THE JOURNAL

In 2017, when Ms Serena Rees founded Les Girls Les Boys, the London-based sleepwear-meets-streetwear brand, she did it with the idea that it would be “bed to street.” This might sound a bit like that recurring nightmare where you wear your pyjamas to work by mistake but is actually a rather nice approach to getting dressed. “[The bed-to-street idea] classifies all of the layers you wear when you’re in bed, at home, or on the street – from your underwear and your T-shirt to the sweats you throw on to go out for the night,” explains Ms Rees. “It’s all about mixing and matching all of these layers of intimates, underwear and clothing.”
It helps that Ms Rees is somewhat of an underwear expert. The designer co-founded Agent Provocateur back in 1994, and although Les Girls Les Boys is worlds away from the lingerie brand, the design chops are still very much apparent.
“It’s easy; I think anyone can wear it,” says Ms Rees. “It doesn’t matter what you identify as, how old you are, how young you are, how big or small your budget is – there’s something for everyone.” From slouchy hoodies to streetwise underwear that, well, you probably wouldn’t mind someone seeing, Les Girls Les Boys has a range of casualwear that will seriously upgrade the relaxed side of your wardrobe.
Take the loopback hoodie, in a colour that Ms Rees calls “confetti pink.” She says, “Not all guys think to wear pink, but they actually look really good in it… It shows a particular kind of masculinity to be able to wear pink, whatever your fashion preference. Not to mention your friends, sister, girlfriend or mother can borrow it, too!”
This idea of sharing clothes is, says Ms Rees says, an important focus for the brand. “What’s really interesting today is watching how we all share things,” she explains. “For us, it wasn’t just across gender, in the sense that women liked wearing our men’s underwear or sweats because it was more comfortable, or guys liked wearing our girls’ tight, skinny little T-shirts; there was also a generational crossover too.”
That means that you might see a dad wearing the same Les Girls Les Boys sweatshirt as his son, and it’s the kind of clothing that will work on both of them. “It’s actually all types of people sharing,” she says. “I think today’s generation is all about sharing so much more – we share our ideas, we share our clothes, we share on Instagram – we share everything. And in that sense, Les Girls Les Boys is cross-generational, cross-cultural, cross-gender.” Inclusive, easy-to-wear casual clothing that looks good on everyone? Sign us up.