“Sartorial Nonchalance”: An Ode to Pyjamas
Evanna Kappos reviews Alexa Chung’s new sleepwear collection
It’s hard not to get a kick out of the Holly Golightly-esque tailoring of the classic cuts in Alexa Chung’s sleepwear line AC Sleep, released recently. One can almost imagine stumbling to the door of a New York apartment in a pistachio soft satin playsuit, with a little smudged mascara and a blue eye-mask like the 21st Century version of that classic Audrey Hepburn scene. But, unfortunately, most students don’t, and shouldn’t, have a spare £200 quid to spend on sleepwear. I certainly don’t!
So what do we wear to bed? The average person spends a third of their life, or 229,961 hours sleeping – so whatever you wear must make you happy. Sleepwear is part of the routine of running your mind down at the end of a day, like candles, meditation, reading or a herbal cuppa, it is important that we tell our mind “it’s time to calm down”. There is nothing like the 90s Friends style sleepwear… tartan cotton pyjamas shirts, a University of Exeter logo t-shirt or favourite band.
The average person spends a third of their life, or 229,961 hours sleeping – so whatever you wear must make you happy.
If you want something similar head down to Sobey’s on Gandy Street. It’s like an indie 90s mecca of revamped American football team shirts and other classics. But its impossible to think about sleepwear without being aware of the recent trend for wearing pyjamas outdoors. It’s a kind of French chic styled look, dubbed “sartorial nonchalance” by The Standard. Sexy but laidback, it requires so little effort that its perfect for us students who have to roll from bed to a lecture in about ten minutes. For inspo for this look, search no further than Jeanne Dumas, Clemence Poesy or Alexa Chung herself.
Try getting a satin style cami and trouser sleepwear set from ASOS with the far more student-friendly 20% off from UNIDAYS. You’ll feel slippery and gorgeous sleeping in the set, and you can retrofit it into the perfect laidback, sexy, Chung-inspired look. Maybe wear the camisole with a pair of jeans, heeled ankle boots, red lip and tousled hair for a date, or the satin trousers with a tight t-shirt, blazer and trainers for a coffee meet up on-campus with a friend.
most students don’t, and shouldn’t, have a spare £200 quid to spend on sleepwear
Maybe you’ll swap the satin cami for a matching satin pyjama button-up shirt, and if you have the kahonas, you can wear the trousers and shirt with heels for cocktails at Turtle Bay or the Terrace. But for now, because it is freezing, and the November cold and coursework deadlines is enough to scare off anyone thinking of trying out a new wardrobe trend, we might stick to our mismatched PJ’s here at Lifestyle. On trend, 90s-influenced or not, they are just as comfy as an Alexa Chung satin playsuit, and without the enormous price-tag.