Pyjama party: how sleepwear became eveningwear for the A-list

When London-based designer Olivia von Halle launched her namesake label, the fashion world revolved around a very specific kind of va-va-voom.

“It was the end of the noughties, so it was all about tight Hervé Léger bandage dresses, huge six-inch Christian Louboutin heels. It was really uncomfortable, and very exposing,” von Halle tells Style in the bubblegum-pink reception room of her West London home.

Brad Pitt’s gem-toting plaid shirts even use diamonds for buttons

The designer, who at the time worked as a trend forecaster in Shanghai, had a gut feeling that the pendulum was about to swing. She took matters into her own hands. Inspired by the pyjama-clad elderly out stretching and walking their dogs on the streets of city’s French Concession, she ordered tailor-made silk pyjamas for herself and proceeded to wear them around the clock – including after late nights at the club, when she’d bring friends back to her apartment and change out of her minidress into her custom-made silk two-pieces.

Soon, von Halle was barraged with orders from friends and acquaintances desperate for their own sets. It wasn’t long before she tapped into the opportunity and in 2011, founded her line of luxury silk pyjamas, which since its inception and subsequent success has been much more than an everyday sleepwear brand.

“We’re not a ‘sitting in bed drinking a cup of tea’ brand. We’re a ‘having a cigarette and a gin and tonic late at night’ kind of a brand,” she jokes.

Knowing von Halle’s background, it’s unsurprising that the founder tapped into a very much nascent shift. What she then considered an up-and-coming fad – wearing pyjamas not only out of the bedroom, but to a fête – has had such staying power that calling it a trend would be a misnomer.

The lines are blurring between pyjamas and ready-to-wear more generally. Gauzy slip dresses, cotton button-up sets and even the humble boxer short have graduated to runways and street-style snaps in recent months, thanks to influencers like Bella Hadid. But the likes of von Halle are making a case for pyjamas-as-partywear to become the decadent new norm, with playful prints, feminine accents (think feathers, faux fur and fringing), and chic textiles helping to take the category to the next level.

The enduring fashion legacy of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Party dresses are exciting, but allowing a statement frock valuable closet real estate can feel foolish when it only gets an outing once a year. With luxe pyjamas, you’re dressing them up with jewellery, heels and a statement make-up look, but you’re also putting them to good use year-round (including right after the party, if you so wish).

Von Halle’s dressing gowns are a favourite among brides in the make-up chair, but they’re also worn by women on nights out and for wedding after-parties. In the same way fragrance can serve as a way to mark an event or celebration, she sees women buy her pyjamas to commemorate milestones. “We get emails saying, ‘I’ve been working hard and just got my first mortgage, so I bought a pair of PJs to wear on my first night in the flat.’ I feel really lucky that we’re with them at those times,” the designer adds.

Other brand names to know are London-based Asceno, with their minimalist striped silk sets and slip dresses, and Gilda & Pearl, whose feather-cuffed robes have been spotted on Kate Moss, Hailey Bieber and Margot Robbie. There’s also Sleeper, helmed by Ukrainian co-founders Kate Zubareva and Asya Varetsa, which puts a whimsical, unabashedly feminine spin on the two-piece set.

Trouserless and trending: the brands and icons bringing bare legs back

Aptly, Sleeper came about following a dream of Zubareva’s, the night after the duo lamented the lack of covetable, luxurious and affordable loungewear. “In the morning, Kate called me and said that she had a dream of us standing inside a pyjama factory,” Varetsa recalls. The duo worked to realise the dream, and the now the nine-year-old label makes an elevated everyday uniform that wouldn’t look out of place on the red carpet.

Though the brand has since expanded into separates and occasion-wear, Sleeper’s iconic feather-cuffed button-down pyjamas remain a hero product, worn by everyone from Katy Perry to Kris Jenner. In May, British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty donned a blue Sleeper shirt in a nod to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine when she greeted the country’s first lady Olena Zelenska.