Pajama Time

Every outfit looks better with a cute dog in the foreground

It's stylish to wear your pajamas everywhere these days. To prove it, I decided to look for an article on the subject to link to, so I went to my favorite website for info on fashion trends: Who What Wear, and immediately found this piece taking up their whole home page! If that's not validation, I don't know what is.

I've been on a mission to find my own set of silk pajamas to wear around town (I'm guessing my 15-year-old flannels with the frog princes on them wouldn't qualify), but it's been hard. I thought the thrift store would be a veritable treasure trove of pajama sets, but I was wrong. Eight months into my search, I'd still dug up nothing. Finally, on Swap.com, I ran across this sheer floral top with navy blue satin lapels and cuffs. It wasn't a pajama set, but it had that pajama-top feel to it.

Besides, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that walking around in pajamas might be nice on those rare occasions when I go out brunching or shopping, but it wasn't really appropriate for work (or my generally less sophisticated weekend activities). Wearing only the top gives a nod to the trend without being mistaken for someone who just rolled out of bed.

The idea of a see-through pajama top was a little puzzling to my sensibilities (If you were going to go for the sexy-nighty look, wouldn't you choose – well – a sexy nighty?) but in the end, I think the sheerness of the top is one of my favorite things about it. Its incongruity as a sensible pajama piece makes it even less likely to be misjudged as nightwear worn wrong. And just in a general sense, I've grown rather fond of sheer baggy shirts. They are loose and comfortable and work-appropriate, but still show the outlines of the body underneath, so you don't have to feel so bulky and shapeless. This one was so boxy that I did have to tailor the sides a little bit, but there's still plenty of room to move!

I paired the pajama shirt with a navy tank underneath, my brown jeans, and my navy blue quilted flats. Enormous gold earrings add (literal) weight to the message that I'm not dressed for bedtime. Not-so-incidentally, I'm getting more varicose vein treatments today and tomorrow, so this outfit was carefully calculated to hide the single compression stocking I'd be wearing after my appointment. As a friend and reader noted, back to Compression Sock Chic!