The Essentials With Selma Blair: Bed Jackets, Beaches and Sant Ambroeus
In the early days following Selma Blair’s diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018, the actress’s battle with symptoms like fatigue, muscle weakness and speech impairment left her largely bedridden. While working with doctors and undergoing treatments, it was the smaller, unexpected acts of kindness that kept Blair’s spirits up, including a gift from the co-founders of Mersea, Lina Dickinson and Melanie Bolin. “At the time, I was on a different track; I was sick with MS, and I wasn’t leaving my house much, and these travel-inspired pajamas and candles just made me feel nurtured and gave me hope that I would get out again and have these luxurious moments,” Blair tells Observer. Even with her MS in remission, that gesture stayed with Blair. Now, she’s teaming up with Mersea to create her own sleepwear collection so she can help bring that same sense of care to others, whether they’re navigating a chronic illness or simply looking for some relaxation after a long day.
“I’m a bed person a lot of the time when I get back home because I have to have my catch-up sleep,” says Blair. “I don’t know how to cook, but I do know how to sleep.” To blend her love for red carpet glamour with her newfound emphasis on self-care, Blair turned to a sleepwear staple of her mother’s for inspiration: a bed jacket. “When I first moved to New York, I didn’t have any clothes to go to a nice dinner at Gramercy Tavern. But my mom had packed her bed jacket for me as a cozy thing, so I just wore this satin, mint-colored bed jacket with a pair of pants and high heels,” Blair recalls. A loungewear essential from the 1930s through the 1950s, the bed jacket became the most personal piece in the collection for Blair, who sketched up several designs before landing on the collared version in her Sea La Vie collection with Mersea.
Named after her mom, the Molly comes in pale pink, as well as in a midnight blue with red piping that Blair wears with jeans and her satin Kiss Kiss top when she walks us through the 14-piece capsule collection alongside her service dog, Scout (who’s also dressed in a coordinated bandana for the occasion). “This blue one is definitely more wearable outside—I mean, do as you please—but I love the way it looks, it’s lightweight, and the bed jacket was really my first request.”
Satin pajamas and preppy cotton sets were also top of the list for Blair, who added her own touches with lip prints she originally kissed onto a note and embroidered details she handwrote for the collection. “I wanted it to feel personal because that’s what Mersea felt to me when I originally met them,” says Blair. Another distinctive touch of the collaboration is Mersea’s philanthropic commitment to donating 10 percent of the collection’s profits to the American Brain Foundation, where Blair serves as the Global Ambassador and National Chair for Brain Health. “There are some women that have really come forward—men, too—that have done something that makes all the difference in that moment: a kind gesture, sending something, wanting to engage with you,” Blair says of the importance of not only supporting research for neurological disorders like MS, but also raising awareness to reduce the stigma attached to chronic illness.
“I always loved couture, or high fashion or vintage, but then when I did need more sleep, I was like, ‘Well, where’s my glamorous pajamas?’ Clothes have had a very profound, nurturing effect on me, and what Mersea did to make another woman feel special is a huge part of that story.” Ahead of Selma Blair’s Sea La Vie collection with Mersea, which debuts April 14, she sat down with Observer to share her current essentials, from her go-to breakfast spot in New York City to the current read she picked up from a former onscreen co-star.
Selma Blair’s Essentials
Her bedtime routine
My wind-down schedule is kind of like any other single mom’s, probably—it all depends on my son, Arthur, and when he’s going to “turn down the Victrola,” as my mom used to call it. That’s what she had in her era of growing up, so whenever there was music playing, she was like, “Selma, turn down the Victrola!” So I do say that to my son, and he’s like, “Mom, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But my wind-down routine: I have tea, I light candles, run a bath, put on my pajamas. Right now, I’m using my Kiss pajamas with Mersea and the pink and green set with the shorts. I must wash my face every night—although last week, I did go to bed one night without it. I use my Medicube Booster Pro and Waterpik, but other than that, it just depends on Arthur, because he will just use my bed for YouTube with the dogs all in there. He’s really into watching metal forging and making swords, so that’s like my bedtime routine now, watching a man make a sword.
What she’s binge-watching
Love Story, which everyone is watching. Oh, it’s really good; the fashion, the actor who plays JFK Jr. is so talented. I was watching every Oscars screener, so that took up a lot of time. I loved 28 Years Later. It didn’t make the final nomination, but I love Jodie Comer so much, and Ralph Fiennes.
What she’s reading
I’m reading The Club, that’s on Reese’s [Witherspoon] book club. It’s not a deep, important read, but it’s so enjoyable. And I’m sure Reese will make it into a TV show or something, and I will be watching.
Favorite vacation destination
The island of Mustique. I’m a beach, pool, book girl. If I had my druthers, I would wake up, have coffee, have water, read all day, swim in the ocean, then get in my pajamas and order the entire room service menu before bed. But I’m pretty crazy about New York. I always like Sant Ambroeus; eggs Benedict, ristretto espresso and a sparkling water. And I always try to get through Central Park because it is beautiful. If I have a little energy and like four hours to walk from Soho to the Upper East Side, that is one of my favorite ways to spend the day.
What she’s traveling with
I would like to be able to carry on and have a perfect 12 outfits that you can mix and match. But right now, I’ve been really checking luggage because I procrastinate and wait until the last minute to pack, and so I need something big that I can throw everything in. Lina and Melanie are genius [with packing carry-on] and will pack clothes for me. That’s essential—have someone else pack for you, bring it and just meet you there! I love my Rimowa luggage; that silver one that looks like a photographer’s case. On the plane, I always have a sleep mask, my service dog, Scout, and some Kylie Jenner lip butter—that’s my favorite. I make sure I don’t wear any color lipstick on a plane because when I get off, it will be on my teeth.