Ready To Wear: A Passion for PJs

Are you the sort that secretly goes out in your pyjamas and a man's overcoat to buy the papers and a latte of a Sunday morning? More importantly, do you actually mind if you run into someone when in such a state of sartorial disarray? The good news is that, should such an unexpected rendezvous occur, over the next six months at least, it will not be seen as a fashion faux pas. Instead, any onlookers may pause gravely, nod wisely, and gaze on in admiration. You are a total slob no longer, my friend. Instead you are, wait for it, on trend.

Of course, that is not to say that a pair of striped M&S winceyette pyjama bottoms and a baggy old T-shirt will quite make the grade. These are "fashion" pyjamas and, truth to tell, they might prove something of a bind actually to sleep in. Cast your mind back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the era of the house pyjama – wide-legged, fluid, pale and interesting – and the picture becomes clearer.

At Christian Dior, pyjama dressing is given an exotic overhaul courtesy of John Galliano, whose golden zebra stripes on silk might make a girl very happy and glamorous indeed. Think Out of Africa meets at home with Ginger Rogers.

Over at D&G, pyjama-dressing wouldn't be pyjama-dressing without, for example, a canary-yellow frill maximising an essentially minimal look. Marc Jacobs' pyjama bottoms are certainly not for walking the dog in. They're chiffon and thus, well, transparent. Wear with candy-striped big knickers and a ladylike silk blouse to most fashionable effect.

It should come as no surprise that Dries Van Noten's take on pyjamas is among the most beautiful and, indeed, user-friendly. Here you will find louche silk bottoms with exuberant floral prints and in gorgeous deep colours, paired with equally herbaceous fine-gauge knits in contrasting hues.

Stella McCartney's PJs are more of a romper suit (yes, a romper suit). Lightweight and scattered with meadow flowers, on the wrong body shape they may just be a little frightening, in an "am I a woman or a Tellytubby?" kind of a way. For the most fashionable variation on this theme, however, look no further than Prada (well, why would you?) for a sea-green pair printed with the type of hyper-real blooms that are the stuff only of our dreams.