The pyjama top isn't really for bedtime. Rather, it is a light, unstructured jacket, with some of the trappings of old-fashioned jim-jams. It has an open collar, which falls low, and is suited well to being worn in a louche and laid-back manner — over a t-shirt, say, or light shirt — ideally in spring and summer.
A curious type of collar, this — previously found only on uniform jackets in the middling second half of the last century. It is asymmetric, in that one side — the under-side when fastened — has a small notch where the curve of the collar begins, enabling things to sit nice and flush when fastened.
This is a half-raglan sleeve — halfway between a set-in sleeve and a full raglan — and is what gives the pyjama top its blend of soft shoulder, like a full raglan, but with less smart and sporty lines. The sleeves are lined with a slinky satin to allow arms to slide in and out without friction.
There is a split at the end of the sleeves, which facilitates the rolling up of sleeves. Again — the pyjama top is a resolutely relaxed affair, and outwardly encourages such gestures when the going gets warm.
A large patch pocket with turn-down detail is stationed at the chest of the pyjama top. It is deep, the pocket, and positioned quite low at the chest so the treasures stashed within may be very readily retrieved. The turn-down detail, meanwhile, rolls over on itself and is held down with bar-tacks.
The buttons on the top are large, solid horn — dark in colour and matte in finish — and each is a little different from one to the next. They are in that regard as if alpha-keratin snowflakes — such is the beauty of being a product of a high-grade natural material, rather than, say, a plastic replica.
The cloth is half merino, half cotton, and the weft of the former and the warp of the latter are woven into an oxford-like basket-weave. The merino half makes it, predictably, woolly and warm; the latter smoother than a full-on woollen material, and surprisingly breathable for a material so thick.
