It’s a pyjama party out there

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HAVE you ever walked into church early in the morning and bumped into a few people attending the service looking like they brought their beds along with them?

Still in their housecoats and pyjamas, you sometimes find young children and some aunties half asleep in the pews.

While it is commendable that they make an effort to be in the house of worship in the wee hours of the morning, something should be said and done about their attire.

Or how about this scenario? In the evenings you see parents ‘kayuh-kayuh’ (hanging out and window shopping) in malls and shopping centres with their children, who are all ready for bed in their pyjamas and nightgowns.

Just imagine, after trudging all around the mall and town, picking up goodness knows what kind of dirt, these children head home and into bed without changing their clothes!

Needless to say, the pyjama culture among Asians is somewhat ‘accepted’. To us, loose drawstring pants, printed batik housecoats and three-quarter shapeless shorts are part of our everyday ‘casual’ attire.

It is common to see middle-aged women at morning markets and grocery shops still in their pyjamas, buying fresh veggies and haggling over meat.

The Eye recently came across a couple of articles on the ban of the use of pyjamas to enter certain premises overseas.

In the United Kingdom, an international hypermarket has imposed a dress code stating: “Footwear must be worn at all times and no nightwear is permitted.”

To some, this may seem like a trivial and silly rule to impose. Many others, however, agree with the rule because they feel if there are no limitations or dress codes enforced, some may even start wearing just underwear outside their homes.

But then again, thanks to pop culture, these days there is a very thin line between underwear and fashion, so much so that underwear is fashionable and dresses and even office wear are starting to look like underwear.

Anyway, back to pyjama culture. Apparently the crackdown on wearing pyjamas in public has been enforced in Shanghai (which is well known for people wearing pyjamas in public).

In Dublin and in some states in America, rules have also been enforced to ban pyjamas from being worn in schools and offices. Yes, in offices!

It seems that they do have a reason to worry overseas as it has gotten to the stage where people are going to work in their pyjamas.

The principal of St Matthew’s Primary School in Belfast, Ireland reprimanded parents for picking up their children from school in sleepwear because he considered it ‘slovenly and rude’.

In America, those who proposed legislation banning pyjamas in public justified their move by claiming that doing so indicated that “the moral fibre in America is dwindling away. What is it going to be tomorrow? Walking around in your underwear?”

However, Americans should not forget that their moral fibres dwindled away long before public pyjama wearing.

In Malaysia, pyjamas as casual wear seems to be a trend these days. The Eye recently encountered ladies buying cute printed long pyjama bottoms from a hypermarket here and overheard one saying the items could actually be worn for ‘going out’.

Really? Eye suppose some people would consider long cotton pants with prints of cute flower-hearts suitable for going out, as we do have stretch pants and leggings printed in the same manner.

Yet, a friend argued that even baju Melayu, baju kurung, caftans and samfu can be used as pyjamas and as ‘going out’ clothes.

And what about sweat pants and shorts? Those are used as pyjamas and casual wear too.

How do we draw the line for what is wearable in public and what is not, especially when it comes to our traditional clothes which are also sometimes used at home and as pyjamas?

Another of the Eye’s friends came up with a simple formula: “baju dah londer dan pudar equals pyjamas. Baju yang gik kacak equals boleh pakei luar.”

In other words, clothes that are worn out, loose and faded can be considered pyjamas and should be restricted to the house while those that still look good can be worn in public.

Make sense?

Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

While we are not a society that walks around naked, it would be the right and respectful thing to do to wear appropriate clothing when in public – when at work, school, during travel or during sporting activities. Let’s leave the pyjama party at home.