While walking through the Picadilly Arcade in London, I stumbled upon a store by the name of New & Lingwood. New & Lingwood is a bespoke shirt and shoemaker company that has been around since 1865. Besides the fact that the pieces in the window were cut extravagantly, my eyes were fixed upon these silk hand made night gowns. My first thought was that 'Men don't wear nightgowns in America' so I had to know more about the history of why an English gent would buy such a fancy thing.
I walk in and I am greeted by legendary English tailor Nicholas Fugler. Wearing Tom Ford eyeglasses and a navy long length topcoat he explained to me that these night gowns originate from the mid 1700's. Before central heating, men with huge homes wore multiple items of clothing to stay warm. A man would come home and take his business jacket off and put on his dressing gown for the evening. Men would wear a shirt, tie and dressing gown to keep warm and presentable around the home in case he answers the door.
Mr. Fugler continued to let me know that originally the word pajama is Indian and it just means the bottoms. The Chinese wore tops called banyans which were the original dressing gowns. In the 1700's the English combined the two, they would wear light weight trousers (pajamas) with a dressing gown (banyan) as casual wear or bedroom wear for the evening.
Nowadays usually after men have children, they don't walk around the home with nothing on. They wear proper clothing. Men in America wear mostly a t-shirt along with pajamas but in England (for those who can afford) wear pajamas with a dressing gown over top or just the dressing gown alone. These dressing gowns range from 500 to £3,000. Here's the link if you're looking to shop New & Lingwood. If you're lucky enough to spot Mr. Nicholas Fugler on Jermyn Street he's definitely a gentleman worth speaking to.
this is a photo of Nicholas Fugler (not taken by me)
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