Finally, a Hospital Gown That Covers Your ...

A fashion designer has completed a noble project for England’s National Health Service by building a better—and less revealing—hospital gown. The “aspirational” garment will debut in 2011 and features modest “entrance points” instead of an open back. Ben de Lisi clearly understood the problem. “You are away from home, ill, and in hospital and you have to wear this horrific garment with your arse hanging out,” he explains. “Give me a break.”

Britain’s health minister put the development in more sanitary terms. The health services are trying to improve dignity across the board, she tells the BBC, and “patients need to feel confident and comfortable in what can be difficult situations.” Though de Lisi appears to have worked for cheap—the NHS says the new gowns are “within the current price range”—he did not sacrifice on style. “The old hospital gown was hideous, embarrassing, ill-fitting and probably ill-making too.” The new one is “fabulous.” (More hospitalization stories.)