Selma Blair, the actress, activist and author, is getting into the pajama game.
She has teamed up with Mersea, a women-owned, Kansas City-based lifestyle brand known for its elevated travel essentials, to make Sea La Vie, a limited-edition pajama capsule that celebrates sleepwear as a modern self care ritual. The brand was founded by co-owners Melanie Bolin and Lina Dickinson in 2013.
The 52-year-old actress, who is known for such movies as “Cruel Intentions,” “Legally Blonde” and “Hellboy,” was particularly drawn to pajamas.
The capsule features everyday sleepwear, which takes the woman from her bed to beach and breakfast. The line weaves in aspects of Blair’s own story and point of view through details such as embroidered self-love motifs, a bandana honoring her service dog, Scout, and a vintage-style sleep jacket inspired by a family memory.
Interviewed last month in New York City, Blair told WWD, “I was going through a lot of treatments, and I had just been diagnosed [with multiple sclerosis] after we [the cofounders and Blair] met, and I got this really amazing care package in the mail. I was in bed, but in these cashmere pieces. When I was being treated in the hospital, I was also wearing things that felt rich, and I felt taken care of, and it was from these women.
“I always wear their things. When I started getting better, I got in touch, and said ‘Would you be interested in doing this collaboration?’” said Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in August 2018.
Selma Blair in her pajama line for Sea La Vie.
Courtesy image
Made of luxe satins and ultra-soft materials, including 100 percent cotton for comfort and healing, the 14-piece Sea La Vie capsule features mix-and-match styles and accessories designed to be dressed up or down, for evenings in or mornings out. Styles range from jumpers and button-down tops to shorts and cotton sets, along with a sleeping mask, scarf and blanket.
Asked how she decided on pajamas, Blair said, “I like bed a lot. When people say what’s your bedtime ritual, I’m like, ‘Pajamas. Go to bed, don’t talk to me.’”
An image from the Sea La Vie ad campaign with Selma Blair.
courtesy of Mersea
Blair said there are some days that she has to recover in bed. “I really wanted a bed jacket like my mother had. It was my first request. It’s the first bed jacket that I’ve seen in a mature color so that you can wear it out,” Blair said.
She said she loves bed jackets because they keep you warm, but not too warm. “It doesn’t wrinkle around your legs like a nightgown might. If you’re wearing a little nightgown, and you’re receiving visitors, or the doctor comes in, then you have a little jacket. I thought it was cool when I was young. I’d take my mom’s bed jackets and wear them out at night, with a cool little bralette and a pair of jeans and kind of make it a little sexier,” Blair said.
“So I like to sleep, I like to go on vacation by the ocean, all these things are inspiration. But really, I like a book, a pajama, a sleep mask, the bed jacket,” Blair said.
Blair writes all the copy for the little sayings and notes on the pieces. She said she likes the silk pajamas that feature her own lips. She did a lot of the creation and sent the cofounders little sketches.
The company executives and Blair worked on this collaboration between nine and 10 months. Blair said they did the design over Zoom. “I hate Zoom, it’s hard, but the Zooms were great. I mean, they’re such pros,” Blair said.
The capsule, which ranges from $38 for the mask up to $178 for the bed jacket, is designed in the U.S. and manufactured in India and China.
“It’s beautifully made and such attention to detail,” said Blair, who said she’s never designed anything before.
An ad image from Sea La Vie collection.
Courtesy of Mersea
“I was intimidated because I do have such a specific idea of how I like to look,” she said. Sometimes it may be amusing or a little punk rock. “But I do like a really pretty classic look. And I’ve always wanted something that’s pink and green, and the closest that I’ve gotten to me wearing pastels is the pink pajamas with the green piping. And it is one of my favorites. I love the piping pajamas,” she said.
The label reads Sea La Vie by Selma Blair.
Asked if it’s for one season, or will they continue it, Blair said, “Well, it depends if someone buys it, and then they’ll have me back. But otherwise we might just be friends,” she quipped.
Blair was photographed for the Sea La Vie ad campaign in Laguna Beach, Calif.
The cofounders revealed there are some things in the works for holiday.
Asked what she enjoyed most about the experience, Blair replied, “To be with them and their spirit. I’ve been having to learn stamina again and to take better care of myself. There couldn’t be better role models. They like themselves and their lives and their kids and travel and the things that you want to inspire you. You can get pretty far away from things. COVID was a hit for a lot of people, and I have a chronic illness. And I think everyone felt like they had it with the way the world kind of adjusted to life indoors on our own. And I think a lot of people lost their stamina for going out…you get into a different rhythm and you lose momentum. There’s still such a joy, and people might not change [clothes] as much as they used to. You see people putting on a nice pair of pajamas and go out,” Blair said.
Asked what else she’d like to design, Blair said, “I’d like to design this whole wardrobe. I’m just getting my chops. I’m not always a self-generator of an idea. I need someone to bounce an idea off of. But you do get isolated, whether you’re spending time overseeing your child’s life from a distance because they want nothing to do with you, or you’re working and traveling and you’re on your own mission. There are all these things that keep us away from people. And then I don’t get ideas. I have to talk to people to have to say the stupid idea. I forgot how to think in certain ways, in the way that stretches that muscle.”
Blair, a University of Michigan graduate, said it’s good to stretch that muscle and start to exercise that.
The line comes in XS to XL. It is being offered online, but they’re considering a couple of stores for resort. There’s XOXO on the drawstrings. One says, “The lucky one.”
Ten percent of profits from the Sea La Vie collection will benefit the American Brain Foundation, where Blair is global ambassador and national chair for Brain Health. Blair also has a limited-edition collaboration with Benny’s Eyewear.
As for upcoming projects, Blair said she’s about to start filming a movie called “Ethan Almighty,” that is about a real-life hero dog that miraculously survives unspeakable odds and changes the life of his new adopted human. She said she’s also been boxing with Freddie Roach to build stamina.
