How sleepwear became eveningwear for the A-list: celebrities from Margot Robbie and Angelina Jolie to Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry made designer pyjamas de rigueur for evenings out as well as nights in

When London-based designer Olivia von Halle founded her eponymous label, the fashion world was all about a very specific kind of va-va-voom.

“It was the late noughties, so it was all about tight Hervé Léger bandage dresses and huge 15cm Christian Louboutin heels. “It was really uncomfortable and very revealing,” von Halle tells Style in the bubblegum pink reception room of her west London home.

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Designer of nightwear and evening wear Olivia von Halle. Photo: Handout

The designer, who was working as a trend researcher in Shanghai at the time, had a gut feeling that the pendulum was about to swing. She took matters into her own hands. Inspired by the pajama-clad elderly stretching and walking their dogs on the streets of the French Concession, she ordered custom-made silk pajamas for herself and wore them around the clock—even after long nights at the club when she was me would take friends over to her apartment and change into her minidress for her tailored silk two-piece.

Von Halle was soon inundated with orders from friends and acquaintances who were desperately looking for their own stage design. It wasn't long before she seized the opportunity and launched her line of luxury silk pajamas in 2011, which has since its inception and subsequent success become much more than an everyday sleepwear brand.

Olivia von Halle pajama set. Photo: Handout

“We are not a brand that sits in bed and drinks a cup of tea. We’re the kind of brand that has a cigarette and a gin and tonic late at night,” she jokes.

Knowing Halles' background, it is not surprising that the founder initiated a change very early on. What she thought was an emerging fad at the time – wearing pajamas not just outside the bedroom but also at parties – has had such staying power that calling it a trend would be a misnomer.

Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow wears Olivia von Halle and is ready for a night out. Photo: Getty ImagesThat is, if the brand's celebrity clientele is anything to go by. During the pandemic, as brands around the world prepared for furloughs and slow sales, von Halle's team responded to an influx of orders by having celebrities like Angelina Jolie wear Olivia von Halle pajamas at virtual premieres and press appearances. Gwyneth Paltrow wore a banana yellow satin set as she hosted a pajama party to celebrate her Goop skin and hair care lines and David Beckham shop in 2022 Wife and fashion icon Victoria a couple every year.

The lines between pajamas and ready-to-wear in general are blurring. Thanks to influencers like Bella Hadid, sheer slip dresses, cotton button-down sets and even the humble boxer shorts have been making their way onto runways and street style snaps in recent months. But people like von Halle are making the case for pajamas as party wear to become the decadent new norm, with playful prints, feminine touches (think feathers, faux fur and fringe) and chic textiles helping to take the category to the next level Level.

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Gilda & Pearl Slip “Little Black Dress”. Photo: Handout

Party dresses are exciting, but giving a statement dress space in your closet can feel silly if it's only shown off once a year. With luxe pajamas, you can dress it up with jewelry, high heels, and a bold makeup look, but you can also put it to good use year-round (even right after the party, if you want).

Von Halle's dressing gowns are popular with brides in the makeup chair, but are also worn by women on nights out and at wedding afterparties. In the same way that scents can serve to mark an event or celebration, she sees women buying their pajamas to commemorate milestones. “We get emails saying, 'I've been working hard and just got my first mortgage, so I bought a pair of pajamas to wear on my first night in the apartment.' I’m really happy that we are with them in these times,” the designer added.

Kate Zubarieva and Asya Varetsa, founders of Sleeper. Photo: Handout

Other well-known brands include London-based Asceno, with its minimalist striped silk sets and slip dresses, and Gilda & Pearl, whose feather-cuffed gowns have been spotted on Kate Moss, Hailey Bieber and Margot Robbie. There's also “Sleeper,” led by Ukrainian co-founders Kate Zubareva and Asya Varetsa, which brings a whimsical, unabashedly feminine twist to the two-part set.

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Fittingly, “Sleeper” was born from a dream Zubareva had, the night after the duo lamented the lack of covetable, luxurious and affordable loungewear. “Kate called me in the morning and said she had a dream that we were standing in a pajama factory,” Varetsa recalls. The duo worked to make their dream come true, and the now nine-year-old label produces an elevated everyday uniform that wouldn't look out of place on the red carpet.

Sleeper's iconic button-down feather cuff pajamas remain a hero product, worn by everyone from Katy Perry to Kris Jenner. Photo: Handout

While the brand has since expanded into separates and occasion wear, Sleeper's iconic button-down feather cuff pajamas remain a hero product worn by everyone from Katy Perry to Kris Jenner. In May, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's wife, Akshata Murty, donned a blue sleeper shirt as she greeted the country's first lady, Olena Zelenska, in a nod to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.