A foray into the pyjamesque Audrey Tautou in Coco Avant Chanel wearing pyjamas is one of my all-time perfect Tautou style moments, but what I really love more than actual pyjamas, I realise, is the idea of pyjamas. When Dolce & Gabbana showed silk pyjama suits on the catwalk last year, I rolled my eyes. Not literally, obviously. You can't show emotion at a show. You keep your cards close to your chest, and when the PR rushes over - there's no escape, the exits are gridlocked - to ask how you liked the collection, you dip into your stash of here's-one-I prepared-earlier-responses. "Astounding"; "He's done it again"; and "I don't know how she comes up with those ideas" are among my stock favourites. Not that I don't love pyjamas, especially silky ones. Audrey Tautou wearing one such pair in Coco Avant Chanel is one of my all-time perfect Tautou style moments, and there are many. But what I really love more than actual pyjamas, I realise, is the idea of pyjamas, i.e. the kind of life where I get to waft around all morning chatting to Noël Coward and Gertrude Stein, before slipping into a tailored luncheon suit by Molyneux and sipping some chablis, then sliding into a chiffon tea dress by Patou to down a vodka martini, before eventually moving on to a floor-length bias-cut evening dress by Vionnet, dinner with Somerset Maugham and a nebuchadnezzar of champagne. Left to right: Audrey Tautou in Coco Avant Chanel and Stella McCartney spring/summer 2012 (REX/VLADIMIR POTOP) Actually, now I put it like that it sounds quite boring, not to mention incredibly fattening. Come to think of it, daytime PJs didn't work out that well for Chanel either. Shortly after Audrey's satin scene, the love of her life died in a car crash. As I said, it's all about the idea. The reality of daytime pyjamas seemed to me, a year ago, a folly wrapped into a delusion topped off with a woeful lack of familiarity about the sorry state of daytime pyjama wear in this country, consisting, as it largely did at the time, of winceyette two-for-one packs from Primark being worn to the school gates by women who had declined to change out of their nightclothes into a pair of trackie bottoms - and lazy Brasenose students. I just couldn't see the hidden aspiration in pyjamas-as-daywear. But that's why I'm me and Dolce & Gabbana are zillionaires. The Style Maven: pyjamas Now pyjama-y, or pyjamesque, clothes are all around us. On the face of it, this news carries little or no practical implications for sentient adult women. But even if you decide not to go all out and follow Stella McCartney or Jessica Alba into a full set of matching pyjama top and pants, you can still extrapolate some lovely details from this trend. The first is a flowy softness. This could be manifest in both your top and trousers, although it's probably more manageable to contain any billowy tendencies in a single piece. Personally, I wouldn't wear wide pyjama pants to work. Unless I were tall, I wouldn't want to wear them at all, except on holiday somewhere hot, where, worn with flat sandals and a T-shirt, they'd metamorphose into something glamorous, relaxed and cool. Many of this season's pyjama pants, however, are tapered at the ankle. These you must wear with heels. This requires a bit of effort, but it means they can pass muster at work. In fact, if you team them with a tailored jacket you've got an update on the jeans-blazer uniform. The Closet Thinker: pyjama party But the most useful element of the pyjama party is the shirts. Loosely cut (although fitted snugly over the shoulders, as shirts always should), sometimes with piping and featuring popular PJ prints such as paisley, dots and coins, they're a much subtler version of those hideous baroque-patterned shirts we wore in the Nineties. Well, someone wore them. It wasn't us. But that doesn't mean we should pass on these. Their function is the same as the hideous ones - to enable you to wear casual jeans and capri pants and still look dressed-up - yet they're much, much more stylish. Read more from Lisa's column here