What Is The Point Of Loungewear?

What is the point of loungewear? After all we have we have set clothing for work, for bed, for weddings, for playing sport, some of us even have certain clothing that we always wear for travelling or dropping the kids at school or going for a walk. Why on earth do we need another wardrobe essential.

If you start with a definition of loungewear as articles of clothing suitable for wearing during leisure time. Maybe we should explore the notion of leisure or leisure time itself? The word leisure originates from the Latin word licere, meaning "to be permitted" or "to be free", via Old French, leisir and according to Wikipedia appeared as early as the fourteenth century. According the late Professor Emeritus from the City University of New York, John Neulinger, for an experience to qualify as leisure it must meet three criteria: 1) The experience to be a state of mind. 2) It must be entered into without constraint and therefore voluntarily. 3) It must be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivating.

This feels like a good thing, but in the 24/7, kids, school run’s, husbands, to-do lists, proliferation of blackberry's and mobiles life we all lead how do we actually make leisure time happen? Perhaps this is where Loungewear comes into its own. Not only is it a useful style of clothing for doing not very much in, loosely fitted, comfortable, easy to wear, easy to wash, elegant but the very fact of putting it on prompts a part of our brain to stop, to slow down and leave the lists, the homework, the present wrapping and the washing and just relax.

The growth of loungewear brands around the globe (notably Australia and the US and latterly the UK) have meant that the sector and thus the clothing just gets better and better. Long gone are the somewhat dumpy slouch trousers with elasticised waists and tapered legs that do nothing for anyone, or the oversize pyjama style shirt tops that make you look like you’ve borrowed your grandfathers old flannelette shirt and in a rush of madness decided to print cute teddy bears on it. Instead we’ve seen the introduction of flattering shapes, gorgeous jersey fabrics that drape wonderfully and are easy to wash, superior cut and finish and finally some brands that have made it their business to drag the sector into the forefront of peoples minds.

There is a point to loungewear. If you believe that a good life is a life with balance then investing in something that helps you slow down, switch off, lay back and relax can only be a profoundly good thing.