If You Take Requests: Do You Have Any Ideas On What Pajamas Would Look Like During That Era?

If you take requests: Do you have any ideas on what pajamas would look like during that era?

Hi Nonnie!

Just to create a baseline: I generally say that the show's setting is more-or-less equivalent of 1880-ish in our timeline, based on the dresses worn by the extras in the winter fete scene. That being said...

Okay, there is actually not that much to go about sleepwear, but I did look into things, and did find some info:

Sleepwear in general: There wasn't really clothing specifically made for sleeping up until the 19th century, and people would generally sleep in their underwear (which, of course, meant a shift for women and long shirt for men). From the 19th century, you have nightgowns (floor-lenght, for women) and nightshirts (ankle-calf lenght, for men). Originally these were all white (easy to clean), cut with straight lines, with a high neckline, and were mostly unadorned. Later on patterns and colors, as well as adornmenst, such as lace, frills, and bows, became fashionable as well (Alina's nighgown in the show is pretty on-point!"). No underwear/panties were worn under the nightgown/shirt. After taking off the day dress but before bed, a night jacket, a shorter garment meant to be seen by other people, could be worn to protect the wearer from chill. The dressing gown is the longer version--long enough to cover the nightgown--of the night jacket could have also been worn around the house as a kind of loungewear. The male equivalent of the dressing gown was the Persian-inspired, calf-lenght Banyan, which could have been worn around the house over breeches/trousers, shirt, and vest. Well-to-do people, especially women, also tended to wear a nightcap, that protected their hair (often styled only once a week) during the night. Nightcaps were such a luxury item, that they were often bequethed in wills.

As for pajamas specifically: A style adopted from India, the pajama, then known as Mogul's Breeches, originally understood as a pair of loose pants tied at the waist, was briefly popular in the seventeenth century as loungewear. During Victorian times, it could have been worn as such around the house, by men, with a smoking jacket over it. It did not became a designated sleepwear until around 1870, first only for men. Pajamas for women were introduced around 1886, and they were first a combination of pants and a knee-lenght nightgown with some frills and buttons down the front. Modern pajamas became fashionable in 1920s, first for men, then for women, popularized by such designers as Coco Chanel.