Figure 1.--Here are some of the pajamas Best offered for girls and younger boys in 1916. These are two-pice pajamas, but there were also button-on pajamas looking like one-piece pajamas. |
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Best & Company was an important New York Department store which had a large mail order business. Here we see some of their sleepwear offerings from the 1916 Spring and Summer catalog. There are night shirts, night drawers, and pajamas. The nightgowns were for boys till age 10 and night shirts were for older boys. They had one-piece pajamas till age 10 or so. There were girl and boy pajamas, but the gender differences were not at all pronounced. We suspect that there was another page that offered women's and girrls' sleepwear. Girls' pajamas were probably added here because pajamas (which of course had pants) were primarily seen as male attire. The pajamas were done without collars and with oriental detailing.
The Best & Company appaers to have been an important New York City department store that went natioanl. The built a large store at 645 5th Avenue at East 51st Street, NE Corner (Wing on 52nd Street). It was located in Midtown Manhattan. The building was replaced by the Olympic Tower of Aristotle Onassis. I am not sure when the comapny was founded, but it must have been in the mid-19th century. We note the company handling Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, probably in the 1890s. We note that the company was active in the 1950s and 60s. They varried an extensive line of fashionanle clothes. One fashion writer in 1957 noted that Kays Thompson, author of Eloise autographed at Best & Company in New York where various Eloise products were available. We know that Best & Company was a major U.S. depattment store chain, but have little information on the company at this time.
Pajamas are a relatively recent innovation in boyswear. Pajamas are derived from a Hindi word. This is because they were introduced to Europe and America about 1880 from India for men to wear for sleeping instead of nightshirts. Pajamas consisted of a matching jacket and trousers--loose fitting trousers. There is a difference between the spelling in America and Britain. Pajamas, is spelled pyjamas in Britain, Canada and other British Commonwealth countries. Pajamas were not commonly worn in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially by boys. Nightshirts were still much more common well into the 20th century. There are several different types of pajamas worn by boys. Pajamas unlike nightshirts tend to be distibctive for boys and girls.
Here we see some of their sleepwear offerings from the 1916 Spring and Summer catalog. There are night shirts, night drawers, and pajamas. The nightgowns were for boys till age 10 and night shirts were for older boys. They had one-piece pajamas till age 10 or so. There were girl and boy pajamas, but the gender differences were not at all pronounced. We suspect that there was another page that offered women's and girrls' sleepwear. Girls' pajamas were probably added here because pajamas (which of course had pants) were primarily seen as male attire. The pajamas were done without collars and with oriental detailing. The pajamas illustrated look to us like they are styled very similarly.
There were quite a number of pajamas offered for younger boys. The illustrations do not show any noticeable stylistic differences between the pajamas for younger and older boys, except for button-on items there were essentially one piece pajamas. The company does note, "'Best' attached or detached pajamas for children 2 to 8 years with tabs and buttons on sides and front, may be worn a one-piece sleeping garment." We note both solid-colored and striped pajamas done in various materials. Notice the oriental styling. I think the term "frogs" which I think are the ornate button closures.
There were also a number of pajamas offered for older boys. These were boys and teenagers 10-18 years of age, although there was some variation for specific items. The styling looks very similsr to that offered for the younger boys, exept the button-on pajamas. We also note solid and striped pajamas done in different materuials.
Apparently, pajamas were also becoming acceptable for women and girls. While most of the pajamas here were for men and boys, there were also a few pajamas for young women as well. We ae not sure just the age equivalents were for bust sizes 30 to 38 were. We believe it was primarily teen agers. The basic styles and colors seem very similar to those offered for boys.
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