The Origin of Pyjamas - A Brief History of Sleepwear - RADICE

Though it may be difficult to imagine, much of the traditions of modern society have been around for the last century or so, even the way we dress when we go to bed.

For the rest of human history&#;regardless of whether we&#;re discussing Western, Eastern, or Ancient cultures&#;our sleepwear cultures have varied largely. Today, globalization has homogenized our sleeping habits, compared to the past where there was a lot more variety to how people dressed at night. Here&#;s everything you didn&#;t know about the history of pyjamas.

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The Private Past of Pyjamas

A lot of what we learn from history comes from what they left behind&#;artifacts, paintings, songs, and more. But pyjamas were generally considered a private matter: any form of sleepwear was meant only for the eyes of the wearer and their family. Because of this, we don&#;t have many direct examples of what pyjamas might have been like five hundred years ago. Fortunately, there are many clues we can put together to imagine what their sleepwear resembled.

In the Middle Ages, most pyjamas were essentially shapeless with simple trimmings. These were made by the wives and daughters of the family; easy to assemble and quick to create. It was only royalty and those of noble birth who wore pyjamas that were more than a simple long dress; their designs were inspired by Indian, Asian, and Roman costumes: large dress-shaped attires with wide sleeves for added comfort.

In fact, the word pyjama or pajama isn&#;t of Western origin: it comes from the Hindi word &#;pae jama&#; or &#;pai jama&#;, which translates to leg clothing and dates as far back as the 13th century Ottoman Empire. Pyjamas were traditionally loose trousers or drawers with a cord or drawstring to tie around the waist, and these were worn by both women and men throughout the Middle East and South Asia, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, and southern India.

They could either be tight all over the legs or wide at the waists and tight at the ankles. These trousers were generally paired with a belted tunic which fell to the wearer&#;s knees, and this combination was considered to be the best way to stay comfortable and clean in your home and as you slept.

It was in the 14th and 15th centuries that Europeans found the pyjamas of these cultures and adopted them to fit their own climates. By the 17th century, nearly everyone in Europe wore some form of pyjamas adapted from those found in the Ottoman Empire.

The Creation of the Sewing Machine

Pyjamas only really took off and began to find variety in the Middle Ages. You could say that what jumpstarted the earliest forms of modern pyjamas was the combination of a long-term Western civilization, the cold climate, and the developing foundations of modern fashion.

Up until the 18th century, most pyjamas were nothing more than a simple overly long nightgown or nightshirt. But perhaps the single most important innovation for the pyjama industry was the invention of the sewing machine, and the transition of Western culture from creating their own clothes to purchasing ready-to-wear clothing from stores, a concept which had not existed until then.

Over the next 200 years, the styles of the most popular pyjamas were most commonly dictated by what culture at the time viewed to be &#;right&#; or &#;wrong&#;, moral or immoral.

Men&#;s Sleepwear

From the early s to the mid s, nightshirts or bed shirts were similar in appearance to their day shirts, with a folding collar and a deep neck opening in the front. Fancier nightshirts were trimmed with lace down the sides of the sleeves and down the neck. It was only by the late s that nightshirts became available in a variety of fabrics, including flannel, longcloth, cotton, linen, and plain or colored silk.

By the turn of the century, the ankle-length nightshirts took the name of &#;nightgowns&#;, with longer versions that fell all the way to the floor known as &#;night robes&#;. It was in the first quarter of the 20th century when nightgowns gradually went out of style, followed by night robes and nightshirts, and were replaced with what we know as the modern day pyjamas we see today by the mid 20th century.

Women&#;s Sleepwear

Men began stylizing their pyjamas long before women did; while men were going through laces and trimmings, women kept to plain and simple shapeless dresses or nightgowns. The traditional nightgown resembled the Indian banyan or the Japanese kimono, looking like a loose robe or coat that fell down to the calves, and a small belt or tie that went around the waist to keep it closed. Until the 20th

century, variations in nightgowns were very few and far between. One theory as to why women experimented with pyjamas so late is due to the patriarchal nature of Western society; many were afraid to appear to be voicing women&#;s rights or seem to have joined growing suffrage movements in the late s to early s.

Coco Chanel was the first designer to create attractive and elegant pyjamas for women, persuading the ladies that pyjamas could be worn with as much comfort and beauty as the traditional nightgown. The female pyjama officially captured the market in , and only outgrew the sales of nightgowns as recently as the s.
The first iteration of these female pyjamas was a combination of a nightgown and pants; the top was made with a high color and buttons down the front, with soft frills at the knees and wrists. Later variations included large bishop sleeves and a colored ribbon around the waist.

The Modern Transition

The transition to the modern pyjama over the 20th century involved a move away from formal habits as well as a liberation of female sexuality. By the mid-20th

By the s, more and more individuals had begun wearing the silk shirt-and-pants sets inspired from Chinese and Indian sleepwear. Women had also started adopting the unisex look, wearing the same top-and-pants sets for men.

Pyjamas and the Future

What can we expect with pyjamas over the course of the next century, or even the next few decades? One point we can take from history is that for a long period of time, sleeping wear remained unchanged; it was only until the development of the sewing machine that variations began to take over and a market of sleeping wear opened up.

One trend that we can see continuing into the future is the normalization of pyjamas around the house and outside of the house. With traditional and formal aspects of culture loosening around the world, more people are finding themselves comfortable with being comfortable. Pyjamas have evolved from sleepwear that one should never be seen in outside of the house, to normal everyday clothing that can be worn on the street, at the grocery store, or even at casual dining establishments. Perhaps someday, pyjamas will be the norm for any non-formal occasion.

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Pajamas are a garment for sleeping or lounging worn by men, women, and children. Pajamas may be one-piece or two-piece garments, but always consist of loosely fitting pants of various widths and lengths. While pajamas are traditionally viewed as utilitarian garments, they are often a reflection of the fashionable silhouette and the image of the exotic "other" in popular imagination.

The word pajama comes from the Hindi "pae jama" or "pai jama," meaning leg clothing, and its usage dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Alternate spellings include: paejamas, paijamas, pyjamas, and the abbreviated pj's. Pajamas were traditionally loose drawers or trousers tied at the waist with a drawstring or cord, and they were worn by both sexes in India, Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Pajamas could be either tight fitting throughout the entire leg, or very full at waist and knees with tightness at calves and ankles. They were usually worn with a belted tunic extending to the knees. Although the word is Hindi, similar garments are found in traditional costume throughout the Middle and Far East.

Pajamas were adopted by Europeans while in these countries, and brought back as exotic loungewear. Although the wearing of pajamas was not widespread until the twentieth century, they were appropriated as early as the seventeenth century as a signifier of status and worldly knowledge.

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Pajamas as Sleepwear

Pajamas are generally thought to have been introduced to the Western world about , when British colonials, who had adopted them as an alternative to the traditional nightshirt, continued the practice upon their return. By the end of the nineteenth century, the term pajama was being used to describe a two-piece garment: both the pajamas (trousers) and the jacket-styled top worn with them.

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By , men's pajamas were widely available alongside more traditional nightshirts and were available in fabrics like flannel and madras and had lost most of their exotic connotations. Pajamas were considered modern and suitable for an active lifestyle. The advertising copy in the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue suggested that they were: "Just the thing for traveling, as their appearance admits a greater freedom than the usual kind of nightshirts" (p. 966).

The streamlined, often androgynous fashions during the s helped to popularize the wearing of pajamas by women. While men's pajamas were invariably made of cotton, silk, or flannel, women's examples were often made of brightly printed silk or rayon and trimmed with ribbons and lace. Early examples featured a raised or natural waist with voluminous legs gathered at the ankle in a "Turkish trouser" style, while later examples featured straight legs and dropped waists, a reflection of the s silhouette. Throughout the century, pajamas would continue to reflect the fashionable ideal. The film It Happened One Night, which featured a scene in which Claudette Colbert wears a pair of men's pajamas, helped to popularize the menswear-styled pajama for women.

By the s, women were wearing "shortie" pajamas, which would later develop into the "baby doll" pajama. The typical baby-doll pajama consisted of a sleeveless smock-style top with a frill at the hem, and balloon panties frilled at the leg openings. By the mid-s, baby-doll pajamas were standard summer nightwear for millions of girls and women.

With the popularity of unisex styling during the s, pajamas were often menswear inspired. Tailored satin pajamas had been popular since the s but were rediscovered during this period by both men and women. In this decade, ethnic styles based on the traditional dress of Vietnam and China were worn as antifashion and a statement about the wearer's political views. This trend toward unisex and ethnic remains to this day and is particularly apparent in women's fashions, where the division between dress and undress has become blurred.

Pajamas as Fashion

This blurring of these boundaries began long ago. Women had begun experimenting with the adaptation of pajama-style trousers since the eighteenth century, but this was associated with masquerade costume, actresses, and prostitution, not with respectable women. In , Amelia Jenks Bloomer (-), an American feminist, adopted voluminous "Turkish trousers" worn with a knee-length skirt as an alternative to fashionable dress. The response to her appearance was overwhelmingly negative, and the "Bloomer Costume" failed to gain acceptance.

Pajamas began to be adapted into fashionable dress in the early years of the twentieth century when avantgarde designers promoted them as an elegant alternative to the tea gown. French couturier Paul Poiret launched pajama styles for both day and evening as early as , and his influence played a large role in their eventual acceptance.

Beach pajamas, which were worn by the seaside and for walking on the boardwalk, were popularized by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in the early s. The first beach pajamas were worn by the adventuresome few, but by the end of the decade had become acceptable dress for the average woman. Evening pajamas, intended to be worn as a new type of costume for informal dining at home, also became widely accepted during this decade. Evening pajamas would remain popular throughout the s and would reemerge in the s in the form of "palazzo pajamas."

Palazzo pajamas were introduced by the Roman designer Irene Galitzine in for elegant but informal evening dress. They greatly influenced fashion during the s and continued into the casual s. Palazzo pajamas featured extremely wide legs and were often made of soft silk and decorated with beading and fringe. During the s, eveningwear and loungewear merged, as evening styles became increasingly simple and unstructured. Halston was particularly known for his bias-cut pantsuits of satin and crepe, which he referred to as "pajama dressing." In light of this, popular magazines suggested readers shop in the lingerie departments for their eveningwear.

This increased informality of dress has made the evening pajama a staple in modern fashion, and the Asian influence on designers like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani has blurred the boundaries between dress and undress even further. It is likely that this trend will continue well into the twenty-first century.

See also Lingerie; Trousers; Unisex Clothing.

Bibliography

Calasibetta, Charlotte. The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion. New York: Fairchild Publications, .

Ewing, Elizabeth. History of Twentieth Century Fashion. Lanham, Md.: Barnes and Noble Books, .

Gross, Elaine, and Fred Rottman. Halston: An American Original. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, .

Kidwell, Claudia Brush, and Valerie Steele. Men and Women: Dressing the Part. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, .

Probert, Christina. Swimwear in Vogue since . New York: Abbeville Press, .

Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, Edition. New York: Gramercy Books, (reprint).

Wilcox, R. Turner. The Dictionary of Costume. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, .

Yarwood, Doreen. The Encyclopedia of World Costume. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, .

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