All the Pizzazz without the Zzzz's -- Ultra Whimsical Pajama Recs

August 30, 2022 11:40 PM

I once saw someone wearing a fabulous knife print dress. Ever since then, I've been wanting to find a whimsical (potentially with a touch of edgy/morbid) pajama set along similar lines for my sister for an upcoming gift. (The pajamas are the priority, but if someone has seen the knife dress, I'd be thrilled. It also had pockets. A real win-win.) I'm thinking less kawaii, more "metal"...unless it's absurd animal prints with example art linked below. Outside-the-box animal stuff always wins the day...

I'm sorta spitballing ideas, but possibly prints with:
- Knife with a blood drop (she means business)
- Shark jaws
- Creepy doll heads
- Toile prints, like this skeleton one
- Badly rendered animal faces like the cheetah(?) in the bottom center of the top image in this link regarding The Unicorn Tapestries
- Artfully silly/amazing animals like this tiger

Fit wise I'm looking for:
- Loose fits (nothing body hugging)
- Nothing too revealing
- Average women's sizes (medium/large)

A pajama style like this would be great, but not opposed to others, like shorts or long gowns.

I'm shooting for a comfortable, moderately luxe experience....so not looking for red bubble or cafe press type items. I know that definitely makes finding a sorta creepy, weirdo, and/or whimsical subject print pj more difficult to find. Maybe just pointing me in the direction of your favorite shops that use Charley Harper-esque modern, edgy prints in their pjs will be close enough. (I'd also take any links to artists' shops like the Jennifer Xiao one above!)

Thank you for any of your links or leads!

posted by pdxhiker to Shopping (8 answers total)

Best answer: Not sure if this is the one you’re looking for, but Nooworks had a knife print for a while — sometimes it pops up on poshmark and the like. They have some awesome prints but unfortunately they don’t make pajamas.
posted by sincerely yours at 12:09 AM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That Nooworks knife print dress is absolutely the one I saw. Thank you!!
posted by pdxhiker at 12:30 AM on August 31, 2022

Peter Alexander is usually my go-to for WTF pjs, but it looks like the scariest you'll get at the moment are drop bears (worth keeping an eye on their collections if this is a long term project, I've definitely seen things similar to your list from them)
posted by Adifferentbear at 12:42 AM on August 31, 2022

Owl and Bear out of BC has nudibranch dresses and lichen t-shirts among some other neat stuff. No pjs and on the colourful side.
posted by hydrobatidae at 3:36 AM on August 31, 2022

Best answer: No knife prints at the moment, but Sin In Linen has sleepwear in sinister/whimsical prints. I have a shower curtain from them and am pleased with the quality.
posted by hilatron at 4:51 AM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Printfresh has some wonderful, bold prints including two different tiger prints and one inspired by unicorn tapestries. I can vouch for the quality--I have something like six sets and they're amazing.
posted by merriment at 4:56 AM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Meundies has some animal prints that might fit the bill. They also have a Jack Skellington print, which is arguably in "creepy doll head" territory, and a Game of Thrones themed one which might fit "metal"
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 5:56 AM on August 31, 2022

Thief and Bandit has really incredible prints, including a new one with knives that shows on the home page. They have a lot of pajama-esque fits, though you'd be creating your own matching set from several different cuts.
posted by luzdeluna at 3:02 PM on September 1, 2022