Dressing Gowns

[Guest]

A little slow off the mark, I should have added that the beach of the Sleepy Hollow is a place where the concept of undress is plainly understood....
NJS

[Guest]

Oh come on chaps, NJS has called me out on occasion and challenged me on issues more than once, so it's only fair that I do the same sometimes with him. And, dare I say it, NJS has proven to be right ... at times . If I've been a bit tough on him this time, apologies, but the fellow has enough character to take it from me. I certainly, don't mind him calling me out, for every time he has done so, I have been forced to examine my sources carefully and the resulting dialogue has been colourful, enjoyable, immensely educational - and above all always civil.

Since landing here NJS has helped to make the Lounge a much more interesting and dynamic place. I enjoy his contributions immensely. So don't take my all-too-serious interest in dress history too seriously.

BTW I agree that beach wear should be regarded as undress akin to the bath robe:







Not to mention:



Sator

[Guest]

Dear Sator,
Thank you for all this. I too enjoy our occasional skirmishes but, every time that I venture out on one, I feel like that little boy who found his pleasure in poking the lion with a stick....They are only occasional because you have taken your inquiry into the subject to the level of scientific inquiry; into the very engineering of clothes - whereas most of us (until you lifted the veil) considered their construction a mystery to be wondered at; while contenting ourselves with the splendour of the results of the crafts. I might call you out on The Prince Consort's evening tie or 'half dress' but that will be the type of limit to it and I don't regard you as having been difficult on this last subject.
NJS

[Guest]

It seems to me that a cotton or terrycloth robe is not suitable for receiving friends in ones home.
There needs to be a certain 'dressiness' to a robe; I think that only a silk dressing gown or perhaps a wool (or cashmere) in conservative colors and patterns is suitable for lounging around with guests.
Ofcourse one would also have to have a nice pair of pajamas and slippers to complete such loungewear.
It's wonderful to change into something comfortable yet elegant when contemplating a quiet evening at home.

[Guest]

. . . suitable for receiving friends in ones home. . . . [is] a silk dressing gown or perhaps a wool (or cashmere) . . . . one would also have to have a nice pair of pajamas and slippers to complete such loungewear. . . .

Only the Bourbon kings of France, Casanova, other such received in nightclothes! The dressing gown took the place of a coat, or perhaps coat and waistcoat: a man still wore his shirt, trousers or breeches, and, sometimes, shoes instead of slippers.

RWS

[Guest]

. . . suitable for receiving friends in ones home. . . . [is] a silk dressing gown or perhaps a wool (or cashmere) . . . . one would also have to have a nice pair of pajamas and slippers to complete such loungewear. . . .

Only the Bourbon kings of France, Casanova, and other such received in night clothes! The dressing gown took the place of a coat, or perhaps coat and waistcoat: a man still wore his shirt, trousers or breeches, and, sometimes, shoes instead of slippers.

RWS

[Guest]

Ahh...so you are saying that a dressing gown is worn over street clothes at home.

No....what is acceptable TODAY in terms of what to wear at home while still being able to receive an unexpected drop-in guest?

[Guest]

. . . suitable for receiving friends in ones home. . . . [is] a silk dressing gown or perhaps a wool (or cashmere) . . . . one would also have to have a nice pair of pajamas and slippers to complete such loungewear. . . .

Only the Bourbon kings of France, Casanova, and other such received in night clothes! The dressing gown took the place of a coat, or perhaps coat and waistcoat: a man still wore his shirt, trousers or breeches, and, sometimes, shoes instead of slippers.

RWS

What does one wear at home in this case, to relax and lounge in the evenings, sans street clothes?

[Guest]

Whatever you wish! I merely clarified that dressing gown and "pyjamas" did not[/i] constitute the normal clothing in which an ordinary man in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries received anyone but, I suppose, his lover (his wife or his mistress).

Perhaps modern American folk costume -- blue jeans, sneakers, decorated undershirt -- is the normal casual clothing at home today. A variant might be (quite popular here in southern New England) "sweat clothes", with artificial "fleece", etc. I myself generally wear a coat -- a sportcoat, most often -- with shirt, trousers, shoes, but without necktie; but men more accustomed to the loose clothes of infancy (the concept of eternal childhood is popular here, too) might find my dress too confining.

RWS

[Guest]

Has any fellow Lounger seen Noël Coward's play The Vortex? A dressing gown is an essential element in the play.



Incidentally, Noël Coward was also an elegant smoker, or does it sound as a contradictio in adjecto?



Marcelo

[Guest]

Much after 1924, I saw the play once in the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead (where it began - now a cinema and bar). Coward didn't use a cigarette holder in real life - just in publicity shots - but the Sulka Dressing gowns and slippers became a kind of symbol for an era. There is one of his mono-grammed Sulka dressing gowns and a pair of needle-point monogrammed (Tricker's) slippers in the Theatre Museum (Covent Garden).
NJS