Valerie Porr lounging pajamas, 1976

  • By The Museum at FIT
  • In Objects
  • On 7 Oct | '2014
  • permalink

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Valerie Porr lounging pajamas / Printed silk, 1976, USA | Photo: Eileen Costa copyright MFIT

Valerie Porr lounging pajamas / Printed silk, 1976, USA | Photo: Eileen Costa &copy MFIT

Detail, Valerie Porr lounging pajamas / Printed silk, 1976, USA | Photo: Eileen Costa copyright MFIT

Detail, Valerie Porr lounging pajamas / Printed silk, 1976, USA | Photo: Eileen Costa &copy MFIT

Many 1970s clothing styles were inspired by fashions of the past—particularly those from the 1930s. This included a renewed interest in lounging pajamas, which were often designed with loose, wide-legged trousers. In 1974, Corset, Bra and Lingerie Magazine observed that “the Big Lounge Look is pajamas…they’re pretty, comfortable and just right for in-home entertaining of two or many more.”1

While the silhouette of these pajamas may have been inspired by vintage styles, their print was decidedly of-the-moment. From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, emphasis was placed on all things “natural,” including the nude body.2 This could be manifested through the actual design of clothing (Rudi Genreich’s “no-bra” being a prime example), but it could also be referenced in other ways, such as the bold, oversize print of a nude woman on this fabric.

1. Corset, Bra and Lingerie Magazine (May 1974): 16.

2. Linda Welters, “The Natural Look: American Style in the 1970s,” Fashion Theory 12 (2008): 501.

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