Some of the latest menswear shows are looking like a pajama party. But will men want to join in?
At New York fashion week, which kicks off Friday, designers including Phillip Lim, Michael Bastian and Tim Hamilton are expected to show a number of pajama-inspired clothes that are meant to be worn in broad daylight. The looks include colored piping on jackets and shirts, spread-open pajama collars, soft, unpadded jackets that hang loosely off the shoulders -- and, of course, voluminous drawstring pants.
The style showed up as early as last year, with Prada and Lanvin leading the way on European runways and Duckie Brown and Z Zegna close on their heels. This summer, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana and Giorgio Armani all showed pajama-inspired clothes in Milan.
For designers -- always in search of new silhouettes and proportions -- the baggy look is fresh, a contrast to the rigid, tight-fitting men's styles that are now in the mainstream of men's clothing.
But the pajama parade has some retailers and customers scratching their heads. It's a 'challenging' style to pull off, says Jeffrey Kalinksy, owner of the hip Jeffrey boutique in New York City. He is usually among the earliest adopters of high-fashion trends, but this time, he's taking a pass. 'Will there be cool guys who want a pajama shirt to wear with their shorts? Yes. Am I going to have it for them? No,' he says.
Even the designers behind the avant-garde Duckie Brown label acknowledge that the oversize drawstring pants they showed last year were 'a fashion thing,' not necessarily a commercial hit, says co-designer Daniel Silver. 'No man wants a trouser that makes him look bigger than he is,' he says.
Still, other retailers say there is a place in men's wardrobes for the pajama look. Designers, they say, are trying to create an alternative to the inexpensive sweats that many guys wear when they relax, much the way Juicy Couture made women's track suits a fashion item.
Colby McWilliams, men's fashion director at Neiman Marcus, says the retailer is showcasing Dolce & Gabbana pajama pants for fall as the equivalent of a track pant, which could be worn with a hoodie or T-shirt, for example.
He thinks designers pushing pajama looks could be suggesting that men can dress immaculately at home, at least when entertaining overnight guests. He notes that Neiman sold out of silk men's dressing gowns -- fancy bathrobes -- designed by Tom Ford this spring. For the holiday season, Bergdorf Goodman will promote the robes as gifts.
Sales of men's 'loungewear' -- informal clothing for the most casual settings -- have been strong in recent years. Designers Adam Kimmel and James Perse have also had some success lately selling high-end cotton loungewear at stores like Barneys New York and Bergdorf.
In addition, some style watchers point to the baggy, lightweight patterned shorts some young urban men have been wearing in New York City as evidence that pajama styles could catch on.
Indeed, designers' willingness to show pajamas on the runway with a straight face reflects a shift in the once-sleepy world of menswear. Men have become more fashion-conscious and more receptive to trends, adopting looks such as flat-front pants, shorter pant lengths and men's tote bags that would once have been dismissed as too far out. That has emboldened designers to look for new elements of the male wardrobe to upgrade.
Other cultures are more comfortable with pajamas. In Shanghai, men and women routinely change into pajamas after work and walk around in public. At the latest round of men's shows in Europe, designers weren't shy about being inspired by pajamas. Dolce & Gabbana, for one, declared in a statement that 'the pyjama' symbolized 'the relaxed style of life of the modern man.'
But in the U.S., pajamas have an image problem to overcome. Wearing them to bed hasn't been in style since the 1950s. Sleepwear sales, including pajamas, rose a healthy 8.9% to $910.7 million in the year that ended in June, according to NPD Group, but the sales include gifts -- which aren't necessarily worn. Public pajama-wearers in recent years have been known for idiosyncratic looks. They include Hugh Hefner, painter/sculptor/film director Julian Schnabel and Michael Jackson, who showed up in court in 2005 dressed in pajamas and a blazer.
John Clayton, a 28-year-old college professor in Cincinnati, says the last time he wore pajamas, he was about five years old. He likes fashion in general but draws the line at the new pajama looks. 'I'd never wear designer slouchy pajamas myself,' he says.
Indeed some designers in the U.S. are trying to distance themselves from the p-word. Rag & bone, a New York-based designer sportswear label, refers to a $175 short-sleeve shirt that could be mistaken for a pajama top as a 'bowling shirt.' Co-designer Marcus Wainwright says it was inspired by one worn by James Dean.
John Crocco, creative director at Perry Ellis, prefers that the drawstring linen pants he is showing Friday be thought of as a 'more casual expression of sportswear.'
Designer Patrik Ervell admits that the inspiration for one of the shirts in his spring collection was an old Army pajama top that has an elastic bottom and cuffs. But he adds, 'In menswear, you have a pretty limited vocabulary,' he says. Referring to the number of designers inspired by pajamas, he says, 'We are all working within the same archetypes -- the shirt, the uniform, the pajama.'
There isn't a simple way to explain the trend, says Tyler Thoreson, executive editor with men's fashion Web site men.style.com. 'If you really wanted to deconstruct it, you could say buried in there is some kind of commentary on our overworked, sleep-starved culture,' he says. But even then, he says, he can't envision overworked, sleep-starved professionals wearing pajamas out in public.
Ray A. Smith |
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