Meet the designer whose $1k pyjamas are too fancy to stay in the bedroom

Olivia von Halle was 27 when she founded her eponymous line, with the clear directive to be “synonymous with the world’s best pyjamas”. Now, at 41, she’s unsure she would be able to tackle such an audacious goal. “Being young gave me a lot of confidence that was a bit naive,” she says. “It made me do things I might not do now. I was cold calling Harrods to see if I could get product in there. That’s harder to do as you get older. It gave me blind faith.”

Not that von Halle needs to wonder how she might go about making lightning strike twice: her brand actually has become known as the world’s leading purveyor of pyjamas, which retail for upwards of £500 ($965).