Dolce & Gabbana turned their SS26 Milan show into a full-blown pyjama party. Silk sets, satin co-ords and camp-collar shirts cut from fabrics you’d normally only see on a pillowcase walked down the runway like it was the most obvious thing in the world. They weren’t the only ones. Emporio Armani, Saint Laurent, Wales Bonner and Etro all showed their own take on pyjama-inspired dressing this season.
The trend has a name now, pyjamacore, and it tells us something interesting about where menswear is heading. Let’s get into how it showed up on the runway, why it’s caught on, and what it actually looks like off the catwalk.
How SS26 Made Pyjamas a Runway Staple
Dolce & Gabbana built an entire collection around the idea that pyjamas don’t belong exclusively in the bedroom. Their looks paired striped silk sets with loafers and structured bags, giving sleepwear a going-out quality.
At Emporio Armani, the approach was softer: loose trousers and relaxed shirts in muted tones that could pass for tailoring if you didn’t look too closely. Willy Chavarria leaned into floral satins, while Amiri showed embroidered silk jackets that borrowed from five-star hotel robes.
What made these collections convincing was how seriously the designers treated the garments. They were cut with the same precision as any tailored piece, just in fabrics and silhouettes traditionally kept behind the bedroom door.
Why Pyjama Silhouettes Work Outside the Bedroom
There’s a practical reason pyjama shapes are gaining ground. Most men have spent the last few years getting used to a more relaxed way of dressing. The post-2020 return to offices didn’t come with a full return to stiff collars and rigid fits. Instead, wardrobes shifted towards softer shapes, looser cuts and fabrics that move with the body rather than against it.
Pyjama silhouettes fit neatly into that context. A camp-collar shirt in silk or a drawstring trouser in satin will carry the same relaxed energy as a linen set, but with more visual interest. The fabrics catch light differently. The cuts are more generous without being sloppy. And because the shapes are inherently simple, they tend to look clean and intentional even when you’re not putting much effort in.
Where Formalwear and Comfort Dressing Meet
Pyjamacore isn’t really about wearing your actual pyjamas to the pub. It’s about the lines between categories of clothing getting thinner. Menswear has been moving in this direction for a while. Trainers became acceptable in offices. Overshirts replaced blazers. Joggers started showing up in premium fabrics. Sleepwear-adjacent shapes are simply the next category to cross over.
The piping detail on a pyjama shirt, the relaxed drape of a matching trouser, the collar shape of a classic sleep set: these details are being lifted and applied to pieces designed for wearing outside. And when you strip away the context, a well-made co-ord in a tonal colour is hard to argue with.
This blurring works both ways. Brands that traditionally made sleepwear are now designing with the understanding that buyers will wear them beyond the bedroom. A pair of men’s pyjamas built around wellbeing-focused fabric treatments, like those from David Gandy’s Wellwear label, will look as considered as the satin sets shown on the runway. The gap between what you sleep in and what you’d happily answer the door in is narrowing fast.
How to Actually Wear It
The easiest entry point is a matching set. A short-sleeve shirt and drawstring trouser in the same fabric, kept tonal. Navy, charcoal or olive will work best for daily wear. Avoid anything too obviously printed unless you’re deliberately going for the statement look, and stick to fabrics with a bit of weight so the set doesn’t look like you’ve just rolled out of bed.
If a full set feels like too much, start with one piece. A pyjama-style shirt with well-fitted trousers, or satin drawstring trousers with a structured tee. Layering helps too: throw a relaxed blazer over a silk camp-collar shirt and you’ll ground it enough for a dinner or a bar. The trick is to keep one half of the outfit anchored in something conventional so the pyjama piece reads as a deliberate choice and not a laundry-day accident.
Comfort Dressing Has Earned Its Place
Pyjamacore might sound like another fleeting runway label. But the underlying idea, that men want to dress well and dress comfortably at the same time, isn’t going anywhere. SS26 made a strong case that pyjama silhouettes can hold their own against tailoring, and sleepwear brands designing with street-readiness in mind suggests the trend has legs beyond a single season.
The real takeaway isn’t that you should wear your pyjamas outside. It’s that the best menswear right now happens to look a lot like them.
