Bring Back Pajamajeans!
She doesn't care about outside clothes on the furniture. She just wants to go to bed.
New York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world. It’s the scene for anyone and everyone that wants a career in fashion. People have dedicated their lives to dissecting the outfits they see on the streets of NYC. City folks will document their “fits” for the office, a coffee run to the bodega, dinner and drinks with the girls, the club, etc. But there’s one outfit no one talks about—the one you change into when you get home, shut the door, and become invisible.
Dream Closet is a child born from random conversation I had with a fellow New Yorker. I was at a coffee shop in Brooklyn with a friend, when we struck up a conversation with the girls at the next table. What started out as a quick question about what coffee they chose soon turned into, “What’s your hot take?” Well, it wasn’t quite that simple. We were talking about Kareem Rahma and his TikTok series ‘Subway Takes’ where he asks New Yorkers their hot takes. That’s when Sam, a 27 year old artist from Coney Island living in Bushwick, turned to me and said “My hot take is that sleeping in jeans is the best sleep you will ever have.” I was immediately hit with the idea “What are New Yorkers wearing to bed?”
Dream Closet takes a deep dive into what we wear to bed and what it might say about us. Because in a city that’s always performing, what we choose in private might be the most honest outfit of all. No styling necessary. No audience there to approve (most of the time:)). For the foreseeable future, I will be going into the homes of the coolest New Yorkers you know to see what they wear to get the best sleep. Consider this an archive of New York City, off-duty.
Our first snoozer is Samantha. Sam is a 27 year old artist and babysitter from Coney Island, AND, the inspiration for this series.
A few weeks after we met, I finally got the chance to come to Sam’s apartment to photograph her in her dream jeans. That is where I met the legendary Alaska, her giant cat. While sweet as can be, that damn cat weighs the same as Sam, who is particularly tiny.
“I know it’s really messy, but if I’m being honest, this is actually good for me,” Sam told me.
To me, those that embrace their messy room are truer to themselves than those that keep their homes asylum like. No shade to the asylum community. When I stepped into her room I was immediately taken back to my childhood when I looked up at her ceiling and saw stick on stars- the sign of a true 90s kid. I personally had sticky stars on my ceiling until I moved to NYC in my twenties- a tradition that I will gladly pass to my nieces and nephews.
In every nook and cranny of Sam’s bedroom you will find something to do with her art. A part time ceramicists, Sam keeps some of her completed pieces on her desk amongst the jar of peanuts and cans of cat food- a curation of materials crucial to an artists work.
After the art show, we made our way to her ensuite bathroom (jealous?) where I got some insight on the sometimes consistent skin care routine Sam does before she crashes. I was welcomed by the wooden toilet and tin of edibles.
“Yeah. If there is someone visiting, I let them take an edible so they can just chill for the night.” A generous offer.
“Alaska’s literally taking a shit,” Sam said as I snapped a picture of her using her serum. Hey, its his house too and when you gotta go, you gotta go.
How old are you, where are you from, and what’s a fun fact about you?
I’m 27. Going to be 28 at the end of May. I’m from south Brooklyn! I’m an artist and also I saw Shen Yun one time when I was a kid.
What is your vibe when it comes to bed? Are you the type that has a super in depth night time routine, or do you just let your head hit the pillow and you’ll fall asleep whenever?
I wish I could say that I have a nighttime routine but that would be a total lie because 1) I don’t have the discipline
2) I genuinely kind of believe skincare products are mostly just created to keep women too distracted to better themselves. I used to have an entire multistep skincare routine but now I only wash my face with water and use moisturizer and sunscreen. My skin has never looked better.
My deepest sleeps are usually when I forget to take my contacts out because I told myself I’m resting my eyes for “one minute”. When I rise the next day, brimming with REM sleep, I have the brief euphoric experience of believing I’ve developed 20/20 vision overnight.
I feel really bad for insomniacs because I almost never have any trouble falling asleep once my head makes contact with the pillow. The only times in the past I’ve had difficulty falling asleep are when I was dependent on melatonin (so I’ve thrown it out).
How did you discover that you loved wearing jeans to bed? Or do you even pay attention to it?
At this moment I’d like to mention how I met the interviewer. A small amount of time ago, I was on a first date.* We had coffee and breakfast sandwiches at Headrest Coffee, one of my favorite cafes in Bushwick. To help paint a picture of the scene, Headrest is TINY. There’s three tables squeezed in there. This, to a nosy person to me, is the ideal scenario. Carrie Bradshaw famously said she used to buy vogue instead of dinner because it “fed her more”. I feel the same way about other people’s conversations.
I was explaining the concept of MetroRock- a rock climbing gym in Bushwick- to my date when Simone mentioned she had just been conversing with the person to the right of her about MetroRock as well.
It was fate. Date forgotten, we kept chatting and through the natural course of conversation, Subway Takes came up. I mentioned my hot take (jeans are amazing to sleep in) and she was astonished. I explained that when you really think about it, jeans have a similar effect to weighted blankets (one of which I use every night) in that they compress you, effective in making just about anyone as snug as a bug.
After taking a few days to contemplate my pajama choices, I realized another reason I love jeans - if for some reason you had to leave your apartment at a moment’s notice, you totally could. Slip your phone in the back pocket (notably pajamas do not have these) and you’re good to go. I was an office manager for a few years and I feel like a side effect is I feel pressure to be prepared for any scenario. I just love the idea of being ready to go at any moment.
I would also like to mention the only times I wear jeans to bed are when I’ve already worn them all day and decide to keep them on in bed and shower in the morning. I really don’t care about outside clothes on the bed because I have enough to worry about and don’t you guys change your sheets regularly?!
Does this change given the time of year? For winter, are you wearing the same thing you do in the dead of summer?
Absolutely not! Who wears this?! How much is their coned bill?! Winters are for long pants and summers are either for underwear or shorts. This is the natural order of things.
Is it comfortable, or do you wear it so you can tell people “I HAVE TO sleep in jeans?” I find for people that LOVE wearing matching sets to bed, must tell every person on earth that they wear matching sets to bed.
I also think people who wear matching sets are freaks. They seem the type to rely on AI to answer emails. Honestly the topic of sleepwear has never organically come up in conversation. Maybe that’s something that needs to change?
As a kid, what kind of pajamas did your mom put you in for bed?
I don’t think I ever had matching pajama sets as a kid, I would just wear t-shirts and sweatpants. I have a brother but I genuinely have zero memory of what he wore to sleep as a kid.
Is sleeping naked in the rotation? If so, how often?
Absolutely not. What if there’s an earthquake in the middle of the night? You will simply not catch me sleeping naked.
Okay. We are gonna get really intimate. How often do you wash your PJs? Do you wear one pajama outfit for a few days, or do you have a fresh fit every night?
I think you can wear pajamas for a few days in a row. (Unless for some reason you wore them outside for longer than a 15 minute run to the grocery store). Something feels performative about making it known you have a fresh fit every night.
We are going to do an Ideal vs. Real Deal scenario- It’s a Thursday and your chillin on the couch. Your FOB text that they are at your door. What would be your ideal look, and then what would you actually likely be wearing?
I know that’s not the point of this question but I would be pretty mad someone showed up to my apartment without asking. Putting that aside, I think my dream look would be a really classy silk nightgown but on most nights I’m home I’m in a sweatshirt and shorts.
In the deepest, darkest part of your soul, do you think that wearing jeans to bed gives you the best sleep, or do you think it could be better?
Sleeping in jeans is probably not the best for circulation but who cares? I do it maybe once a week, the other times I’ll be wearing shorts or sweatpants without any elastic at the ankles.
*Simone did not know Sam was on a date at the time of this meeting and would have otherwise not disturbed her had she known.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. I had full consent to photograph and publish the subjects in this article.
Writer: Simone Caldwell
Photographer: Simone Caldwell
If you are interested in more Crying Over Spilled Champagne, you can find me on Instagram at simone_nyc or cryingoverspilledchampagne
If you are interested in following Sam on social media, you can find her on Instagram at samhanceramics
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