Museum Blog

By Sandi Black, Archivist

As the weather warms up it’s time to move on to cooler clothing, which means time to put away the winter onesie.  The garments have long been popular pyjamas for young children (pictured) but have made a resurgence of popularity with adults in recent times.  Subscribe to any daily-deal website or take a walk through a department store and you will see a variety of styles available – cotton or fleece, patterned or plain, buttons or zips, with or without feet.  And now with Halloween season approaching costume onesies are making an appearance, including spandex morph suits with glow-in-the-dark bones.

The modern adult onesie was designed as warm and cosy pyjamas which trapped in the warmth through the long winter nights, but they have been sneaking into day-wear more frequently of late.  However, this is not a new fad.  The boiler suit and jump suit have been standards in certain professions, but for a while the onesie was standard daywear.  The jump suit was very fashionable in the 1970’s and early 1980’s in a variety of fabrics (denim shown here) and colours and with varying levels of decoration – think Elvis.  And before that there was the Siren Suit designed for modesty and practicality in the air raid shelters of WWII London.

But even before that, onesies were popular as undergarments.  All-in-one garments have been discreetly keeping us warm and comfortable for a long time.  For the wearer’s convenience a strategic flap known as an ‘access hatch’ or ‘drop seat’ was put in place so the garment did not need to be removed at a critical time, instead a simple unbuttoning cleared the way.  An example of this is shown here in the cotton lawn onesie underwear from the 1920s.  This particular example is a lighter and more feminine version of the Union Suit that became popular in the 19th century.  Patented in New York as women’s underwear it became popular with men as well, eventually evolving into men’s work wear due to the comfort and durability of the garment.

The onesie is not a new fad but has been with us for hundreds of years and seen many changes.  Evolving from underwear to outerwear and back again, it is now being seen on the outer once again.  But just remember, there is an appropriate time to wear onesies – this is not one of them.