Many of my childhood memories involve flashes of very specific objects and items of clothing. I can remember the steering wheel of our first car, the floral reading chair in my old bedroom, my Dad’s nautical watch, and my mom’s white cotton nightgowns that she wore during the summertime at our house on Gull Lake in Michigan. My mom’s mom wore them too, from the label Lanz of Salzburg, and so did my paternal grandmother. Nightgowns were representative of strong women and motherly love, of easy Sunday mornings together at the kitchen table and bedtime stories at night. But I never really wore them myself, save for the Disney-themed ones I had as a toddler. Nightgowns were always for the grownups.
As I got older however, I did amass an impressive collection of pajama sets over the years, thanks in large part to my mom who eventually, sometime in the 2000s put her nightgowns away for a moment and began to gravitate more towards PJs. She got me hooked on them too and gifted me many for birthdays and Christmas. To this day, I sleep in matching PJ sets from J.Crew and Sleepy Jones, mostly. I take great pride in them and wash them often, to the chagrin of my husband who isn’t a fan of folding three sets of PJs during laundry days. But nostalgia has gotten the best of me lately. With family so far away, I’ve been thinking a lot of my mom and my grandmothers in their nightgowns making breakfast or reading me Goodnight Moon. Not to mention, Mother’s Day is a week away. In reminiscing about the matriarchs in my life and trying to drum up more creative ways to utilize my wardrobe when the social calendar is completely blank, nightgowns have gone straight to the top of my mind, and my online shopping list.
There is something so comforting about slipping on a cotton nightgown, one with small details like floral embroidery or mother of pearl buttons. I’ve been wearing a sheer ruffled sleeve version from Dôen often and one from Salter House in Brooklyn made with vintage fabric. They’ve made me feel more dressed up, even fast asleep, than I’ve felt in over a month. But more importantly, my nightgowns feel a little bit like some sort of connective tissue between myself and my mom and grandmothers. I will keep those days at the lake close with me, but my new affinity for this dreamy nightwear also helps keep those memories alive. The PJs will stay in my wardrobe, but the nightgowns will always hold a very special place in my heart.
Below, in honor of Mother’s Day, here are 13 nostalgic nightgowns to gift to yourself, your mom, or any moms-to-be.
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