Soft Summer Nights
When summer finally comes, it’s easy to forget the past. You know…the ice and wind and the nights when one is cold right down to the bones and can’t get warm no matter how hot and steamy the bath water is. Once July and its heat index arrives, winter is far, far away and long-forgotten.
Summer nights have their own silken song – the breezes are gentle and sultry, barely sweeping over bared skin. Here, we are serenaded by plaintive fog horns shepherding boats to their nests and for all the bright sun-soaked daylight there is, the earth still grows black and calm in the evenings.
It is the perfect time of year for flowing nightgowns and bare feet, cucumber-infused water and floral body lotions. Such pleasures we have on dark wispy nights to slip into cooling gowns for lounging and sleeping, especially if they had been hung on the line and then folded neatly and crisply.
Years ago, when a girl was on her way to being a woman, Mother might treat her to the penultimate summer gown, a Barbizon. Barbizon, a company now long-gone, made cotton batiste gowns with a remarkable 100% cotton that was practically unwrinkable. The styles were more sophisticated than youthful babydolls even when they came in creamy sherbet colors. Often high-collared with little ties, they were worldly but without being overtly coquettish. They can still be found on eBay and Etsy these days with matching robes with tags too. But many may find the styles too demur for today.
The Chemise has made a wild come-back. Once worn only as a slip under a dress, chemises are shorter and usually with lace. Skimpy and feminine, they are definitely cooling and flattering to tanned legs and arms. A coordinating Kimono-styled robe would be very pretty for Sunday morning blueberry pancakes under the patio umbrella.
I prefer Eileen West gowns in lawn or knit prints. Unfortunately, my local Nordstrom no longer carries them and I think I know why – they are far to chaste for today’s younger women. But is there anything so magically sweet and summery than a charming and billowy nightgown in refreshing cotton on a tropical night? Fortunately, Eileen West is carried online and on the Vermont Country Store’s website. There must still be a healthy market for them since they seem to crank out variations year after year after year. They are so elegant and classically feminine.
So many women wear t-shirts to bed these days and usually the clean-your-car-with kind. My grandmother would be horrified to be sure. And I ask you, where in the scope of your busy lives is there ever a chance to wear laces, spaghetti straps, and flounces than in your nightwear choice? In my mind, a nightgown is a delightful pleasure on a summer night, whether you prefer a vintage negligee from the ’60’s – the very era of flounce-making, an alluring chemise of body-hugging stretch lace, or a more time-honored and effortless gown of sweeping cotton? Wearing my nightgown makes me feel like a to-the-manor born character in Poldark or one of Jane Austen’s Bennett sisters.
16 Comments
Megan Valish
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Madame Là-bas
I just bought my first Eileen West nightgown at the Hudson Bay Company. I used to wear April Cornell but they don't seem to be around any more. Diamond Tea Gowns are Canadian-made loungewear that are very feminine as well. It's so important to keep one's pretty up as one ages.
Swami Ratnamurti Saraswati
my favourite nightwear used to be vintage silky slips (fitted petticoats), sometimes long, sometimes around knee length. Nowadays I wear nice loungy pyjamas (boring but I do wear them….)
Donna Macdonald
I still love pajamas too Swami!
Amy
Our area – the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan – experienced devastating flash flooding over Father's Day weekend. After that weekend, a hot and humid system seems to have settled over us and it's highly unusual – not many (including us) have air conditioning because it's generally never needed.
I've been wearing my Eileen West gowns every night – putting them on after a cool bath and body powder and then sleeping in front of a fan. We've also been living on icy cold soups and I've learned to pile my very long hair on top of my head and to do housekeeping in the early morning hours.
In short, Eileen West nightgowns have been a sanity-saver!
Donna Macdonald
I just ordered a new one Amy…
Coraleen Rawls
Thank you for your blog, and especially for this post. My mother absolutely loved nightgown sets and they always looked like she just bought them (she took great care with them).
I love wearing beautiful night gowns and wish that my daughter and granddaughter were of the same mind, there is something special about going to bed in a cute gown and freshly sprayed sheets (perfume or lavender mist). How comforting to know others have the same mindset.
Donna Macdonald
Thank you so much Coraleen! Please keep reading.
Cissy Foster
I will only wear nightgowns. I want to truly look and feel ultra feminine when I'm at home with my husband at night. And Eileen West has some of the most beautiful nightgowns available ….I wish I had been around to purchase some Peignoir sets of the 1960's.
Donna Macdonald
I love looking at them on eBay at night when I'm relaxing.
Donna
The Eileen West nightgowns are sumptuous! I still have a pair of Barbizon pajamas in mint green with embroidery and pin tucks.
Donna Macdonald
Oooh! So lucky to have those!
Kathryn Hemstead
I too wear Eileen West gowns, both summer and winter. I only wear feminine nightgowns and bathrobes. I loved your post.
Donna Macdonald
Thank you Kathryn and thank you for being a faithful reader.
Dewena
Last night I looked through my new Vermont Country Store catalogue at the Eileen West nightgowns! I try to buy one every few summers and need to now as my old favorites have been laundered so many times. They're still so comfortable though.
Your words took me completely into your Poldark world. Your grandmother would be proud of you!
Donna Macdonald
Dewena…what nice thoughts! I so appreciate your words.