Eileen West
Can you bear another nightgown story? Please say yes.
Since my local department store no longer carries beautiful Eileen West nightgowns, I was delighted when the Vermont Country Store sent me their latest catalog. It was filled with the flowing and voluminous gowns of Eileen West. I selected two special ones and promptly placed an order.
My first experience with an Eileen West nightgown was when the marvelous period film, Young Victoria was released a few years ago. Both my daughter and I fell in love with the plain white cotton nightgown that Victoria wore on her wedding night to her betrothed Prince Albert. Chaste and then not chaste, it was simple and romantic. For Christmas that year, my daughter gave me a look-alike – my first Eileen West.
Since then, I have added two other models to my collection and now two more. All are billowing cotton and half are knits – and Eileen West puts just as much detail into her knits as she does with her batiste cotton and woven gowns. All the feminine touches are there – the petite shell buttons, the smocking, lace, and the fanciful dancing prints that are so subtle and pretty. It’s hard to choose just one.
I did a little research the other day for a potential feature article on the gowns and discovered (and how did I not know this?), that Eileen West is not just a corporate entity but also an actual woman. However much I was excited about this, I was also saddened to learn that she died and only recently. I’ll stop to state here that she died unexpectedly and to everyone that knew her, loved her, and worked with her, it was a hard blow. There is a lesson in that which can be taken up another day…
Born Aileen Reiss in Marin County California, Eileen was a dreamy child who drew flowers, painted, journaled, and loved fashion and ballet. When she grew up, she became disenchanted with the polyester sleepwear of the 1950’s and 60’s and began to design nightgowns in pure cotton evocative of all her childhood loves. There are ballet-length gowns, florals, and those with dressmaker details. The style of the gowns has changed little since the company was born in 1978 and they are still very recognizable with sweeping hems and bodices of ribbons and trim. One can even identify the colorful knit gowns as being from the hand of Eileen West.
The 1960’s fashion firm, Aileen, which advertised extensively in Seventeen Magazine, took aim at the name of the company and thus, Aileen West became Eileen West. West is short for Westerbeke, Eileen’s husband’s family name. Now Eileen West has come to signify the affordable luxury of fine-crafted sleepwear and home goods.
Every account I’ve read about Eileen, including her obituary, casts her as a lovely and quiet woman. She was generous with her family, friends and employees, gifting the latter every Christmas with nightgowns. I could not respect this woman, her company, and her product more. Not to mention that my gowns make me feel like a period piece heroine, billowing across the moors, standing on an ancient stone balcony to receive a lover, or perhaps I am simply a wistful young maiden writing a long letter by candlelight.
PS: Thank you to reader Judy who sent me the wonderful image at the top. Not sure if it’s an Eileen West nightgown, but her thoughtful pose and the style suggest an Eileen West. They are made for dreaming…
10 Comments
Claire Elaine
I live in Texas and I discovered Eileen West several years ago. I have 2 drawers full. I am 70 and want to make sure I will have one when I die.
I don't understand how girls wear T shirts to bed.
Donna Macdonald
I just love that Claire! I just received my Vermont Country Store catalog and it's loaded with new Eileen West gowns! Keep collecting!
GretchenJoanna
I just discovered your blog, coincidentally at a time when Eileen West is on my mind a lot — but I wasn't searching for mention of her when I came here! During the last month I've bought two more EW nightgowns, a flannel and a batiste, bringing my collection to a total of six or seven, but a few of those have worn out in the sleeves and I am hoping to extend their lives somehow…
I never heard this much about the designer before, but it fits with what I remember, having come across her line of sleepwear and lingerie not far from her home, in the late 70's. A room in a house had been turned into a sort of temporary lingerie shop, and I still think of it when I drive by there in this decade.
I used to wear other brands of nightgowns, but their style and fit are always changing too much, and always, it seems, getting narrower, which I find so uncomfortable. Only Eileen West is billowy enough for me anymore, to feel like a proper nightgown!
I hope that someone is going to carry on her tradition. Last month when I was searching online, I began to wonder if were going to have to start sewing my own nightgowns, because I wasn't finding what I needed right away.
Thank you for a lovely tribute!
Madame Là-bas
I bought my first Eileen West a few months ago and just got another. They are so feminine and pretty. I feel like a girl when I wear them.
Kathryn Hemstead
I love them as well. I cannot imagine sleeping in anything that is not feminine and made from cotton or a cotton blend. Keep the articles coming on all things lovely and feminine!
DebbyMc
I love Eileen West gowns and am always happy when I buy a new one.
Kathy B
The above should say nightwear.
Kathy B
Yes! Keep the nightgown stories coming. Thanks to your last one I made a happy but slightly embarrassing discovery. I remembered that a long time ago I bought some nightware I loved but packed it away and never wore it. I looked in the chest and found a lovely pink Barbazon summer weight nightie and robe that I never wore. Shame on me. I wear it now thanks to you. No more saving things. I realize the brand name tells you it was in storage a long time.
Donna Macdonald
Oh I love that Kathy! Sometimes things are more meaningful later on. Lucky you! I loved Barbizon when it was around. Lovely, well-made and flattering. Enjoy your new-found treasure.
Karen
There's always an Eileen West nightie hanging behind my bathroom door, summer and winter, Donna, for all the right reasons. They are feminine, lovely, and so beautiful! They were often featured in Victoria magazine, as the height of lovely nightwear. And I understand that the multi-button fronts were designed so that young mothers could nurse their babies in the night comfortably. What a feminine touch! Thanks for this glimpse into the mind and heart of a woman who loved what she did. XO