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Thursday 1 June 2017

Pyjamas (or pajamas)

Lakeside dwellers in Switzerland who lived around 9000 BC used linen woven from flax to cover themselves and keep themselves warm as they slept.

In medieval Europe, people usually slept naked or in their regular clothes. Specific nightclothes were first worn in the 1500s.

The English word "Pyjamas" is a combination of the Persian words "pa" (leg) and "jamah" (garment). The original pyjāmā were loose, lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands worn by Muslims in India and adopted by British colonists during their 18th and 19th century rule there.

Muslim men in paijamas (various styles), Bombay, 1867. By Chintamon, Hurrichund - 

Never a fan of formal affairs, Thomas Jefferson was often reported to have worn his pajamas while meeting with foreign dignitaries.

The original pyjāmā day-apparel became a night garb and a shirt was added to the trousers. They became a fashion in Britain and the Western world as sleeping attire for men during the Victorian period, from about 1870.

Pyjamas became fashionable for British women because of World War I zeppelin air raids  Pyjamas were more practical and fashionable than night dresses when people had to evacuate their homes at a moment’s notice and coincided with the "new novelty" of women wearing trousers.


The frontman of Nirvana Kurt Cobain got married to Courtney Love wearing green pajamas.

Children's sleepwear in the United States is required to be flame resistant and self-extinguishing

Source Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999

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