Pyjamas

The term comes from the Hindi pyjama or paijama which literally means leg covering. National costume of the Hindus and Persians. In the 1920s Chanel launched them as elegant garments for the beaches of Biarritz or Baden Baden. Originally they were for nightwear only, used at the end of the 1800s by the English and by travellers to tropical countries. They arrived in Europe after the Great War, and were also worn by women instead of a nightdress. The American divas of the 1930s, from Greta Garbo to Joan Crawford, appeared on screen dressed in flowing satin wide-legged pyjamas: Claudette Colbert sported a more jaunty style in It Happened One Night. They came back into fashion in a big way in the 1960s in the form of palazzo pyjamas, created by Irene Galitzine in Rome. These had very wide plain or printed silk or chiffon flared pants, teamed with a long tunic top.