Pyjama party

This time around I have been on a lockdown diet of late nights and snooze alarms. Autoplay on streaming services has dictated my sleeping pattern. We’re three lockdowns in and any sense of routine disappeared back in April. The twilight hours and slow mornings mean that I am clocking up a lot of time spent horizontal and as a result, if I was to imagine a flowchart for ‘what clothing item best suits your lifestyle?’, I would end up at pyjamas. To pinpoint my pyjama education, it comes from the 90s tv kids show Banana in Pyjamas. They left their mark on an impressionable toddler that I would not be an underwear only sleeper. Delve into my pyjama archive and the scope varies from childhood Action Man pjs, t-shirts with holes in, old football tops and a pyjama set that a friend who shall remain nameless said bared a resemblance to Prison Break. Probably not a compliment and probably not the high standards B1 and B2 set with their matching stripes.

Presentable nightwear is a commodity that has risen in desirability in this weird dimension we are in right now and one that has made purpose bought loungewear and pyjamas essential. There is definitely a hierarchy where my old t-shirts are at the bottom of the pile and Timothy Dalton’s pyjamas in License to Kill sit at the very top. Dalton as Bond wears a black two-piece made from what appears to be silk. He looks put together from the moment he opens his eyes. I see a respectable man who still has his style reputation very much intact. I fear for mine as I have a resemblance more akin to an inmate or adolescent teenager.downicon

Loungewear has been one of the very few pillars supporting the industry at the moment with sales far surpassing normal levels, meaning a rat race among brands to outfit the working from home army ensues. As we continue to wait out this pandemic there are probably only a handful of people remaining that are in need of purpose bought loungewear. Most made the right decision back in March when we knew we’d be in hibernation mode for the long run. Purpose bought pyjamas however could be the next purchase and one that are post-lockdown selves will be thankful for. 

My screen time has reached new heights this month as minus temperatures put me off going for a walk. The bi-product of this though is being able to play trend forecaster and see that pyjama sets seem to be the new focus for brands, most recently from Basic Rights and their cleverly titled line ‘Basic Nights’ made from cotton, tencel and modal. Sky blue, black and even a yellow and black western shirt all make for a very desirable luxury two-piece purchase. Spending more money on our jammies seems logical for those who have been able to save elsewhere and wouldn’t we all just sleep safe in the knowledge that should we awake from under our duvets we are least presentable? There are plenty others capitalising on this. FRNKOW is a German-based brand that focuses on combining timeless essentials in softer silhouettes; case in point: a pyjama shirt with delicate pinstripes in a soft yellow that I think would confidently have me rolling out of bed and onto the street without thinking twice. 

Many of you will know Tekla Fabrics for their bedding, but this is not the only trick up their sleeves. The social media darling of the moment it would seem, have also mastered pyjamas too. Poplin sleepwear in their trademark powdery hues that I’m often looking for in the colour palette on Instagram stories are very desired by all Scandinavian wannabes (guilty). CDLP also have their own pjs made from lyocell which look unquestionably and characteristically cool, to the point where I have started to wonder whether they are pyjamas after all. I mean, their lookbook shows them in situ looking just as good manning the barbecue as they do when being worn when filling up at the petrol station. Perhaps good-looking pyjamas bestow you this aura of being able to step out the front door without even thinking what’s on your body and now that you have read this article, at least it will be something other than your intimates. 

Is it the utopia to have just one set of clothes for the day, the ultimate pyjamas that work for: sleeping, zooming, exercising, shopping and socialising? I hope we come out of this restricted state of being with our slippers and pyjamas on for the first social event with no shame and just pure comfort. We don’t want to be thinking about what to wear on our first group gathering, we’ll have so much more to consider such as how to have a normal conversation with another human without having to tell them they on mute. Too daunting? Back to bed it is then just in time for autoplay to run its course.jbicon