning, i often throw a cardigan over it and maybe put on a pair of old navy velor plants on underneath. i am actually pretty sure you have seen me in this combination.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...usually an incredibly faded, big, soft, 1/2-sleeve t-shirt from college days that has (had?) Sylvester on it and it says "Pennthylvania." If the weather is hot, then I switch to a sleeveless scrub shirt that my sister's old boyfriend gave me when he was in med school (it's very soft). I bought some silk jammies (from Winter Silks, I think), but they made me feel sweaty at night, so I gave up on them. I've thought about shopping for something more fashionable, but couldn't justify the cost. The spousage doesn't have any problem with my sleepwear.
ReplyDeleteNeed a bathrobe to go out of the house.
Cotton nightshirts. Always. I've been known to go get the paper (although happily the dog usually does it) or take a kid and/or dog out into the back yard for a brief romp while wearing my nightshirt. In the winter this is not feasible, though! Loungewear is always different from sleepwear in my book.
ReplyDeleteTara
My ideal sleepwear: crisp cotton pjs for summer, with piping and a breast pocket (for Kleenex, natch); for winter, the same in flannel. Both are amazingly difficult to find in the right style, size and colors, and so I often settle for much less satisfactory kinds of pyjamas or, in summer, tshirts. Never, ever nightgowns which I hate and have hated since childhood. Come to think of it, my sleepwear is just about the only clothing genre in which anything remotely resembling a butch impulse expresses itself.
ReplyDeleteLoungewear: occasionally Ann Taylor does loungewear pieces in cashmere and it's ridiculously expensive and ridiculously comfortable. My enduring icon of style, my sister, always used to say that the trick to dressing well was to wear pyjamas all the time but upgrade them to nicer fabrics for fancier occasions. Words to live by.
I just got back from Marshall's with a pjs/loungewear set that I bought entirely because of this blog (and the fact that my spouse thought it was cute). I think I'm too susceptible to media.
ReplyDeleteI second the love of old lady slips from the Goodwill, but sweat pants and t-shirts are my lounge wear of choice and double nicely for pjs for those of us too cheap to spend money on something no one sees. I agree that I can't wait to shed my "work clothes" in favor of lounge attire, and spend my happiest moments in this garb. I think it is funny that my husband must not believe I actually wear anything BUT sweats since I'm already dressed down by the time he comes home.
ReplyDeleteChanel #5, or more precisely Jo Malone Orange Blossom perfume.. Can't stand the feeling of getting twisted up in pyjamas. I've always dreamed of the perfect menswear-ish blue pyjamas. But never feel like I could really pay what they cost.
ReplyDeleteLove Eileen West jammies from Nordstrom and those super soft separate pajamas they now carry at the GAP. I have separate drawers for pajamas and what I consider work out clothes. I don't go out of the house in the pajamas, and do leave home in work out clothes, but only if I am indeed working out. I like the point above about what the husbands think. I am a super-feminist but it has occured to me that there are periods of time when my husband only sees me in my sloppiest attire. I do try to keep on my regular clothes until he comes home (often late) at least some of the time so he can think of me as a regular person and not some girl in pajamas. But he thinks this is crazy! I have no idea if my husband thinks these pajamas are cute, but when I sent him to the Nordstrom sale to get some things for me, he did pick out some of the some Eileen West short summer nighties I like so he must be paying some attention.
ReplyDeleteNothing. Ever!
ReplyDeleteTradional cotton flannel nighties from LL Bean in the winter (starting in September) and vintage cotton and vintage look alikes in the summer (long, white, the sort of thing Victorian heroines wear to flee over the moor). Can be worn to bring in the paper, perhaps with the neat addition of a raincoat (shades of 8'oclock classes in college. Loungewear?!? (to be uttered with the inflections of Edith Evans). Some of my vintage ones come from French markets, beautifully made, both lady's chemises and men's nightshirts, and of course, all cotton. No underwear, but in winter, occasionally socks, and that makes my husband laugh.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
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