Definitive : Night Time Is the Right Time for Pajamas

Next to underwear, pajamas are probably the most private clothing around. Generally made in silk, cotton or cotton flannel, and decorated with simple colors and designs, they’re rarely taken outside or worn after the sun comes up.

They evolved from the nightshirt, which became popular during the English Renaissance. Personal hygiene was a symbolic way to purify the soul (“cleanliness is next to godliness”), and people realized that sleeping in the shirts and blouses they wore during the day often soiled their sheets.

The nightshirt went on before crawling under the covers. Both sexes owned them, and couples who became engaged often gave fancy nightshirts with matching caps to each other as gifts.

But it was from India that the modern pajama evolved. In the late 19th Century, British men who spent time in Bombay began coming home with loose fitting silk trousers that the Hindus called pajamas or “leg clothes.” They were baggy, tied at the waist with a drawstring and were ideal for lounging while sitting in the study, reading the Observer and smoking a pipe.

As pajama-wearers became re-acclimated to English weather, they found it warmer to keep their PJs on after crawling into their nightshirts. The shirts eventually were shortened and men’s furnishings stores started carrying pajama trousers with matching tops.

The top is buttoned or has a wide enough neck so it can slip over the head; the sleeves can be long or short.

Pajamas were around for quite a while when Hollywood made its first big fashion influence with them. Rudolph Valentino wore them on the big silent screen, and PJs became sexy. Beach pajamas were worn as sportswear in the ‘20s.

Today, only about one in four men sleep in pajamas, but the attire probably will never die out completely. As nearly any store owner can tell you, as soon as pajamas are out of stock, the calls for them come in. Usually after a Valentino movie has run on TV.