Pajama Faux Pas

What is the deal with people looking like they’ve just rolled out of bed and walked right out the door! In the 6 years I’ve been away from Canada, it’s gone from sex in the city tousled bed hair, to baggy sweats and pajama bottoms. Lulu lemon went from high-end sports wear, sport being the operative word, to casual everyday clothing. How did it end up being fashionable to walk down Spring Garden Road wearing plaid flannels and tight, tight yoga pants?

When did grooming and styling go out of fashion, only to be replaced by lackluster attempts of throwing on whatever happened to be left on the bedroom floor the night before. Are young people really so busy that they would rather forgo looking put together, for an extra 15 minutes of sleep? Or do Saturday morning brunches automatically call for baseball caps and pj’s? I must have missed that memo…

Where are the days of taking pride on one’s appearance, where it’s inappropriate to show your underwear, whether that be boys' boxers or a girls g-string. What happened to clean lines and accessories that don’t include ipods or cell phones. Have parents chosen to fight other battles and just let the ‘fashion’ one go, or has it always been this way and I’ve just gotten old.

I don’t remember being lazy when it came to my clothes. It was all about the styles and trends and fashion weeks. Sure I’m guilty of shoulder pads, and scrunches, florescent shirts, and leg warmers. I’ve had my share of bad perms and teased bangs, stone washed jeans and blue eye shadow. But hey, at least I tried. I would lay out all my clothes the night before, and make sure my ‘outfits’ were just right. I was especially good at the matchy matchy, where my earrings would match my headband, to match my shoes and belt! Oh, I miss those days.

Whatever happened to that mantra, ‘if you look good, you feel good’? That still applies to me. Even on sick days, should one really leave the house wearing checkered pants? And let’s not forget to tuck leggings and tights into those cozy, but god awful UGGS. Really, those were meant to be house shoes, hence why they’re so ugly…no one was ever supposed to see them!

Tesco, a UK supermarket chain, has banned people from shopping in their pajamas after complaints from other patrons who felt uncomfortable. While Shanghai, in preparation for the 2010 World Expo has recently launched a public campaign discouraging citizens from wearing pajamas outside the house. The city government claims that going outside wearing pajamas does not exactly conform to international etiquette. Really?! It’s no wonder North Americans are often seen as uncivilized; we’d likely not even know there was international pajama etiquette.

There is no doubt that fashion and clothing are an expression of freedom and individuality, so to ban any type of clothing infringes on those rights. But what about social consciousness? Is it really necessary to leave the house wearing lounge pants? I mean, is it even sanitary…would you really sit on a bus in your most intimates, only to come home and crawl into bed? Or, are there several pairs, ones for work, ones for play, and ones to snuggle up in, and dream the night away…

I myself feel somewhat embarrassed by our attachment to the über comfortable. If you’ve ever watched that show ‘What not to wear’ you know that most guests get nominated because they tend to dress like sloppy college students and wear ‘comfy’ doctors pants with writing on their bums.

Which brings me back to my original thought, is it really acceptable to wander amongst the public looking like we’re ready to go for a run, or just gotten back from Pilates. Is Dolce and Gabana’s Sleepwear Inspired Spring 2009 line really high fashion, because it’s created by famous designer icons? Certainly Italian women wouldn’t be caught dead wearing house or sports clothes to meet with friends for an espresso or cappuccino. Maybe we should take note, after all Rome is the fashion capital of the world.

Fly Away

I wish I could just fly away, to anywhere but here

To be somewhere else, to live something new
where filling my senses, is long overdue
To be swallowed up, by the immense high
of watching new cultures and people go by

To walk in places where no one knows me
embraced by the warmth of anonymity
To be where opinions don’t really matter
no daily grind, no mindless banter

To get on a plane is really living
while the time in between is merely existing
To faraway places I can only imagine
feeling alive, in the midst of the action

But to end up here, of all places we searched
in the hollow trenches of mother earth
To accept my fate, or greater plan still unclear
not sure I have strength to conquer a new frontier

I wish I could just fly away, to anywhere but here

Perfect Place

Where beginning and end meet, where
the smell of my grandmother lives,
as does her memory. I can fly in this
nirvana, unaware of my feet, and feast
on freedom. In this beautiful place,
I don’t need a mirror to know
I am tall, thin
and perfect. My body is graceful
and light, my hair thick and shiny.
No pain plagues me, no tears
of frustration, no rejection.
My father visits from time to time,
a strange familiar face,
asking for forgiveness.