Matching prints bring a party touch to your everyday pyjamas

Matching prints in strident shades make dream menswear

Valentino, Spring/Summer 2015 (Getty)

Thinking about a bloke lounging around in fancy pyjamas invariably raises the spectre of Hugh Hefner – the highest-profile PJ sporter in contemporary culture. It’s enough to put anyone off the idea. Yet, for the spring/summer 2015 season, pyjamas are being thrust upon the masculine population by designers, with varying degrees of success and conviction.

The most persistent offender is Haider Ackermann, whose clothes rely on a sense of silky, slouchy easiness – for men as much as for women. They mixed together in his menswear presentation for spring; flowing robes draped over damask and brocade trousers in soft, faded colours and subtle combinations of geometric and floral patterns.

Astrid Andersen’s billowing cyclamen and tangerine kimonos, belted over printed high-performance sportswear, were more strident. But the most influential – and feasible – incarnation of the idea came from Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino, who used matching duos of printed silks for loose trouser suits, elongated shirts and unstructured jackets.

Despite generous proportions that seem engineered for nocturnal movements, those garments weren’t true pyjamas per se – especially not when it comes to price point. The high street’s variation on the trend picks up on the notion of matching print across tops and bottoms, giving a feel of the pyjama party to clothes that, otherwise, are everyday and utterly wearable. It’s a lot of a look worn head to toe, but easily broken apart.

It’s a case of minimum input, maximum impact. It’s also a case of less is more: avoid teaming with a satin bathrobe, unless you’re really after giving Hef – and, come to think of it, notorious pyjama-sporting recluse Howard Hughes – a run for their money.