Pajamas

Soft clothing originated from the Indian subcontinent

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A Muslim girl in India wearing pajamas and kurti (lithograph from Emily Eden's Portraits of the Princes and People of India, 1844) Two-piece men's pajamas

Pajamas (US) or pyjamas (Commonwealth) ( pə-JAH-məz, pih-, -⁠JAM-əz), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs,[1] jammies,[2] jim-jams, or in South Asia, night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging. Pajamas are soft garments derived from the Indian and Iranian bottom-wear, the pyjamas, which were adopted in the Western world as nightwear.

Etymology

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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word pajama is a borrowing via Urdu from Persian. Its etymology is:

Urdu pāy-jāma, pā-jāma and its etymon Persian pāy-jāma, pā-jāma, singular noun < Persian pāy, pā foot, leg + jāma clothing, garment (see jama n.1) + English -s , plural ending, after drawers.[3]

History

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US government advert during World War II, female nightwear

The worldwide use of pajamas (the word and the clothing) outside the Indian subcontinent is the result of adoption by British colonists in India in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the British influence on the wider Western world during the Victorian era. Pajamas had been introduced to England as "lounging attire" as early as the seventeenth century, then known as mogul's breeches (Beaumont and Fletcher) but they soon fell out of fashion. The word pajama (as pai jamahs, Paee-jams and variants) is recorded in English use in the first half of the nineteenth century. They did not become a fashion in Britain and the Western world as sleeping attire for men until the Victorian period, from about 1870.[4]

Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1886) summarizes the state of usage at the time (s.v. "pyjammas"):

Such a garment is used by various persons in India e.g. by women of various classes, by Sikh men, and most by Mohammedans of both sexes. It was adopted from the Mohammedans by Europeans as an article of dishabille [highly casual clothing] and of night attire, and is synonymous with Long Drawers, Shulwaurs, and Mogul-Breeches [...] It is probable that we English took the habit like a good many others from the Portuguese. Thus Pyrard (c. 1521) says, in speaking of Goa Hospital: "Ils ont force caleçon sans quoy ne couchent iamais les Portugais des Indes" [fr., "They have plenty of the undergarments without which the Portuguese in India never sleep"] [...] The word is now used in London shops. A friend furnishes the following reminiscence: "The late Mr. B—, tailor in Jermyn Street, some on 12 years ago, in reply to a question why pyjammas had feet sewn on to them (as was sometimes the case with those furnished by London outfitters) answered: "I believe, Sir, it is because of the White Ants."[5]

Types

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Traditional

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British Utility Underwear Clothing Restrictions on the British Home Front, 1942. 11 year old girl wearing wool pajamas as nightwear.

Traditional pajamas consist of a shirt-and-trousers combination made of soft fabric, such as flannel or lightweight silk. The shirt element usually has a placket front and sleeves with no cuffs.

Pajamas are usually worn as nightwear with bare feet and without undergarments. They are often worn for comfort by people in their homes, especially by children, especially on the weekend.

Contemporary

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Pajamas with a drop seat

Contemporary pajamas are derived from traditional pajamas. There are many variations in style such as short sleeve pajamas, pajama bottoms of varying length,[6] and pajamas incorporating various non-traditional materials. Often, people of both sexes opt to sleep or lounge in just pajama pants, usually with a t-shirt. For this reason, pajama pants are often sold as separates. Stretch-knit sleep apparel with rib-knit trimmings are common, mostly with young children.

Although pajamas are usually distinguished from one-piece sleeping garments such as nightgowns, in the US, they have sometimes included the latter or a somewhat shorter nightshirt as a top. Some pajamas, especially those designed for infants and toddlers, feature a drop seat (also known as a trap door or butt flap): a buttoned opening in the seat, designed to allow the wearer conveniently to use a toilet.

Fire safety

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In the United States, pajamas for children are required to comply with fire safety regulations. If made of flammable fabric, such as cotton, they must be tight fitting. Loose-fitting pajamas must be treated with a fire retardant.[7] Regulations in the United Kingdom are less stringent; pajamas which do not comply with fire safety standards may be sold, but must be labelled "KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE".[8]

Society and culture

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People wearing pajamas on Wilshire Boulevard, Sunday morning

Pajamas in the Western world have been regarded as essentially indoors wear, or wear for the home, whether treated as daywear or nightwear.

When Bette Davis wore her husband's pajama top as a nightie in the 1956 film Old Acquaintance, it caused a fashion revolution, with I. Magnin selling out of men's sleepwear the morning after the movie opened, and all of it to young women.[9]

Since the late 18th century some people, in particular those in the US and to some extent Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, have worn pajamas in public for convenience or as a fashion statement.[10][11]

One reason for the increased wearing of pajamas in public is that people no longer face the same social pressure as in the past.[12]

Link to tress

In January 1976, the gulf emirate Ras Al Khaimah, UAE introduced a strict dress code for all local government workers forbidding them from wearing pajamas to work.[13]

In January 2016, the Tesco supermarket in St Mellons, Cardiff, United Kingdom, started a ban on customers wearing pajamas.[14]

In May 2010, Shanghai discouraged the wearing of pajamas in public during Expo 2010.[15]

In January 2012, a local Dublin branch of the Government's Department of Social Protection advised that pajamas were not regarded as appropriate attire for clients attending the office for welfare services.[16]

Many school and work dress codes do not allow pajamas. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Illinois school district set remote learning guidelines which state that pajamas should not be worn while studying remotely and students should follow the same dress code as they normally would at school.[17][18]

Schools sometimes designate a "pajama day" when students and staff come to school in their pajamas to boost school spirit.[19]

For a long part of the 20th and even the early 21st, ie. even in the 2010s, both men and women are often seen wearing pajamas as night wear on TV and in motion pictures. The main reason is that this is seen as more proper (less provocative or enticing) than other forms of underwear. It is most commonly seen as pants (trousers) combined with either a t-shirt or a shirt.[citation needed]

Gallery

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See also

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References

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Though it may be difficult to imagine, much of the traditions of modern society have been around for the last century or so, even the way we dress when we go to bed.

For the rest of human history—regardless of whether we’re discussing Western, Eastern, or Ancient cultures—our sleepwear cultures have varied largely. Today, globalization has homogenized our sleeping habits, compared to the past where there was a lot more variety to how people dressed at night. Here’s everything you didn’t know about the history of pyjamas.

The Private Past of Pyjamas

A lot of what we learn from history comes from what they left behind—artifacts, paintings, songs, and more. But pyjamas were generally considered a private matter: any form of sleepwear was meant only for the eyes of the wearer and their family. Because of this, we don’t have many direct examples of what pyjamas might have been like five hundred years ago. Fortunately, there are many clues we can put together to imagine what their sleepwear resembled.

In the Middle Ages, most pyjamas were essentially shapeless with simple trimmings. These were made by the wives and daughters of the family; easy to assemble and quick to create. It was only royalty and those of noble birth who wore pyjamas that were more than a simple long dress; their designs were inspired by Indian, Asian, and Roman costumes: large dress-shaped attires with wide sleeves for added comfort.

In fact, the word pyjama or pajama isn’t of Western origin: it comes from the Hindi word “pae jama” or “pai jama”, which translates to leg clothing and dates as far back as the 13th century Ottoman Empire. Pyjamas were traditionally loose trousers or drawers with a cord or drawstring to tie around the waist, and these were worn by both women and men throughout the Middle East and South Asia, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, and southern India.

They could either be tight all over the legs or wide at the waists and tight at the ankles. These trousers were generally paired with a belted tunic which fell to the wearer’s knees, and this combination was considered to be the best way to stay comfortable and clean in your home and as you slept.

It was in the 14th and 15th centuries that Europeans found the pyjamas of these cultures and adopted them to fit their own climates. By the 17th century, nearly everyone in Europe wore some form of pyjamas adapted from those found in the Ottoman Empire.

The Creation of the Sewing Machine

Pyjamas only really took off and began to find variety in the Middle Ages. You could say that what jumpstarted the earliest forms of modern pyjamas was the combination of a long-term Western civilization, the cold climate, and the developing foundations of modern fashion.

Up until the 18th century, most pyjamas were nothing more than a simple overly long nightgown or nightshirt. But perhaps the single most important innovation for the pyjama industry was the invention of the sewing machine, and the transition of Western culture from creating their own clothes to purchasing ready-to-wear clothing from stores, a concept which had not existed until then.

Over the next 200 years, the styles of the most popular pyjamas were most commonly dictated by what culture at the time viewed to be “right” or “wrong”, moral or immoral.

Men’s Sleepwear

From the early 1600s to the mid 1800s, nightshirts or bed shirts were similar in appearance to their day shirts, with a folding collar and a deep neck opening in the front. Fancier nightshirts were trimmed with lace down the sides of the sleeves and down the neck. It was only by the late 1800s that nightshirts became available in a variety of fabrics, including flannel, longcloth, cotton, linen, and plain or colored silk.

By the turn of the century, the ankle-length nightshirts took the name of “nightgowns”, with longer versions that fell all the way to the floor known as “night robes”. It was in the first quarter of the 20th century when nightgowns gradually went out of style, followed by night robes and nightshirts, and were replaced with what we know as the modern day pyjamas we see today by the mid 20th century.

Women’s Sleepwear

Men began stylizing their pyjamas long before women did; while men were going through laces and trimmings, women kept to plain and simple shapeless dresses or nightgowns. The traditional nightgown resembled the Indian banyan or the Japanese kimono, looking like a loose robe or coat that fell down to the calves, and a small belt or tie that went around the waist to keep it closed. Until the 20th

century, variations in nightgowns were very few and far between. One theory as to why women experimented with pyjamas so late is due to the patriarchal nature of Western society; many were afraid to appear to be voicing women’s rights or seem to have joined growing suffrage movements in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

century, variations in nightgowns were very few and far between. One theory as to why women experimented with pyjamas so late is due to the patriarchal nature of Western society; many were afraid to appear to be voicing women’s rights or seem to have joined growing suffrage movements in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Coco Chanel was the first designer to create attractive and elegant pyjamas for women, persuading the ladies that pyjamas could be worn with as much comfort and beauty as the traditional nightgown. The female pyjama officially captured the market in 1909, and only outgrew the sales of nightgowns as recently as the 1980s.
The first iteration of these female pyjamas was a combination of a nightgown and pants; the top was made with a high color and buttons down the front, with soft frills at the knees and wrists. Later variations included large bishop sleeves and a colored ribbon around the waist.

The Modern Transition

The transition to the modern pyjama over the 20th century involved a move away from formal habits as well as a liberation of female sexuality. By the mid-20th

By the 1970s, more and more individuals had begun wearing the silk shirt-and-pants sets inspired from Chinese and Indian sleepwear. Women had also started adopting the unisex look, wearing the same top-and-pants sets for men.

Pyjamas and the Future

What can we expect with pyjamas over the course of the next century, or even the next few decades? One point we can take from history is that for a long period of time, sleeping wear remained unchanged; it was only until the development of the sewing machine that variations began to take over and a market of sleeping wear opened up.

One trend that we can see continuing into the future is the normalization of pyjamas around the house and outside of the house. With traditional and formal aspects of culture loosening around the world, more people are finding themselves comfortable with being comfortable. Pyjamas have evolved from sleepwear that one should never be seen in outside of the house, to normal everyday clothing that can be worn on the street, at the grocery store, or even at casual dining establishments. Perhaps someday, pyjamas will be the norm for any non-formal occasion.

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