My Favorite Nightgowns
for sleeping *and* cooking in
Hi Friends—I got caught in the nostalgia of fall again this morning. How can one person be expected to hold the memories of so many falls? Watching the leaves float across the grass of my 39th fall, all the seasons that came before already feels like too much to keep track of.
Currently, I’m still in my nightgown. Back when I worked an office job, I looked forward to a Saturday spent in my nightgown, cooking all day in my nightgown until changing into party clothes to host a dinner party. Working from home now, it’s a daily occurrence. I get out of bed and next thing I know I’m out in the garden in my nightgown, stirring a pot at the stove in my nightgown, writing in my nightgown. I love tearing around the house in my nightgown—I feel comfortable and free, whether I’m channeling a hint of Victorian feminine hysteria or not.
As I sat down to write to you today (in my nightie), that fall nostalgia got me thinking about my own personal history with nightgowns. And of course a list of my current personal favorite nightgowns so you can buy and enjoy them yourself.
When I was in college, I found two matching white cotton voile nightgowns in my mom’s closet that had belonged to her grandmother. Since she had two, I took one. It had a defined waist and a delicately pin-tucked v-neck bodice with little shell buttons and lace scalloping around the neckline and hem. It became my favorite dress to wear as an art student in Florence the unusually hot summer of 2005. I fell in love with film photography that summer, and took hundreds of self portraits in that nightgown. I liked the timeless look of it, and the way the white played in my black and white prints. At 19, I was just beginning to discover myself as a woman. In front of my tripod and self timer, I played out many roles in that nightgown, waffling between the innocent child I still was and the brave woman I was working on becoming. I rushed my film to the darkroom and watched in wonder as the negatives revealed thoughts as images I couldn’t have put into words.
I still have my great grandmother’s nightgown. It doesn’t fit me anymore, and even if it did it’s now too delicate and threadbare to do anything but hang in my closet as a memorial I can’t let go of. I dug it out this morning to pay homage and remember the feeling of falling in love with understanding myself that summer in Florence. Which of course led to digging up my journal and my prints from that summer and another hour disappeared. And this is what I mean about the grip nostalgia can have on me in the fall.
After my grandmother died in 2017 I inherited two of her well-worn cotton nightgowns. I started rotating them between my usual PJ sets and found I much preferred sleeping in a nightie. No more pajama pants bunching up around my crotch in the night, no more wedgies, no more waistbands grabbing around my belly. No more pulling down pants to pee or engage in other more pleasurable activities in the middle of the night. Plus I loved how feminine and adult they made me feel swishing around my apartment, right at home in this old fashioned part of my identity.
As those inherited nighties became threadbare and torn, I started buying new ones, and went down many nightgown shopping research rabbit holes many times over. I’ve bought and tried a lot of different nightgowns in the last decade. I currently have a drawer full of them, and some are far superior than others! But the thought has never occurred to me to wear them as a dress again like I did in college—nightgowns are purely for home use now.
Someday, when I open my fantasy store Stockwell’s Well-Stocked, there will be a rack of all the most perfect and beautiful cotton nightgowns for sale. Until then, here are my personal favorites:
The Best Nightgown
The Luiza nightgown from Victorian Classics is my current favorite and most worn nightie. It’s extra-thin and extra-soft woven cotton makes it ideal for hot weather, while the full chest coverage and ruffle of shoulder coverage keeps me from shivering in colder moments. Sadly this one is currently out of stock, but they should hopefully re-stock it soon. If you want a similar one now, their Elizabeth gown is in stock—size up for easy breezy wear.
The Best Floral Nightgown
If the fact that this one is called Moonlight Sonata doesn’t sell you, allow me to expound on its virtues. Eileen West is the queen of frilly nighties, and her cotton lawn fabric gets incredibly soft with wear and time, and lasts long enough for your granddaughter to inherit it. The floral pattern makes it less see-through and more appropriate for breakfasting with relatives, while the short ruffle hem and lace-striped bodice make it a more fun for flouncing around in. This one, leaving my legs exposed, I use in warm weather only.
The Best Winter Nightgown
Powell Craft in the UK is a great source for classic white cotton nightgowns. My only complaint is that most of their nighties come with pockets, which I think just get in the way! If you’re opposed to pockets, stick with shopping at Victorian Classics, because they don’t add them. These nighties are all one-size-fits-all, and I appreciate their oversized fit. The woven cotton is a bit thicker and sturdier, making them ideal for colder months. My favorite for winter wear is the Elizabeth Nightdress with comfortably loose long sleeves and a romantic button bodice and v-neck.
The Best Flannel Nightgown
For head-to-toe coverage in warm cotton flannel, nothing but this nightie from L.L.Bean will do. It’s the one I wear whenever the temperatures drop below freezing, and always for Christmas morning in New Hampshire. If you’re a hot sleeper, save this one for hanging around the house in, it keeps you very toasty once you’re under the covers!
Take note: nightgowns make great gifts for the nostalgic ladies in your life! With room for growing bellies and buttons for breastfeeding, they especially make great gifts for expectant mothers. I gave them as gifts to all the ladies in my wedding party. I also love getting them for gifts. You can never have too many nightgowns.
Next time I write I’ll share some more cooking content with you! For now, here’s wishing you all a beautiful ride on the wave of fall nostalgia and lots of cozy snuggles in your favorite sleep attire.
xoxo, A
I am unsure what was occupying the slot of "nightgown" in my brain now that I've suddenly got un-clogged by reading this post, but now I think I'm obsessed with night gowns!
Reading this was the delight of my day