Thursday, September 22, 2005

Wearing PJs in public all the rage

Some schools unhappy with casual trend

(AP) -- "Pajama Day" was once a novelty at school, the chance to be silly and wear attire usually reserved for the privacy of home. But these days many young people -- 11-year-old Haley Small included -- are wearing PJs in public, anytime and just about anywhere.

Haley's favorite look: a T-shirt, flip-flops and pajama bottoms, with designs on them ranging from Snoopy to monkeys, basketballs to smiley faces.

"Part of it is because it's cute; but the majority of it is because it's comfortable," says the sixth-grader, who lives in Glen Rock, New Jersey, and often wears her PJs, "so I can sleep the extra five minutes." Pajama bottoms are better than jeans, she adds, because they're cool but less constricting.

Public pajama-wearing grew out of college students' long-standing habit of rolling out of bed and into class. Now pajamas are a fashion statement, with such retailers as Old Navy, Target and J.C. Penney offering myriad styles for adults, teens and preteens.

The trend isn't popular with everyone, though. School officials from Houston County, Georgia, to Katy, Texas, to Southfield, Michigan, to Bakersfield, California, have banned pajama-wearing at school.

And even some under-30s think it's inappropriate to wear them anywhere but home.

"It isn't a matter of being too casual," says Olga Shmuklyer, a 28-year-old New Yorker who readily acknowledges to being a member of the "flip-flop" generation. She simply thinks pajamas aren't flattering, for anyone. "They look like vagrants," says Shmuklyer, whose own college-age sister wears pajamas in public, much to her "dismay."

Others have noted adults getting in on the act. Preston Kirk says he was taken aback when one of the twentysomething cast members in his community theater group in Marble Falls, Texas, came to rehearsal in pajamas. "It took me an hour to figure it out," Kirk, who's 60, says of the woman's outfit. "But then, I'm 'old school."'

Haley's mom, Ellyn Small, says that the first time her daughter wanted to wear pajamas to school, "I was dead set against it." Then she realized other kids were doing it and didn't mind so much.

"The pajama bottoms and T-shirts cover just as much of her body, if not more than the clothes she would normally wear," Small says. "I'm sure there will be plenty of times down the road for me to put my foot down and tell her she can't do or wear something."

Bob Hallman, another New Yorker whose 15-year-old sports sleepwear in public, says he's also fine with it. "All I ask is that they wear PJs appropriately," he says. "Not too big and too loose, not too small and too tight."

Kristina Philips, a 20-year-old junior at Ashland University in Ohio, says she'll wear pajamas to early classes, informal meetings or when she's feeling too sick to wear regular clothes.

"But once you start wearing slippers with them, people start to make jokes about a pajama party," she says, recalling how one student got teased for doing so her freshman year.

She also believes that K-12 schools are well within their rights to impose pajama bans.

Haley, the 11-year-old in New Jersey, thinks they shouldn't make such a big deal. She says that few people at her school, teachers included, have said anything about her pajamas. She does concede, however, that she may not be given so much slack, one day.

"It would depend on what type of job I had and what day it was," she says. "If I had a press conference or something, I'd wear something nice. But I'm not a very dressed-up person myself. If you found me in a skirt, that would be amazing."

For now, retailers say the demand for pajamas only seems to be growing.

Valerie Bent, who launched the Las Vegas-based Big Feet Pajama Company a month ago, says she's heard from many people who want to wear her company's pajamas for outdoor activities -- fishing, camping and snowboarding, among them. And some young people also have told her they plan to wear the one-piece, footed PJs to school.

"I'm a kid at heart. But I couldn't even imagine wearing these out in public," Bent says, laughing. "But I guess if you're really brave ..."

8 comments:

  1. Hmm...maybe I could start wearing my PJ's to church too! ;)

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  2. Guilty! I am sooo guilty of venturing out in public in PJ bottoms and flip-flops (Not at work however)

    When?
    -Grad school after pulling an all-nighter
    -Grad school when I overslept as a result of being hungover
    -Every Sunday because it's pointless to waste an entire outfit to just go the grocery store, Target and PetSmart
    -After I feel like I ate too much (stre---tch)
    -Whenever I get home from work and don't feel like going anywhere
    -To the doctor (I'm just gonna have to remove them anyways....)
    -Vet, post office, Wal*Mart,any other mundane errand where I don't forsee running into anyone I know....
    -To get my haircut if it's first thing in the morning
    -Roadtrips back to Wisconsin

    Pajama pants are sooo comfortable. If I'm not at work or doing anything of importance, I love the loose and relaxed fit of a good pair of PJ pants. I get funky designs and everything. Some places I will NOT wear PJ pants?

    -church
    -bar
    -mall
    -work
    -party
    -sit-down restaurant (unless picking up Chinese take-out...)

    I don't see why schools would ban pajama pants? They are not tight, nor are they revealing and they don't look as inappropriate as the Britney Spears inspired garb teenagers are sporing these days! Plus, there are many shades of grey between PJ bottoms, track pants, tear-aways, sweat pants, and those oh-so-nasty Zubaz. Who is to determine what's PJ's and what's not? I think they should focus their energy more on curbing teen-pregnancy in the schools, and I do not think a baggy ole pair of pajama pants encourages this in any way. (I'm already in my PJ's, let's just find a bed????)

    ~Carrie =)

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  3. I am also the worst offender. I have been tailed by the security guard at my favorite over-priced grocery store on several occasions, esp if I wear my p.j. bottoms with work shoes (an atrocious match, I realize, but after working 10 hours 'til 1 am followed by an early-morning trip to the school to drop of child, I'm not sporting Gucci. Wait, I never sported Gucci.) To enhance Carrie's point about sweats, I remember discovering them in high school when I got kind of fat(before large-sized women's clothing was available in anything other than unwearable mu-mu's and polyester slacks). I bought a pair and didn't, effectively, take them off for six years. Before the 'sweats as fashion statement' revolution, this was considered barely leaving the house with any clothes on. (Okay the "I skip classes all day to play pick-up games of basketball" set did it, but they were the only ones..)

    When I would attempt to commiserate with fellow women about the comfort and versatility of this particular garment, the response was always, 'uh, yeeaahh.... when I'm home and nobody can see me, I looove to slip into a pair of sweats... yeah...!'

    I know this largely adresses the point of 'casual fridays taking over our mode of everyday dress,' but sweats and pj bottoms as fashion statements, at the very least, pull us away from the whole 'I would never present myself in public in anything that wasn't uncomfortable' directive that women, especially, have felt beholden to ('there might be men around, after all..!'). I'm glad for the change.

    Otherwise, I concur with Carrie's pj placement perameters. Like anything, they aren't appropriate everywhere.

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  4. I'm not sure where I stand on this one, though I'm more in line with what you guys are saying.

    Pajamas make a lot of sense as fashion: they're colorful, fun and they cover anthing that people might find objectionable. At the same time, they are sleepwear, and look better when you're around the house.

    I think the way you guys handle it is pretty decent. You're not wearing them to any place of great consequence and that makes sense.

    Carrie's right about schools needing to focus on more important things than pajama pants. Heather's right about wanting to be comfortable and still looking nice in public.

    As a guy, you won't see me in pajama pants around town, but I have sported track pants on occasion, and the line between track pants and pajama pants is very short.

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  5. When I went to Green River Community College, I wore my favorte PJ pants quite a bit. Then one day I was reading through a scene for a drama class with a friend, and someone snapped a photo of us. A year later, imagine how surprised I was to find myself in my PJ's on the cover of the school catalogue. Imagine how much more surprised I was to see myself on the big screen in my PJ's when the school decided to use that particular cover blown up to movie screen size to advertise before a movie I went to see at a local cinaplex.
    They kept that cover for 3 years straight!

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  6. That's a great story. Don't you love how colleges will retain the same photo for their stock publications year after year after year.......?

    Good thing Gary Ridgeway didn't have an obsession with pajama bottoms the way he did with hookers..... (I couldn't resist!! How can anyone take the words Green River seriously in the last 20 years???) Okay, I'm done.

    Yours in serial killer trivia.......

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  7. OMG Marrie, that's crazy! I'll bet you were suprised to see yourself as movie advertising! Friggin' hilarious :-)

    Easy now, for a quarter I'll take these off. LOL

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