From Sleepwear to Sportswear

How did women begin wearing pants? Prior to the 1920s, it was a rarity to see women in pants in the Western world. However, as the silk pajama trouser suit moved from the boudoir to the beach in the early 1920s, it cemented the image of the trousered woman.

Worn by Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich, painted by Raoul Dufy, and immortalised in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, between the two world wars, pajamas came to symbolise much more than sleepwear. From Sleepwear to Sportswear explores how the pajama phenomenon was not only critical to the careers of designers such as Chanel, Patou, Poiret, and Schiaparelli, but also how this versatile garment was bound to the independence of women and influenced culture more broadly.

Through meticulous research and never-before-seen images, the authors position pajama fashion in the context of the Golden Age of Travel, the rise of Hollywood, and the changing political climate of the early 20th century. They reveal how the rising trend in sleepwear influenced The American Look, modern sportswear, and the image of the trousered woman.