At a time when an abundance of superfake handbags and clothing dupes has made it easier than ever to buy versions of items once considered hard to get, those who value provenance have found a new way to flaunt it: pajamas.
Specifically, pajama sets from small labels in European cities known for being stops on the Grand Tour. Typically made locally with cotton fabrics and in classic cuts associated with men’s wear, the pajamas have for some people become a new souvenir of choice — and a way to signal their discerning taste.
“There is a European-ness attached to these pajamas because they come from heritage stores,” said Laila Gohar, an artist who owns styles from labels in Italy and Austria. “We are seeing women bring them from Europe to America.”
Her collection includes pajama sets from P. Le Moult in Vienna, which start at $247; from Casa Del Bianco in Milan, which start at $120 and are offered in prints like Liberty of London florals; and from Schostal Originals in Rome, which start at 195 euros, or about $204.
Other popular makers include Paris em Lisboa in Lisbon, where pajama sets start at 110 euros, or about $115; and Magniberg, a newer Swedish brand founded by a former Acne Studios designer, where styles start at 292 euros, or about $305.
Buying the brands’ products doesn’t require traveling: Styles from each are sold online. As are pajamas from like-minded companies outside Europe like Foo Tokyo in Toyko, which is known for a double-breasted pajama set inspired by formal jackets ($370), and Comme Si in New York, which makes its pajamas with Italian cotton traditionally used for dress shirts (sets start at $450).
Ms. Gohar, 36, the founder of the home goods brand Gohar World, said her pajamas have an oversize fit and enough polish for her to wear them in public with a trench coat and ballet flats — on one condition. “They have to be ironed,” she said.
“It’s the anti yoga pant,” Ms. Gohar added. “Yoga pants are very much an American invention that we are sadly exporting to the rest of the world.”
Of course, she is far from alone in wearing sleep wear out and about. Nightgowns and so-called nap dresses became a common uniform when pants were being traded for less restrictive attire during the pandemic. Before that, Jenna Lyons popularized the habit of dressing up pajama sets — like the white one she wore beneath rhinestone mesh to the Met Gala in 2015 — when she was the creative director and president of J. Crew. The artist Julian Schnabel is to some known as much for his mixed-media paintings as he is for wearing pajama sets to exhibition openings.
Mr. Schnabel’s wardrobe of sleep wear was the inspiration for Olatz, a brand founded by Olatz Schnabel, his ex-wife, who started it when the couple was still married. The label’s wood-paneled store in the West Village, which closed in 2013, was modeled after shops in Ms. Schnabel’s native Spain and had the old-world look of some popular European pajama stores today.
“I don’t think you can be tacky wearing pajamas,” said Ms. Schnabel, whose made-to-order versions are sold online and include cotton styles with piped hems (starting at $550 for a set), which recall the pajamas favored by her ex-husband. “You can entertain in them,” she added. (She felt differently about nightgowns.)
For those who like the pajama look but not the thought of wearing nightclothes during the day, Cristaseya, a brand in Paris, offers rarefied pajama-inspired ensembles made of Swiss and Japanese cotton, which start at about $1,750. “I find matching sets much more chic and elegant — it’s like a uniform,” said Cristina Casini, a founder of the brand, adding that its sets were influenced by a vintage style from the 1920s.
Their owners include Daphne Javitch, 44, who lives in Los Angeles and is a founder of Doing Well, an online health and lifestyle coaching program. “There is nothing fancier,” said Ms. Javitch, who also owns items from Comme Si and Paris em Lisboa, some of which she bought abroad. “There is something so special about traveling to find beautiful, unique, well-made things.”
Washable cotton apparel has a particular appeal to Ms. Javitch as a mother of two young children. “In Los Angeles, we all wear elastic waist bands,” she said. Ms. Javitch, who formerly ran Ten, a now-defunct line of underwear, added that her husband also wears pajamas for more than sleeping: Specifically those from Tekla, a brand in Copenhagen, which start at $445 for a set.
So does Christine Hamer, 34, the women’s design director at Calvin Klein who owns several of Tekla’s unisex sets, which both she and her fiancé wear. “I wear them around the house, but I also break up the set to run errands and mix and match the shirt and pants,” Ms. Hamer said. “It’s an extension of my wardrobe.”
Schostal Originals is currently shipping about 75 percent of its online orders to the United States, said Andrew Bloch Fiorelli, who owns the company with his mother. It recently introduced pajama shirts without piping and pockets that are meant to look less like sleep wear. The business is separate from another in Rome called Schostal, which does not offer the exact same products and is run by other members of Mr. Fiorelli’s family.
Celebrities like Harry Styles and Gwyneth Paltrow have visited the Schostal Originals store, as well as fashion writers and others who have mentioned the old-fashioned shop in newsletters or on social media. Megan Neligan, 30, who works in renewable energy in Los Angeles, likened her experience there in October to visiting a museum. “It tapped into the history and culture of Italian craftsmanship,” she said.
Her friend Sarah Claiborne, 30, also went to the Schostal Originals store while in Rome in October. (The women did not travel together.) For Ms. Claiborne, who works in fund-raising at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, buying a pair of brown-and-green-striped pajamas in person was part of the appeal. “This felt like buying something with a lore to them,” Ms. Claiborne said.
Mr. Fiorelli’s mother, Shirley Braine, was in the store as Ms. Claiborne and Ms. Neligan chose their pajama sets. She is known to encourage customers to wear them however they wish.
“You have to be a very particular Roman woman to wear pajamas outside,” Mr. Fiorelli said. Americans, he added, “don’t really care what other people think. It’s really nice, they just go for it.”
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