Ruth Promislow is very much a grownup. A third-year associate at one of Canada's largest law firms, she has long and hard workdays. One Saturday every month, however, Ruth and her friends like to get together and party like it's 1989. In PJs and pigtails, with retro board games like Slumber Party and Girl Talk tucked into their Barbie overnight cases, they check into a suite at a downtown Toronto hotel for an all-night sleepover party. As it happens, they are on the leading edge of an emerging trend.
In the U.K., one of the most popular new programs on BBC 1 is a show called Celebrity Sleepovers, where celebrities stay overnight at the home of one of their fans. In the United States, New Millennium It Girl Katie Puckrik hosts a show on the Oxygen channel called Pajama Party, where visting celebrities pop in to Katie's living room in their pajamas every Friday night.
Two weeks ago, to celebrate the opening of the new Downtown L.A. Standard Hotel, boutique hotelier Andre Balazs (the man behind New York's Mercer and L.A.'s Chateau Marmont) threw a slumber party. According to The New York Times, the star-studded guest list included Leonardo Di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, Sofia Coppola and her brother Roman, and Ione Skye and her brother Donovan Leitch, all of whom were encouraged to "maintain a state of undress at all times."
This tongue-in-chic dictate was followed, as befits a Hollywood party, by casting to type: The Coppolas were continental in cashmere robes, while Billy Zane wore $11 vintage pajamas. Balazs himself was attired in a Chinese silk robe and Helmut Lang loafers. According to the Times reporter, the A-list guests, their celebrity cool somewhat relaxed by their unusually cozy party attire, seemed to relish the opportunity to revert to a childhood entertainment.
As with all the new adult slumber parties, the opening night at the Standard evoked the classic slumber party repertoire with a twist. First, the guests were pretty young men and women. Instead of makeovers, the night's entertainment was a fashion show of lingerie by trendy London underthings designers Agent Provocateur. There were no board games, but there was dancing on a rooftop dance floor painted to resemble a giant Twister mat. The late-night menu featured Domaine Ott 2000 rosé and lobster and sea scallop ceviche, rather than Diet Coke, Nibs and Cheetos.
Beyond remembrances of things past, the adult pajama party exudes an air of scandal: The Clinton administration's money-making scheme of pay-as-you-lay sleepovers in the White House's Lincoln bedroom comes to mind, as do the revelations of Michael Jackson's Neverland slumber parties with a 13-year-old boy.
The Sultan of Sleepovers is, of course, randy old Hugh Hefner, who, thanks to Viagra, is still cock of the walk at Playboy Mansion parties in his devilish red satin dressing gown. To celebrate his 76th birthday, he threw none other than a Mansion pajama party. According to e!online, guests included Snoop Dogg in a midnight blue robe and Cameron Diaz in a floral cover-up over a sheer shortie nightie, garter belt and stockings.
At Ruth Promislow's monthly sleepovers, however, it's all about the fun of partying at a hotel in your jammies. "I've got size 8 Winnie the Pooh PJs, and my boyfriend Sean wears teenage Barbie ones that actually fit him really well," Promislow says.
Typically, they check in around 3 p.m. and spend the night wandering all over the hotel to the amusement of some of the other guests. Yet shock value is only part of the thrill. The childish luxury of irresponsibility is also key to the experience. "The best thing about being in a hotel is that you make a mess and then you leave," Promislow says. "It's such an escape, I can't get enough of it."
But their days might be numbered, at least at this particular downtown hotel. "Last time, things did get a little bit loud," Promislow admits. "There might have been some break dancing."
Apparently, the hotel staff, in an effort to appease neighbouring guests, attempted to move them to a party room rather than a suite. Quips Promislow: "It was just like when you were a kid having a sleepover and your mother tried to split you up to keep the noise down."