The Loungewear Worth Living In As The Nights Draw In

Some matching loungewear looks suspiciously like a tracksuit. Varley's DoubleSoft pieces work because the proportions have been considered as carefully as the comfort. The Wide Leg Pant falls cleanly rather than gathering at the ankle, while the Davidson Sweat is cut to sit neatly with a fuller trouser rather than swamping it. Together they create the sort of silhouette you could wear for a long journey, a Sunday coffee or a day working at home without feeling underdressed. Varley's real strength is not simply softness. It is understanding that comfortable clothes look more polished when the shape is right. If you want one proper lounge set rather than a drawer full of miscellaneous jogging bottoms, this is where we'd spend more.

Loungewear and pyjamas have different jobs, and your evening is more comfortable when you stop asking one garment to do both. M&S's Soft Touch Printed Revere Pyjama Set is exactly the sort of uncomplicated nightwear worth having ready when the lounging part of the evening is over. The button-through top is useful as well as attractive, particularly if you dislike pulling nightwear over your head, while the relaxed fit and soft feel are what matter once you are actually in bed. Excellent nightwear doesn't need to be extravagant. The real test is whether you look forward to putting it on and whether it remains comfortable for the eight hours after that.

Sometimes practical pyjamas are enough. Other times you want a pair that makes washing your face at nine o'clock and disappearing upstairs with a book feel like an excellent decision. Chelsea Peers' embroidered leopard set is deliberately pretty, with a short sleeve shirt shape, wide-leg trousers and beautiful embroidery so it feels more like an evening outfit than something you have changed into because the day is over. The brushed organic cotton makes sense as the nights cool, but the real appeal is that you could answer the door, pour a glass of wine or spend Sunday morning over breakfast in them without wishing you had put something else on. If sleep pyjamas should disappear from your thoughts once you're in bed, good-looking pyjamas have the opposite job: they should make staying in feel like the plan.

There is a reason the narrow, cuffed jogger suddenly feels less appealing. A wider leg gives you the same elasticated-waist ease but hangs more like an ordinary pair of trousers, which makes the transition from sofa to supermarket rather less obvious. Uniqlo's Sweat Wide Trousers have a roomy straight cut and an adjustable waist, but what earns them their place is how little they ask you to compromise. They are relaxed enough for an evening at home yet sufficiently trouser-like that answering the door or nipping out for milk does not require getting changed. The best lounge trousers are the ones you stop thinking of as lounge trousers at all.

There are elegant robes, and then there are evenings when what you actually want is to be warm. This is for the latter. M&S's Wide Stripe Hooded Dressing Gown is long, properly cosy and substantial enough to pull on after a bath or over pyjamas on a cold morning. The hood is not there merely for decoration either. On the sort of November morning when the bathroom feels several degrees colder than the bedroom, that extra coverage is unexpectedly welcome. A winter dressing gown should be judged less like an outfit and more like a portable blanket: coverage, warmth and whether you can make the first cup of tea comfortably matter far more than how sophisticated it looks on a hanger.

Pure cashmere loungewear is lovely, but it is not always the most practical answer to something you plan to wear several nights a week. A wool-and-cashmere blend still gives you the warmth and softness that make knitted trousers so appealing, while feeling slightly less precious for everyday life. Chinti & Parker's wide-leg track pants are the kind of upgrade that makes sense if you already know you live in knitted trousers from October onwards. Their relaxed shape also means they work perfectly well with the jumpers and cardigans already in your wardrobe rather than demanding a matching top. Cashmere-blend loungewear earns its place when you reach for it constantly, not when you fold it away because you're frightened of spilling tea on it.

Flimsy slippers are fine until you need to answer the door, put something in the recycling or venture onto a cold utility-room floor. The White Company's Suede Corkbed Mule Slipper gives you something closer to a proper shoe underfoot while keeping the warmth and ease that make you want slippers in the first place. That is the useful distinction. If you habitually put slippers on at breakfast and only take them off when you leave the house, a structured sole makes considerably more sense than treating them as something decorative to shuffle around the bedroom in. Choose frequently worn slippers more like shoes than socks and you are far more likely to still love them by February.

For the permanently cold-footed, a mule may simply not be enough. Celtic & Co.'s Soft Sole Sheepskin Bootee Slippers enclose the foot and ankle, which is exactly why they feel so much warmer when the temperature drops. Natural sheepskin supplies the insulation, while the soft sole keeps them firmly in the curl-up-on-the-sofa category rather than trying to turn them into outdoor shoes. The warmest slipper is not always the fluffiest-looking one. Covering the ankle makes a surprisingly large difference.