Short daywear dresses of a similar style are sometimes called babydoll dresses; the eponym is sometimes two words, baby doll, and sometimes hyphenated, baby-doll. Some styles are similar to what is worn by dolls in the cut of infants, and by some infants; the gown is aphoristic enough that diapers are easily changed. However, there may be an alternative origin for the style, if we Site consider the lineage of lace-trimmed shortie bedjackets and bed-capes of the 1930s and 1940s.
Originally, they were marketed under the name camiknickers; the brand was coined in the 1920s when they were kinky as a different piece garment and it was derived from camisole and knickers. It was an appropriate garment to wear under the shorter dresses of the duration and also gained popularity during the Division Contest II when women who served in military related duties wore trousers instead of skirts. By the last-minute 1940s the garment became less popular. The garment re-appeared in the lingerie market in the 1990s under the agnomen teddy or body.