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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Lauren Cochrane

Bed, bath and Beyoncé: what does your dressing gown say about you?

A-listers making dressing gowns look like dressing up.
A-listers making dressing gowns look like dressing up. Composite: Getty/Allstar

Getting dressed is overrated – especially in fashion right now. Pyjamas, tracksuit bottoms and even underwear wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in the front row these days. The latest focus in the don’t-fancy-getting-dressed-today revolution? The dressing gown – it featured in Vogue this month and on the Grammys red carpet at the weekend. Donald Trump’s bathrobe – or an imagined version of it – even has an account on Twitter. As with everything in fashion, of course, your choice of dressing gown affiliates you to a tribe. Here are the dressing gown tribes to know.

The maverick: George Clinton

Wearing your dressing gown on the red carpet is the kind of ice-cool move you can only make when you’re a P-Funk pioneer who has been disrupting fashion since the 70s. We like to think Clinton was catching up on Real Housewives when his Uber to the Grammys arrived. Crown added. Shoes on. Done.

Carlon Thompson-Clinton and George Clinton attend the 59th Grammy awards.
Carlon Thompson-Clinton and George Clinton at the Grammys. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The slacker: the Dude

As anyone who has ever gone to the shop in their dressing gown can attest, it’s remarkable how no one bats an eyelid. To the initiated, though, it signals your slacker tendencies, and the fact you have watched The Big Lebowski 456 times. Team it with sliders, tartan and a three-day-growth beard to pay homage to El Duderino.

Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski.
Jeff Bridges as the Dude in The Big Lebowski. Photograph: Allstar/Gramercy pictures

The on set: Beyoncé

Wearing a dressing gown with Glamsquad hair and makeup over something really glitzy signals you are serious A-list. Beyoncé here is about to go on stage, but this look also works for actors on set going in and out of trailers, or spa days on reality TV shows.

Beyonce backstage in Manchester.
Beyoncé backstage in Manchester. Photograph: Beyoncé

The past my bedtime: Prince George

Classic power play from George here – bringing everyone from the president to the future king of England down to his level. The two-year-old’s miniature monogrammed bathrobe – no “allergic to mornings” jimjams for George – ensured he more than held his own, even 15 minutes after his bedtime.

Prince George entertains Barack Obama and Prince William.
Prince George entertains Barack Obama and Prince William. Photograph: Getty Images/The White House

The after-party: Pharrell and friends

Pharrell Williams loves a concept. In this one, for the cover of his 2014 album Girl, there has been an up-all-night party in a hotel room. It’s 7am and Williams and friends are on their way downstairs for a post-party steam. Selfie faces at the ready.

Pharrell’s 2014 album Girl.
Pharrell’s 2014 album Girl.

The five-star: Kim Kardashian

Everyone knows hotel dressing gowns are fluffier, bigger and way more luxe than the slightly damp one hanging on the back of your bathroom door. Even Kim Kardashian. She apparently has two from a favoured hotel, the Atlantis in Dubai. Best worn with an Egyptian cotton sheet background for your #IWokeUpLikeThis selfie.

Kardashian at Dubai’s Atlantis Palm.
Kardashian at Dubai’s Atlantis Palm. Photograph: @kimkardashian/instagram
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