A Wake-Up Call for Sleepwear : Men’s lounge wear used to be limited to just a few prints; today it’s the life of the pajama party.

From the looks of men’s lounge wear this season, designers are throwing a wild, lampshade-on-the-head kind of pajama party.

There are silk pajamas by Nicole Miller with loud prints that would wake anyone out of a post-party hangover. One pajama top designed for the confirmed couch potato comes littered with beer bottles and pretzels.

“They’re all based on experiences in my life,” says Miller, a New York designer whose humorous prints first gained prominence on her trademark ties.

Anyone who has ventured south of the border can appreciate her black silk pajama tops decorated with tacos, chili peppers, salsa and an occasional roll of Tums.

“I was just in Texas and I had to have Mexican food,” she says. “Everything relates to some experience in my life and my travels--baseball and tennis events, gambling in Atlantic City.”

Conversational prints are part of lounge wear’s transformation from function to fashion.

Traditionally men have worn basic cotton or flannel pajamas in a limited selection of prints, usually the same dull stripes that mimicked their business shirts. Today they can buy the tops and bottoms separately, in more fashion-forward fabrics such as washed silk with bold prints.

“We can entice a man to just buy sleep pants, where before a husband and wife would split a pair of pajamas,” says Ed Brennan, group vice president of menswear for Bullock’s in Atlanta.

Not surprisingly, the same men who have gone beyond conservative white shirts and striped ties at the office are willing to don silk kimonos, sleep shorts and pants at home.

At the new Bullock’s Men Store in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, silk pajamas with a funny papers print sold out, while robes swimming with tropical fish are going fast.

“Our men’s customer has changed; he’s far more adventurous,” Brennan says.

After the success of its conversational ties, Bullock’s began pushing neckwear manufacturers to produce pajamas and robes using the same off-the-wall silk prints.

“They took the same pattern of silk and cut it up into lounge wear,” Brennan says.

For instance, Nicole Miller first created her popular beer-bottle print for ties, then later turned the fabric into pajamas.

“I was on vacation in St. Martin when I decided, ‘I should put beer on ties,’ ” she says. “I had my assistants get permission from Mexican beer companies to use their labels.”

For avid road travelers or those weary of Orange County traffic jams, Miller has designed a robe festooned with license plates for $350. Tennis fans can relax off-court in her silk tops decorated with Wimbledon tickets and tennis court scenes featuring “N. Miller vs. McBorg.”

“My prints are very noisy. They get a lot of attention. I design everything with a sense of humor,” Miller says.

Many of her prints come in silk T-shirts for $140 and baseball jackets for $250 that can be worn on the street by those unafraid to draw attention to themselves.

“A lot of people are wearing the p.j. tops outdoors as shirts,” she says.

Miller isn’t the only designer playing the pajama game. Joe Boxer, better known for its colorful and comical boxer shorts, is also waking up the sleepwear market.

“One fun thing we’re doing for Christmas is the Snugglebunny Sleeper,” says Alex Madero, spokeswoman for Joe Boxer Corp. in San Francisco.

It’s a fleece jumpsuit with feet, similar to the sleepers worn by toddlers, but made for a man.

“Last year we made it with the button opening in back,” Madero says with a laugh. The sleeper is available with matching nightcaps at the Broadway.

Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island carries Joe Boxer’s nightshirts, sleep shorts and robes adorned with pictures of cruise ships on a background of red washed silk.

“It’s an extension of our boxer shorts. We’re doing the same novelty silk with a manly, conservative feel, except if you look closely you’ll see the print is made up of things like 8-balls,” Madero says.

For those who long for an old-fashioned flannel pajama, Joe Boxer has created “The Lumberjack” nightshirt decorated with drawings of plaid flannel shirts.

Sexy sleepwear for men is also hitting the stores as the holiday shopping season draws near. Bullock’s has a sheer black tank top for $35 by Mansilk and black silk trousers by Alfani for $55.

The typical ‘90s kind of guy is still too shy to buy himself the racier stuff, says Joe Tiseo, owner of Boudoir in Fashion Island. Most lingerie for men is purchased by women as gifts.

Lest anyone consider lingerie for men too feminine, Tiseo whips out a pair of pajamas in a gun metal gray moire print that button to the side like a military coat.

Tiseo’s favorite designer of men’s lounge wear is Fernando Sanchez, who likes to work with Cuddleskin, a luxurious fabric with a cotton lining on the inside and silky polyester on the outside.

Sanchez uses the fabric to create boxers that come with pockets--they’re lounge wear not underwear--and robes that combine dots with pin stripes and a moire print that sell for about $200.

“In all of lingerie, he’s killer,” Tiseo says.

For men who like luxury, Neiman Marcus has velvet smoking jackets, some with paisley prints or gold dots and quilted black satin lapels and cuffs for $200 or regal-looking pajamas of royal blue silk for $172.

With more silky fabrics and fun prints turning up in men’s lounge wear, the odds that a man’s pajamas will end up in a woman’s wardrobe are even greater. At a recent movie premiere, for instance, Madero wore a Joe Boxer silk robe as a dress.

“It’s gotten to be a unisex thing,” says Miller. “Women buy (pajamas) for a man, and end up wearing them.”