The birth of the onesie: a short history of pyjamas

When you cuddle down against the cold in the heart of winter, tucked up in your cotton jammies, flannel PJs or fleecy all-in-one, do you ever stop to wonder how pyjamas themselves came to be? Nowadays, nightclothes are a fundamental part of bedtime – but it hasn’t always been this way. Did you know that even now, 17% of UK women and a staggering 47% of men go to bed in the buff, while a further 9% of women and 33% of men sleep in their underwear? Brrr! We’ll stick with our cosy, fleece-lined onesies, thanks. With eye-opening statistics like that to mull over, we thought we’d take a look back at the history of pyjamas and find out how we came to where we are today...

 

Ancient nightwear (worldwide: 1st century AD)

Back in the truly ancient depths of human history, there was – unsurprisingly – no such thing as jammies. Early humans had to make all of their clothes from animal hides, the curing and preparation of which was an extremely laborious process. They wouldn’t have bothered with an extra set of clothes to sleep in, simply choosing to sleep in their day clothes by the fire when it was cold, or in the nude when it was hot.

 

One of the first civilisations in which the use of specific nightwear was recorded was the Roman Empire – ‘apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us, eh?’ Romans rich and poor, male and female wore tunics, although the wealthier citizens could afford tunics specifically for nighttime use as well as daily wear. However, even the greatest ancient civilisations such as the Romans and Greeks weren’t huge proponents of the pyjama – it was still far more common to sleep in your day clothes or in nothing at all...

 

The birth of a term (South Asia: 18th century)

So when did the concept of the pyjama itself come about? You may have wondered about the origins of a word that, in truth, doesn’t sound as though it describes a quintessentially English item of clothing. There’s a reason for this. During the 18th and 19th centuries Britain kept colonies throughout South Asia, including in India and Iran. Although colonialism is in many ways a shameful period in British history, it did allow cultural trends and habits to pass between nations. In many countries across South Asia at the time, payjameh (Persian) were worn by men and women alike – these were loose trousers fastened by a tie around the waist. The colonial British adopted first the term ‘pyjama’ and then the legwear itself, both as a means of dealing with subtropical heat in the day and for slumbering in at night. The concept of pyjamas as we know them today were born.

 

Victorian prudery and nightwear (England: 19th century)

Still, however, nightwear was not widely worn across Britain or indeed anywhere else. Enter Queen Victoria and the concept of Victorian prudery. You may have heard stories of the Victorians and their strangely conservative attitude towards immorality, with the stories of piano and table legs covered up with their own miniature trousers perhaps best summing up the attitudes of the day. While many of these tales have been exaggerated by history, it’s true that the Victorian era was remarkably prudish. While in previous generations it was considered perfectly normal to sleep in the nude, well to do Victorians would recoil at such an idea. Soon it became fashionable to cover up as much as possible as often as possible – including at bedtime. Soon, floor-length, high-necked nightdresses became very much the fashion, and a pyjama-wearing trend swept the nation.

 

Drop seats & convenience (worldwide: early 20th century)

The downside of covering up at night, however, was that answering a call of nature became increasingly difficult. If you lived in a Victorian household with an outdoor toilet and wore a giant, floor-length nightdress you might find creeping to the loo at 2am a challenge. It was necessary, then, for nightwear to evolve once more. At around this time men and women began to wear pyjama suits similar to our modern onesies – think of Ebenezer Scrooge in his nightshirt and cap – and many of these nighttime items were equipped with ‘drop seats.’ As the name suggests, these were buttoned flaps of material covering an opening in the seat of one’s pyjamas and allowing the wearer to use the toilet more effectively. No-one wants to have to shuck out of their pyjamas to use the bathroom on a chilly winter’s morning, so we offer the choice of a drop seat in our bespoke all-in-ones, too!

 

Modern jammies (worldwide: post 1960)

The pyjama world got an injection of style following the Swinging Sixties. Suddenly, jammies were no longer purely functional but could look good, too! Suddenly, we could choose from lacy nightdresses and camisoles, flannel nightshirts and silk twin sets. This was quite the departure from previous decades, during which the majority of pyjama sets resembled a cross between business dress and a Halloween costume. All of a sudden the sleepwear world was liberated, and PJs could be anything from sexy to cosy, smart to casual, snug to cool. We owe a lot to the liberated days of the 1960s!

 

The All-In-One Company (UK: 2008 onwards)

The All-In-One Company was first started in 2008, and helped to instigate the current onesie craze. All-in-ones are the sleepwear of choice for thousands of Britons today, from cosy kids to mums and dads and even celebrities, including Fearne Cotton, Peter Andre and the cast of The Only Way is Essex. We wouldn’t be able to offer our celebrity-inspired onesies and bespoke all-in-ones without the generations of sleepwear to have gone before us, however, so join us in taking a moment to appreciate the history of pyjamas from the ancient Romans to the present day!

 

There are plenty more entertaining and informative articles to look forward to from the All-In-One Company, so make sure you keep an eye on our blog and even consider designing your own bespoke onesie this year!