Let's talk sleepwear.
A pants-free coverage of a loungewear-heavy week: on boxers, lace tanks, slips & comfy graphic tees.
There have long been people who take sleepwear to the streets, but this week I’m keeping it in the sheets from a hotel room in Central Park South. Given it’s an NYC hotel room, space is extremely limited so I’m getting a lot of opportunities for time in bed (my favorite place). While I consider myself a trouser-obsessed person in my out-of-the-house life, I really hate to wear pants at home. So let me share some of my favorite shorts, briefs, and a slip with you that I packed.
It must be said for those who know of my bathrobe addiction that while I couldn’t pack my Turkish terry cloth robe for space reasons, I am dreaming of the day we will be reunited. I have a theory that what you prefer to wear around the house is inherited because my Grandma was the fanciest woman outside, and yet lived in her robe around the house.
Slips / negligees
I got my silk slip when Century 21 was closing out, but I plan to grow my collection. If you are looking to buy vintage slips, 1930s were a heyday for beautiful bias cut silk charmeuse dresses, so I advise including that in your search words on eBay, etc. Something else to note when shopping for silk with lace detailing is that there are two kinds of lace applications that differ significantly in price. A good trick is to check the hem: if the lace edge is a consistent width across, this is just a simple stitched-on ribbon. When the lace is built into the garment design, expertise labor is required because it is delicately laser cut. This method creates a superior design but of course the price goes way up. Dresses #1 and #4 below are the extra special lace application method.
Lastly, and this one is very important to me because I can’t stand a horizontal bust dart: if a dress is bias cut, you almost always do not need a horizontal bust dart! So if you come across a garment in the silk slip category which includes bust darts, it’s most likely not cut on the bias and won’t give you that luxurious drape and luster (and it has horizontal bust darts, so maybe you should avoid it anyway because ew, ugly).
Vintage 1950s Fischer Light Blue Silk Lace Slip sz M starting bid $81
Carine Gilson made in Belgium silk lace-trimmed chartreuse slip dress $640.20
Boxers, briefs + stretch lace tanks
Is anyone else, not of Gen Z, experiencing a letting up of their resistance to some Y2K trends? I found myself interested in wearing some stretch (poly or nylon) lace tanks lately and I came across a brand that was made in Montreal in the 90s/00s called Arianne. I layered it with a rib bra over the top with a little Cher from Clueless inspiration.
As for the bottoms, I cannot get over Bella Hadid’s styling of white briefs—perfection in its strangeness. Underwear as outerwear, huzzah!
TANKS
BOXERS/BRIEFS
Hemen Biarritz made in France ribbed briefs mens $28 I got them they're amazing buy them too
Auralee made in Japan cotton/linen drawcord waist shorts $245
Bedtime button-downs & “broken-in” graphic t-shirts
This grouping feels pretty self-explanatory—who doesn’t love a lived-in old graphic t-shirt in which to bum around the house? And while my button-down is a thrifted Thomas Pink shirt, there are better men’s options with—you guessed it—clean finished interior seams! I always recommend Norse Projects for great and classic men’s button-down shirts.
And as for my own Villeine cross-stitch embroidered tee, it has been slept in and well-loved. There’s an Oregon Rain Festival vintage tee listed below from a Poshmark seller who has a lot of other good broken-in tees, too.
BUTTON-DOWNS
COMFY TEES
Thanks for tuning in for this loungewear deep-dive on what I like to wear around the “house”…or in some cases, the joy of pairing housewear & real life clothes for errands (Bella Hadid eating pizza outside in her underwear with a leather jacket is burned into my brain).
Have a great long weekend—see you next week. xHannah