Category Archives: Working and Living in Pajamas

How To Turn Your Pajamas Into A Fashionable Outfit

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Now that stars like Rihanna and Salma Hayek have been spotted looking stylish in their pajamas, there is no question that pajamas outside of the house is a fashion trend. And why shouldn’t it be? Pajamas are comfortable, lightweight and flattering.

If you can’t get your hands on Rihanna’s Pucci pajamas, there’s still hope. We have tips to help you make this trend your own and examples of how to do so with pieces from our collection.

To turn your sleepwear into street wear, just follow these three rules:

Rule #1 Wearing pajamas out of the house is not an excuse to look sloppy. Take a shower, do your hair and make-up and make sure your pajamas are clean and freshly ironed.

Rule #2 Pair your pajamas with non-sleepwear accessories like heels or sandals or a classic blazer or cardigan.

Rule #3 Be creative!

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Here are a few examples using items from our own collection.

Pair these Navy Toile Classic Flannel Pajama Pants

with a navy blue sweater (like this one from stylebop.com)

and blue flats (like these from Steve Madden)

Complete the outfit with accessories like a scarf or bracelets.

Roll up the legs of these pajamas to the length of a cropped pant.

Pair with a black tank top and denim shirt (like this one from Lands End)

And red wedge sandals (like these from TOMS).

How do you style your pajamas?

Rihanna Wears Pajamas On The Red Carpet

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Another celebrity traded the designer dress for designer pajamas on the red carpet. Superstar Rihanna showed up for the world premier of her new film “Battleship” in Tokyo on Tuesday in her pajamas.

Of course, these weren’t just any pajamas that she pulled from her closet. The singer wore blue and gold metallic pajamas from Emilio Pucci’s Autumn Winter 2012 collection. To transform the pajamas from sleepwear to evening wear, Rihanna paired them with nude heels and long elegant earrings to complete the outfit.

For those keeping track at home, Rihanna makes the third celebrity we have caught dressing up pajamas. (See: Rachel Roy and Selma Hayek)

Will you be joining in on the trend?

Five-Year-Old Suri Cruise Wears Pajamas To Dinner (So What??)

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The twittersphere was all worked up last week over the news that Katie Homes brought her daughter Suri to dinner wearing pajamas. According to dad, Tom Cruise, the 5-year-old Suri has her own sense of style and chooses her own outfits.

So did the celebrity kid, who was out to dinner with her mom and grandmother, decide to make a style statement following the leads of fashion icons Rachel Roy and Selma Hayek who were recently seen dressing up their pajamas? Doubtful. (Uh, she’s five. Remember?)

Our guess is Suri chose pajamas for the same reason many of us adults do; they’re comfy, cute and unique.

To turn her pajamas into an outfit, Suri paired heart print capri pant and top with a purple jacket and silver flats.

Some moms are still upset about Suri’s style choice or her mother’s allowing her daughter’s fashion freedom. A writer on babycenter.com points out that mom, Katie Holmes, had an opportunity to bring Suri a change of clothes after their afternoon activity.

But is it really that big of a deal for a 5-year-old to go out in pajamas? What do you think?

Salma Hayek Wears Pajamas In Public

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One may be a fluke, two a coincidence. But three makes a trend.

Yesterday Salma Hayek joined the ranks of style icons turning pajamas into daywear fashion. And we couldn’t be more thrilled!

On Tuesday, Hayek was spotted walking through LAX airport wearing beautiful grey and red polka dot silk pajamas. To upgrade her pajamas from sleepwear to daywear, she paired them with a black cardigan, red and white heels and a black bag.

Now that we’ve seen fashion designer Rachel Roy on the red carpet in pajamas, Swedish fashion blogger Elin Kling shopping in her pj pants and even Lucky magazine weighing in on pajama style, we can proclaim pajamas in public is officially a fashion trend.

So give it a try, and send us a picture!

A Message From Ellie In Response To Bans On Pajamas In Public

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By Ellie Badanes, Founder and President of ThePajamaCompany.com.

When the headline first appeared in my Google Alerts that a parish in Louisiana was attempting to enforce a ban on wearing pajamas in public, I barely gave it a second glance. Unfortunately, that is a sign of the times when I hear about another school banning its students, or even parents, from wearing pajamas on its premisses nearly every week.

But as I read more about Louisiana’s Caddo Parish District 3 Commissioner Michael Williams’ attempt to push through an ordinance that would prohibit anyone from appearing in public wearing “a garment sold in the sleepwear section of department stores,” I realized this was emblematic of a more concerning trend in our country.

Now, I’m not just saying this because I happen to own an online store which sells only sleepwear apparel. I am saying this because I believe clothing is one of the greatest forms of personal expression in our modern world. And personal expression is something that must not be limited in a successful democracy.

I founded The Pajama Company eight years ago because after a career in the fashion industry in New York and traveling the world working for an international women’s NGO, I realized pajamas were my favorite type of clothing. After two decades of wearing power suits and ball gowns, I found pajamas were what I wore to feel my most creative, to feel my most comfortable and to express myself most fully.

That kind of power should never be taken away from the people.

Now perhaps you are reading this news and agree that kids wearing plaid pants in public is distasteful. Chances are you would also frown upon boys wearing baggy pants or girls in short skirts with heels. Fortunately, in America we all have the right to make our own judgments, to share our thoughts with our friends or our social networks. We can celebrate the ridiculousness of the fashion choices of people we see on the street on sites like “People of Walmart” or on shows like “What Not To Wear.” But we would never walk up to those people and tell them to change their clothes. In fact, we would be dismayed to see them charged with a crime based on their choice of apparel.

As we learn from TLC’s Stacy and Clinton any item of clothing can be manipulated to look either tacky or stylish. For me, there is nothing better than putting on a crisp pair of pajamas with mascara and a great pair of shoes.

And I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Pajamas and items sold in the “sleepwear section” of stores have recently been worn on the red carpet by the likes of style icons Rachel Roy and Ryan Gosling and highlighted by fashion columnists and bloggers. In November, Marie Claire ran a slideshow touting the latest trend of pajamas in fashion with a subhead reading “there’s nothing sleepy about this timeliness trend: Loungewear wakes up to luxe.” Glamour instructed its readers to look fashionable by staying in pajamas over the weekend. Even Prada designed a line of high end pajamas, which are definitely not meant to be concealed in the bedroom.

And how dangerous can pajamas be when a pastor of a church in Toledo actually encourages his congregations to come in their sleepwear to Sunday services?

Williams cited citizens’ uncomfortableness with the trend of public pajama wearing as his reasoning for the ban.

For a child of the 1960’s like myself, there is something especially uncomfortably familiar with an authority figure attempting to ban youth from exhibiting a fashion trend for fear of what it represents.

How is this different than schools and businesses banning young men from wearing their hair long in the 1960’s or schools preventing kids from wearing denim in the 1950’s? For that matter, it is even reminiscent of a time when women wearing pants was frowned upon in public.

It’s nice to see that Commissioner Williams doesn’t feel the “crime” of wearing pajamas warrants jail time, merely community service. Who joins me in cheering pajama clad citizens who already affect good in our society, who already volunteer in their local communities?

Last year a high school in Vermont banned pajamas in school claiming pajamas inhibited students’ work ethic.

I imagine the legions of bloggers and those who work from home would take issue with that statement.

Whether you think pajamas are appropriate daily attire is for you to decide. As for me, please excuse me while I put on my pretty striped cotton pajama pants and get back to work.

NY Mag Fashion: “Pajama Hour is Any Hour”

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It’s official: Pajamas are not just for sleeping anymore. Of course, we don’t need any convincing. But it’s always nice to see another magazine making a case for pajamas as high street fashion. Today we hear it from New York Magazine. They posted a couple brilliant slideshows of people looking stylish on the streets of New York City in high end pajamas (extreme high end, we’re talking $1,000 and up for a pair of pj’s).

Even if you’re not planning to spend that much on your sleepwear, the slideshow still reveals a few style tips for any of us looking to work pajama tops or bottoms into our daily wardrobes.

Try pairing funky pajama pants with a classic structured top and blazer.

Wear a pajama top over a solid color dress.

Doing Good In Pajamas

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While we sat comfortably in our pajamas we learned of a startling statistic: around the world, a woman dies every 90 seconds due to complications of pregnancy. We knew that was one statistic that our founder (a mother of three) and most of our customers would not be able to ignore. When we learned that 90 percent of those deaths are preventable, we decided to do our part to help.

Today, The Pajama Company is thrilled to announce it is partnering with Every Mother Counts, an advocacy and mobilization campaign to increase education and support for maternal and child health.

Now you have the opportunity to do your part while wearing your pajamas. Today is Maternal Health Monday at The Pajama Company and we are donating 10 percent of every sale to Every Mother Counts.

As The Pajama Company President and Founder writes on her blog, “Yes, we lounge in pajamas. We celebrate in pajamas. We work in pajamas. Today, we are doing something important in pajamas.” Read more about why the cause of maternal and child health is important to Ellie at Life in Pajamas.

Learn what you can do to make pregnancy safe for all women at EveryMotherCounts.org.

A Dress Code For Parents

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In the rush to get the kids out the door and into the car to go school, getting dressed yourself might not be a priority. But it doesn’t matter. No one will see you, right?

At one school in the UK, parents were surprised recently to learn that was not the case. They were being watched.

We have heard about schools enforcing a pajama-free dress code for kids, but this school has taken it one step further. They don’t want parents parents wearing PJ’s, either.

According to a post on babycenter.com, the school sent the following message home to parents:

“We respectfully request that parents who drop off their children and pick them up from school follow all of the dress code expectations that students are expected to follow including the rule stating that pajamas are not to be worn.”

A mom discussing the ban on the Today Show on Thursday said she thought enforcing a dress code for parents was a bit extreme.

What do you think? Do you ever wear pajamas to drive your kids to school?

Would you drive your kids to school wearing pajamas?

More Pajamas In Fashion

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Rachel Roy is not the only fashionista wearing pajamas as a statement piece.

Swedish style blogger, Elin Kling recently stepped out to do some errands in her sleepwear. In her blog post, Kling said she was in need of some retail therapy and wore the pajamas to get out for a quick break.

The Blackbook.com commented that Kling’s cotton pajama pants fit perfectly with the printed wide-leg pant trend.

Do you think pajamas can make a stylish outfit? Tell us about when you would wear pajamas outside the house.

Pajamas On The Red Carpet

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Of course, WE know that pajamas are not just for sleeping anymore.

It’s common to wear pajamas when lounging around the house and occasionally to run an errand or two. Kids are even wearing pajamas to school.

But, how about pajamas on the red carpet? That’s new, even to us.

Last week, fashion designer Rachel Roy (who counts fashion icons like First Lady Michelle Obama as clients) gave new meaning to the term “evening wear”. Roy showed up to the premier of the new film One Day in Bedhead striped pajamas.

To upgrade her pj’s for the red carpet, Roy rolled up the sleeves and paired them with heels, jewelry and a clutch handbag.

She told InStyle that the outfit was inspired by her daughter.

“I have an eleven-year-old and I like to show her that it’s OK to take fashion risks and to have fun and tell a story with fashion,” she told InStyle. “It was hard for me to find something to go with these shoes where I didn’t feel too dressed up and too done. So I thought, this is how I can wear these shoes by Mr. Blahnik!”

You can get Roy’s look with Bedhead’s White and Blue Pinstripe Pajama set. Available at ThePajamaCompany.com in sizes small, medium, large and extra-large for $146.

InStyle.com shows fashion designer Rachel Roy wearing Bedhead pajamas on the red carpet.

Rachel Roy's red carpet ensemble started with a pajama like this 100% fine Egyptian cotton blue and white pinstripe set from Bedhead. Available at ThePajamaCompany.com in S, M, L or XL for $146.