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Anyone notice a trend now of people wearing pajama pants in public?
- Thread starter Bubble99
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Speaking of Walmart...I live in Rural America where, regrettably, for miles around Walmart is the only shopping choice. So I regularly see not only pajama pants but much, much worse. 
I used to live in Cherry Valley, California. That's just north of Beaumont and Banning which are in the San Gorgonio Pass. It's halfway between San Bernardino and Palm Springs and you will pass through on the 10 freeway. Sun City is south of the 10.
A large part of Cherry Valley is unpaved roads and no sidewalks. The closer you live to Beaumont or Banning it improves and your street gets paved with pea stones embedded in tar. Still no sidewalks. CV is a retirement community and up until 2000 there was f* all to do there.
After we (my wife and I) left in 2000 is when business started coming in and that's because homes started getting built. Starbucks didn't happen there until 1998 and that was a converted Wendy's in Banning.
So maybe this started happening post 2000, IDK because we left. But in CV with a lot of pastures, unpaved roads and no sidewalks, not a lot of people are walking around in pajamas - unless they're crazy people. Dirt, mud, weeds, brush & scrub, horses, goats, sheep and cows tear up clothes.
You make an excellent point.
This - the wearing of pyjamas or tracksuit bottoms - (ultra casual and comfortable homeware) in public, is - for a variety of obvious reasons, some of which you have pointed out - very much an urban phenomenon.
Yes, rural environments are hard on tough and/or thick fabrics and pajamas are made with thin fabrics. You'd have holes in pajamas in no time. So in that environment there's only one reason to be wearing pajamas and that's to bed. Any other reason is going to invite social ostricization.
I'm pretty widely travelled - I've worked in a good many countries across three continents over the past quarter of a century - sometimes, for years at a time - and one constant I have noticed is the (sometimes surprising) degree of cultural conservatism and demanding social conformity found in the the countryside and in rural environments (in the context of whatever the specific culture of that particular country was).
In your experience, are the underlying reasons for rural cultural conservatism and social conformity similar or different between countries?
One of the (several) reasons I hated living rural. In the case of the area I lived in it was a small town conservatism that professed noble values while ignoring it's own internal corruption. At some point it resulted in the mayor of Beaumont being barred from running for political office ever again.
And it's not limited to just rural. Towns can grow and the old mentality is still there. Glendale, Arizona being one example of a large city with the small town mentality I speak of. It used to be a small town, got big, but kept the mentality of the small town.
Interesting to note that the Walmart I see pajama wearers at is in Glendale, AZ - albeit right on the dividing line with Phoenix.
I get it if you're in college and waking up late to go to class or just a rebellious or non-conforming teen. However, I feel like adults who engage in such sartorial nonconformity are purposely disrespecting others, too lazy to get dressed, or unemployed. I don't care how you dress at home, but please spare me your dirty feet in flip flops or unchanged, unwashed pj's when sitting next to me on a plane or in a restaurant. It's called civility and respect for others.
@eyoungren; @KaliYoni:
I could have written (and it did cross my mind to do so) - "sometimes suffocating social conservatism".
That is a value judgment, but, (in common with my mother, who fled at warp speed from the country as a young woman, "escaped" was the verb she tended to use, and she came from quite a comfortable background), it is one I think has more than a little validity.
However, given that PRSI has been abolished and consigned to the vaults of myth and memory, it might be best discussed privately, (as in via DM), as my thoughts on the matter run the risk of straying into territory deemed possibly contentious, if not prohibited.
However, I do share @eyoungren's views on this subject.
I could have written (and it did cross my mind to do so) - "sometimes suffocating social conservatism".
That is a value judgment, but, (in common with my mother, who fled at warp speed from the country as a young woman, "escaped" was the verb she tended to use, and she came from quite a comfortable background), it is one I think has more than a little validity.
Excellent question, - a really very good question - and one that I must give some thought to.
However, given that PRSI has been abolished and consigned to the vaults of myth and memory, it might be best discussed privately, (as in via DM), as my thoughts on the matter run the risk of straying into territory deemed possibly contentious, if not prohibited.
However, I do share @eyoungren's views on this subject.
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I would think people wearing pajama pants in public is more of a city thing than town thing or out in the country.
Yes…and I lived rural from 1980 to 2000, so I never saw this until after 2000. Someone mentioned it happening in the 1990s.
Skinny pants, pajama pants, bell bottom pants, chinos, shorts, mini skirts, low pans with G-string underwear...
Not a big deal, really.
Not a big deal, really.
Ugly maybe yes, but could be a rich person. I seen some men do that and they are in first class seat at the airport. I noticed in recent years rich people no longer advertise their wealth and wear casual everyday clothes just like the rest of us.
The most comfortable is to get in bed nude under the sheets
That is true (the rich wearing shorts). But some pajama pant wearers could be rich too.
One issue that comes up is to what extent does an individual perceive him/herself beholden to honor the preferences of the collective. In other words, to what extent is maintaining 'respectability' in the eyes of others a need, vs. indulging one's own desires?
In smaller communities, people are more likely to encounter others who know and recognize them, and those people are more likely to socially network with others who know them. Such places may be more conformist in a number of ways - you may not see extensive facial piercings and unnaturally colored hair as much, etc...
In large cities, there's so much diversity someone in pajama bottoms sounds tame. You can go out to shop and despite being in the vicinity of hundreds of people encounter no one you know. Some of these people don't interact with the neighborhood all that much, and their main social circle consists of family, some friends and coworkers.
It's true that rural areas tend to be more conservative and urban areas more rural (modern U.S. perspective), but there are other dynamics in play. In modern America 'diversity' is thrown in our faces so much in the media as a desirable good that it's little wonder we don't expect more conformity.
In smaller communities, people are more likely to encounter others who know and recognize them, and those people are more likely to socially network with others who know them. Such places may be more conformist in a number of ways - you may not see extensive facial piercings and unnaturally colored hair as much, etc...
In large cities, there's so much diversity someone in pajama bottoms sounds tame. You can go out to shop and despite being in the vicinity of hundreds of people encounter no one you know. Some of these people don't interact with the neighborhood all that much, and their main social circle consists of family, some friends and coworkers.
It's true that rural areas tend to be more conservative and urban areas more rural (modern U.S. perspective), but there are other dynamics in play. In modern America 'diversity' is thrown in our faces so much in the media as a desirable good that it's little wonder we don't expect more conformity.
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A doable thing if you live alone or with a significant other. Not so much when you're part of a family. Also, a lot less comfortable in the cold when either getting in or out of the bed (assuming you do not have central heat).The most comfortable is to get in bed nude under the sheets
“New” is a relative term I guess. I remember seeing them on people before I moved… 18 years ago. New compared to spats & top-hats maybe?
I live in a tropical location (Miami, FL) and "shorts and flipflops" are a common thing out in public here. Just keep that in mind, different places have different culture and people dress differently.
Basically it has to be below 70F out for me to consider pants; shorts are a way of life here.
I live in San Diego County and I probably wear pants around 4-5 times a year. I do work from home so no need to impress anyone else.
Shorts, especially in hot weather, still seems different to me than sleep pants. (And yes, it’s definitely mostly women who wear sleep pants. I’ve noticed that men’s fashion, especially workplace fashion, in the US tends to be more conservative than women’s fashion.) Of course, I’m of the opinion that people incorrectly dismiss the power of costume. That’s why I still get dressed in slacks and a dress shirt on my work from home days, so I can change out of them and mark the end of the workday. Pajamas for sleeping, athletic wear for working out*. There doesn’t seem to be much space for ritual or costume these days, and I think our lives are poorer for it. But shorts are an accommodation for when the weather is especially hot (just don’t go hiking in them, keep your legs safe), and I don’t see the value in wearing sleep pants in public (surely you’ve got comfortable pants that aren’t sleep pants?). I don’t know how exclusively urban it is, I’d see youngish people in public doing it back in my home town.
* If you change out of the pajamas when you get up and change into the pajamas before bed, you’ve got part of a wake up and bedtime ritual. You’re giving your body a powerful cue that says “I really should be sleeping now”. It’s the same trick when people suggest laying out workout clothes the night before, so you see the clothes and think about working out in the morning.
I would think pajama pants are more common in the suburbs than more densily urban areas. But less common in towns and the country.