How many of us these days give much thought to 'at-home wear?' And by that we don't mean holey T-shirts, stained sweaters, and paint splattered jeans! Before the 1990s, at-home wear was a section of our wardrobes that bridged the gap between day clothes and sleep clothes - something seldom seen today - and was so much more than just old clothes that we shoved to the bottom of the wardrobe.
As we've spent the last few months at home due to the pandemic, it's safe to say that some of us haven't given two hoots about what we're wearing. Hardly a surprise when we have way more important things to worry about. There have been confessions about throwing on 'any old thing'; working from home in PJs; having conference calls in a crisp, ironed shirt, tie and... boxer shorts, and some have admitted to wearing the same clothes for three days straight! Yikes!
For decades, stay-at-home clothes - probably classified as lounge wear today - was worn for feeling comfortable while at home, but still presentable enough for visitors (which we know is a definite no-no right now!) Not necessarily worn outside the home, at-home wear consisted of clothes you could wear while working around the house, relaxing, or entertaining guests, and these garments were quite popular probably up until the beginning of the nineties when people became ultra laid-back and casual (and OK, a bit boring - maybe even sloppy!) and didn't bother so much with specific 'at-home' clothes.
We take a look at some of the at-home trends of yesteryear.
1. Pajama Suits
Everyone knows about sleep pajamas, but we also had daywear pajamas. Back in the 1920s, pajama suits were a super stylish fixture in the at-home wardrobe. 1920s Pajama suits consisted of wide-legged trousers, a matching or co-ordinating loose-fitting top, and sometimes a blouson or short housecoat. The overall look was very loose, unstructured and flowy.
And pajama suits continued to be popular throughout the sixties and seventies. These differed from the 1920s version: one or two piece outfits, with loose-fitting, trousers or shorts and a form-fitting top, made from rayon, silk or cotton. There were lounging pajamas for, er, lounging around the house, and hostess pajamas (a term believed to have been coined in the 1960s) which were a more sophisticated version which you would wear when entertaining friends. But regardless of the type, pajama suits were for wearing at home and would not be worn outside of the house.
Fashion designer Irene Galitzine (who just happened to be Georgian royalty), took the hostess pajama suit to the next level in the sixties, and gave us the palazzo pajama suit: the outfit du jour for the glitterati; worn for low-key, casual at-home entertaining. There were various styles of the palazzo pajama suit but they tended to be a more tailored and structured style; very slinky, glamourous, va-va-voom little numbers - and definitely too good to just be worn at home. If those high society ladies, thought this was at-home fashion, we wouldn't want them to see what the rest of us are wearing!
2. Housecoat
Ah, housecoat...now there's a term that we haven't heard since the early nineties at least. If there is one garment that shouldn't have disappeared from our wardrobes, it's the housecoat. Comfy, pretty, and presentable, a housecoat was a long, loose, lightweight robe worn by women as informal daywear, and believed to be a nicer alternative to the pajama suit. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, our mums and grandmas wore something called a 'housecoat.' However in the year 2020, people are now debating exactly what a housecoat actually was! Was it:
A) the same as a dressing gown?
B) a cross between a long dress and a dressing gown?
C) the printed, cotton snap-front garment your nan wore wear as she dusted, hoovered, and polished her ever-growing collection of ornaments?
D) A very loose-fitting day-wear dress (sometimes referred to as a utility dress?)
Hmm... good question!
It appears that the definition of a housecoat differs from region to region, hence the confusion. In some places, a housecoat is the same as a dressing gown, worn over your PJs or nightie. In others, it's informal daywear. Some believe a housecoat shouldn't be belted or fitted at the waist, as it's supposed to be loose and unstructured - like a baggy dress. Others disagree entirely. Then there are other similar garments which fall under the 'housecoat' category: popover, breakfast coats, brunch coats, kitchen smocks, wraparounds, dusters etc.
Housecoats came in a variety of styles but they were usually made of a lightweight fabric like cotton or satin, rather than a heavier, toweling-type of fabric. They were generally considered daywear, and were worn around the er, house - never for going out in. It's what your mum would have worn as she made breakfast, got the kids ready for school, did the housework, got dinner ready etc. But that said, it would be fine to answer the door to the postman or friends while wearing one.
And just as there were housecoats for doing the housework in, there were also housecoats for relaxing in, and more fancier versions if you were entertaining at home. Were other clothes worn underneath a housecoat? That depended. Sometimes a housecoat was thrown over regular clothes while cleaning or just before going out to prevent them from getting grubby. But when relaxing or entertaining, it was highly unlikely that a pair of jeans and a t-shirt would be worn under a housecoat as in this case, the housecoat took the place of a dress.
Those who remember housecoats have differing views about how on-trend housecoats were. For every person who thought of housecoats as elegant and alluring, there's another person who sees them as 'old lady clothes', and something only your nanna would wear. But whatever your opinion may be, housecoats were definitely practical.
Bring back the housecoat we say!
3. Kaftan
Elegant, practical, floaty, mystical, flowing, ethereal, luxurious, exotic, comfortable, glam, stylish, chic, bohemian... are there any more adjectives that describe the appeal, aesthetic, and allure of the kaftan? These garments have been around for centuries, right back to the time of the Ottoman Empire. But they became very fashionable in the West during the sixties and seventies, when the sixties hippies introduced clothes from other cultural backgrounds that had never been seen in the West before, after their travels along the hippie trail - Nehru jackets, kimonos, sarongs and loose-fitting, flowing kaftans.
Kaftans were produced in a variety of styles and fabrics, and soon caught on in the West as at-home wear. Even though kaftans are often associated with womenswear, men wore them too and there were plenty of sleekly minimal, unisex styles available. Both men and women found kaftans to be light and easy-to-wear; comfortable to move around in; liberating, and cooling in warm weather. Plus the association with exoticism didn't hurt!
They may have started out as casual at-home wear, but thanks to Hollywood icons like Elizabeth Taylor, the kaftan found it's way out of the home and on to the street; the beach, and the cocktail party! They were glammed up with elaborate patterns, glittering embroidery, and heavy beading, becoming a new style of evening dress, or a gown worn over matching trousers. And thanks to designers such as Yves St. Laurent, Halston, and Thea Porter, they soon found their way onto the catwalk.
After the seventies, the kaftan faded away as at-home or evening fashion and soon became commonly considered beach wear - as it is today. Although in many hot and humid countries, various types of printed cotton kaftan style robes are the staple of most men and women's at-home wardrobes.
4. Dungarees
Was there anyone who didn't own at least one pair of dungarees back in the eighties and nineties? Neighbours' Daphne Clarke loved hers so much, she famously gave birth to her son Jamie while wearing them - straps still firmly on! Dungarees took off massively in the 1990s when the lumberjack look was in for both men and women who were wearing them with plaid flannel shirts and heavy boots.
Unlike the other examples of at-home wear, dungarees - like the kaftan - could be and were worn outside of the home. Hip hop stars like LL Cool J, BlackStreet, Kriss Kross, and TLC couldn't get enough of dungarees, and taught their fans to wear them the hip-hop way: one strap and/or trouser leg up and the other one down. And if you were a Kriss Kross fan - back to front!
Dungarees started out life as men's work overalls - a pair of trousers held up with a bib and shoulder strap, also known as bib-and-brace overalls. They were the perfect clothing for manual laborers and factory workers that proved to be durable; comfortable; able to stay in place, and great protection against grease and grime. Plus they had extra large pockets - what more could you want! Then the advent of the First World War saw women take over the jobs that the men had traditionally done, which meant having to wear men's work overalls as there weren't any specially designed for them.
And so began the evolution of modern-day unisex dungarees, which went through many incarnations before the later decades of the twentieth century, including seventies bell-bottom style, and was the inspiration behind that decade's disco jumpsuit. By now dungarees had long moved away from their heavy-duty, manual labour image, and came in an assortment of colours, styles and fabrics, and were popular due to them being easy to throw on; practical enough for doing the housework or gardening; comfortable enough to lounge around in, and were fun to wear so you didn't mind callers knocking on your door while you were rocking your dungarees!
Dungarees are not as commonly worn as they once were, but you don't have to look too hard to find them, and they still feature in many people's wardrobes.
5. Sports-inspired lounge wear
Towards the end of the seventies, people wanted to get in there with the gym wear! That decade brought us movies like Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive; it was the decade of disco and where dance routines looked more like aerobics workouts - even on the dancefloor of the local discotheque! Then came the eighties where Olivia Newton-John was encouraging everyone to get Physical with a fitness themed video for a song that had nothing to do with getting into shape (well, I suppose it depends on how you look at it!) Diana 'Green Goddess' Moran was a sight for sore eyes in her emerald leotard; Jane Fonda became something of a fitness guru, and switch over to TV-AM, and you could join in with a work-out given by Lizzie Webb.
And this fitness phenomenon carried on into the nineties, with the very bright and bold personal trainer, GMTV's Mr. Motivator, and was there a celebrity who didn't put out a fitness video (yes, back then it was definitely videos!) during the nineties? Marky Mark, Cindy Crawford, Elle MacPherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Neighbours' Kimberley Davies all told us that we could get a body like theirs - if we buy their video first! Fancy being able to look like that for just a tenner!
So it's no surprise that during this era, at-home fashion took on something of a sporting edge. How many people did you see back then wearing cycling shorts who didn't actually have a bicycle? Yep - way too many! People weren't necessarily lounging around at home in a leotard, leggings and sweatbands but it wasn't uncommon to see women in leggings, legwarmers and oversize off-the-shoulder T-shirts, giving the impression that they'd just come back from the gym - when really they'd been watching Dallas!
For both men and women, T-shirts and sweatpants, or full on tracksuits made for very comfy loungewear - including the shellsuit. Who didn't own a shellsuit back in the late eighties/early nineties? It seemed that the brighter the colour, and louder the design, the more en vogue you were! Which then brings us to the celebs' fave Juicy Couture velour trackies of the early noughties, with less expensive versions for us mere mortals.
Like dungarees, the sports-inspired look - or athleisure wear - could be worn outside of the house without attracting funny looks. This was probably part of the appeal. They could be all comfy and cosy at home in their tracksuits, and then just pop their trainers on and head out the door if they felt like stepping out, without having to think about getting changed. One of the keywords of the nineties was 'unisex' and there was a definite move from styles that were overly-feminine so the athleisure look was ideal for this decade - especially if you could raid your other half's wardrobe!
What are your thoughts on at-home wear?
Photos: Pixabay, Littlewoods 1978 catalogue (With special shout out to MJ)
Illustrations photographed fromThe Complete Family Sewing Book (Curtin, 1973)
Word Cloud by Angel Noire