JAM-BOREE

    Sweet dreams are made of Ally's nightwear

    by Joe Dziemianowicz

    Veronica's closet may be crammed with naughty nighties and bodacious baby dolls, but other prime-time gals prefer comfy, buttoned-up jammies to supersexy sleepwear. Consider Calista Flockhart's alter ego Ally McBeal. The much-gabbed-about "dancing baby" episode sparked as much interest in Ally's whimsical brushed-cotton cloud and sheep jammies--made by New York City-based Nick & Nora Sleepwear--as it did in that boogeying cyberbambino. Says McBeal's women's costume supervisor Loree Parral: "I said [to Flockhart], 'Look at these cute pajamas. What would you think about these for Ally?' and she said, 'I own these! A friend just gave them to me for my birthday.'" Since the episode's two airings, the show has been inundated with inquiries about Ally's nighty-night duds, which retail for around $69 at stores such as Nordstrom. In several episodes, Parral also put Ally's roomie, Renee (Lisa Nicole Carson), in pajama bottoms by designer Fernando Sanchez. "It's very sensual without being frilly," explains Parral. "They're not girly, they're womanly. It's evocative of Katharine Hepburn." In fact, there seems to be a penchant for pj's in prime time--Cybill's Cybill Shepherd and NYPD Blue's Kim Delaney were recently shown wearing pajamas--and it reflects a real-life bedtime story. According to Jack Morgan of the American Apparel Manufacturers Association, "Last year, the pajamas category outsold the slinky stuff by about two to one." That's not much of a pillow fight.