Designer Pajamas

Arnold Scaasi, dress designer to the stars has died at age 85 in New York. Scaasi was certainly ahead of his time when he created Barbra Streisand’s see-through designer pajamas for the 1969 Oscars. She won best actress for her performance in Funny Girl.  Of course see-through looks are the norm for celebrities on the red carpet now, having been worn by Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and more. In fact you can’t be an A Lister if you don’t have your bits on display. Scaasi said the high point of his career was designing the creation in draped velvet and satin worn by then First Lady Barbara Bush to the 1989 Inaugural Ball.

Scaasi was originally from Montreal and opened his own ready-to-wear business with $2,000 in savings and sold his clothes to more than 200 retailers. By 1963 he was bored with the mass market so he opened a couture house in New York in 1964. Clients have included Elizabeth Taylor, Ivana Trump, Danielle Steel, Joan Rivers, Mitzi Gaynor as well as Streisand.

Meanwhile Australian pajama and adult onesie king Peter Alexander has been immortalised with his own “The Simpson’s” character. The Aussie specialises in designer pajamas and has previously created collections based on Sesame Street, Disney and Marvel characters. Now he is partnering with his favorite American TV series for the latest range of kids and adults PJs. They will include cartoon campaign shots of Alexander and his dog, Penny. Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are among the key characters to feature in the designs. Alexander met with the Simpson’s team in LA in February and has since been working on this fun range that will also include the characters of Krusty the Clown, Ned Flanders and Moe the barman.

And for those of you who like more unusual designer pajamas, the Huffington Post reports on new pajamas for those who are digestively challenged. UK company Shreddies has designed pajamas which include a carbon-based material called Zorflex, which holds gases and liquids on a surface in a condensed layer. Shreddies, the company behind it, denies they are a novelty and says there is a science behind the clothes. Zorflex is often used in chemical treatment suits and is capable of stopping smells 200 times stronger than the average fart. What Zorflex can’t do is dampen the sound. The company says theses designer pajamas are designed for people known to have a flatulence problem who may want to improve their relationship.