the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 5fashion
Sex and the City films and
the new series And Just
Like That... , which veers more
towards Clowntown than
cocktail hour.Timothée Chalamet
The strength of this
holographic silver Tom
Ford suit for his
appearance at the
Cannes Film Festival alone
would guarantee Alt Frodo a
spot on this list, but special
mention must be made to the
efforts Chalamet has made
throughout the year, including
white trousers tucked into white
socks plus Converse at the Met
Gala and a black McQueen suit
garlanded with zips for the
premiere of Dune.Zendaya
Fashion types thrill to see the star of
a film dressing as though they are still
in the film when they attend the
premiere — witness Zendaya in this
otherworldly sci-fi column dress by
the apocalypse-couturier Rick Owens
for the opening of the nerd epic Dune.
While Owens’s future-weird catwalk
shows nearly always feature gothy
make-up and a smoke machine, his
clothes are deceptively elegant. This
one is downright stirring.Rishi Sunak
We are constantly being told by
Westminster types that
they abhor flip-flopping about, so it
shouldn’t have come as a surprise that
Sunak is more of a slides man. His £95
Italian dad sandals were from the“Suddenly the lens that was
always pointed out got pointed in on
celebrities in their homes,” von Halle
says. “We had them being relatable on
Zoom calls in their pyjamas.” Jolie
took things a step further, attending a
virtual film premiere in hers.
It all began ten years ago when the
former trend forecaster had moved to
Shanghai with her husband, Hugo.
Von Halle was struggling to find
anything she could wear. “It was
summer. Insanely hot and humid. I am
6ft tall and a good size 14. Every shop I
went into people would say, ‘too big,
too fat’. So I asked a tailor to make me
some pyjamas, and then friends kept
telling me they wanted some too.”
OVH was the brand that made
pyjamas something to wear out, rather
than skulk at home in. Following in its
wake have been a number of others —
Asceno, Hesper Fox, Sleeper and
Yolke, to name but four — as well as
an explosion of high street offerings.
Are all silk pyjamas created equal?
No, they are not. Having carried out a
rigorous testing regime over recent
years — the life of a fashion director is
a tough one — I can aver that von
Halle’s are the best quality out
there. While these days you can
pick up a pair from John Lewis
for £130 (johnlewis.com), an
Olivia von Halle pair weighs
in at a regal £420 or more
(oliviavonhalle.com).
Why? Because the
silk is the best money
can buy, the patterns
hand-screen printed,
the buttons mother
of pearl, the piping
hand-rolled, and so
it goes on. “These
are really special
old techniques. When
we told the factory
we wanted to use
them they said,
‘It’s going to be
ridiculously expensive.
And no one’s doing this
any more.’ But I think it is
important that someone
is producing absolutely
the best quality.”
Instagram: @annagmurphyflashy streetwear label Palm Angels
and worn with white sports socks.
More proof, after his Peloton and his
ludicrously expensive self-heating
smart mug that, beneath the slim
suits and the daggy red briefcase,
the chancellor is a cool and
metropolitan (very, very rich) kind
of guy. Haters, excheq yourselves —
no politician has approached this
level of aspirational since Tony “Bae”
Blair was Heat’s Torso of the Week.Daniel Craig
Real men wear pink — and not just
that pale colour you find at Square
Mile shirt shops. Seeing the nation’s
favourite self-destructive hard man
(Bond, not Craig) in raspberry velvet
from Anderson & Sheppard might
have moved the dial permanently
when it comes to men feeling
licensed to enjoy wearing clothes
— let’s hope so. Whatever next,
a 007 at the sink in Marigolds?
Let’s not get too far ahead of
ourselves: Craig was still in
black trousers, after all.Paloma Elsesser
The 29-year-old snagged her
first Vogue cover in January.
What’s so special about that? The
model of the moment’s vitals
check in at 44-37-46, which
makes her a UK size 18. Not
long ago, the fashion industry’s
line was that these dimensions
didn’t work on a catwalk. Or
on the hangers in their stores.
Here’s to progress — and
looking ravishing in Zac Posen.
Twitter: @harrywalker1I
know what Victoria
Beckham will be
unwrapping on
Saturday. Three pairs
of Olivia von Halle
silk pyjamas. It’s
not that I have
new-found psychic
powers. I know because
David Beckham has given
her that every Christmas
since 2012.
“That was when it
first went mad,” says von
Halle, the 38-year-old
queen of posh jimjams.
“We got a call from the
press saying David had
bought our pyjamas in
Harrods and would we
give a quote?
“Everything went stratospheric.
Everyone thought it was ridiculous.
£350 for a pair of pyjamas,” she says,
laughing. (They cost more now.) “It
was the perfect story for a slow news
day. It was all, you know, ‘What do you
buy the woman who has everything?’ ”
Pretty soon all those other women
who had everything were being
bought them as presents too, or
buying them for themselves. “I can’t
think of a Hollywood A-lister who
isn’t a customer,” von Halle says.
Interestingly January always sees
another uplift in sales. “I think it’s
because we get a new audience at
Christmas. People open their pyjamas
in front of people, and then other
people think, ‘I want some!’ Then they
go off and buy them for themselves.”
Something similar happened over
the past couple of years with Zoom.
“There would be a family quiz with 30
people on it, and there was one person
with really fun pyjamas with leaping
zebras on them. And the 29 other
people would think, ‘What have you
got there?’ It just kind of escalated.”
And then some. I guess it shouldn’t
be a surprise that an epoch that was
recently labelled “the pyjama
revolution” in an academic treatise
should be good for the purveyor of
the world’s most luxe examples.
Revenues at Olivia von Halle
doubled between the years
ending March 2020 and
March 2021.
“For a lot of people our
pyjamas were out of their
budget. Suddenly you are
not going on holiday,
you’re stuck at home,
and you think, ‘F*** it! I
am going to buy those
pyjamas!’ It’s something
lovely to get you through
the next few weeks.”
I for one can vouch for the
fact that spending all day in
your OVHs — as they are
known to their fans — feels
like the opposite of failure.
But don’t take it from me,
take it from Angelina Jolie,
along with the myriad other
superstars who have worn their
OVHs on Zoom recently.The £420 pyjamas the
A-list want for Christmas
There’s a reason Angelina Jolie won’t
take them off, says Anna Murphy
Pyjamas, £480,
oliviavonhalle.comRobe, £475,
oliviavonhalle.comPaloma Elsesser Lady GagaZendayaTimothée ChalametRishi SunakCOVER AND BELOW: GETTY IMAGES— yes, you too, Rishi!