Pajamas in public school: flannel in the crosshairs

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PLEASANT GROVE — The latest "fashion don't" is wearing pajamas to school, and the stars of the fashion no-show, aside from a few high profile celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Salma Hayek, are teenage girls.

Pajama bottoms are being paired with UGG boots or house slippers, and with favorite T-shirts or a simple hoodie or a sweatshirt. Tying it all together is sometimes a blanket taken right off the teen's bed. It's the latest non-fashion that may have happened years ago except for vigilant mothers ordering their kids back upstairs "to change your clothes, Missy."

Most of these kids' lives are so structured that they cling onto something to set them apart. ... Sweatshirts and sweatpants were what we wore in my day to 'rebel.'

–Jeanie Wilson, Pleasant Grove High assistant principal

Most teens find the pajama-slippers combination cozy and cool, "though I think it's more about comfort than fashion, frankly," said Jeanie Wilson, assistant principal at Pleasant Grove High School.

"There has always been a casual element, an anti-fashion fashion," Wilson said. "Most of these kids' lives are so structured that they cling onto something to set them apart. Jeans were the anti-fashion for some. Sweatshirts and sweatpants were what we wore in my day to 'rebel.'"

Retailers nationwide are responding to the trend with stores like Aeropostale, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Victoria Secret's Pink, giving loungewear/sleepwear a push in catalog and brick and mortar sales.

Some school administrators find this fad too causal for class and are forbidding students from wearing pajamas. Others are simply enforcing dress codes already in place, or like Pleasant Grove High, are trying to ignore the trend altogether, reminding students that "interpretations of the (school's) standards are both the right and responsibility of the school administration."

In Louisiana's Caddo Parish, District 3 Commissioner Michael Williams recently got national attention for his proposed ordinance prohibiting the wearing of pajamas in public. He defines pajamas as "a garment sold in the sleepwear section of department stores."

Williams told the Times in Shreveport, La., that he decided to sponsor the new ordinance after an unpleasant incident at a local department store.

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"I saw a group of young men wearing pajama pants and house shoes," he said, according to a Times report in January. He and his fellow shoppers were surprised by how little the pajama fabric concealed.

"If you can't (wear pajamas) at the boardwalk or courthouse, why are you going to do it in a restaurant or in public?" Williams questioned. "Today its pajamas, tomorrow its underwear. Where does it stop?"

Clearly, not with underwear. That happened in 1987 when Madonna opened her first world tour in a black brassier, busting out a whole new market for underwear as outerwear. This act was only eclipsed by her infamous conical bra outfit by Jean-Paul Gaultiers in 1989.

Neither look went to school.

The only lasting effect on the public, other than collective distaste, was the accessibility of the bra strap. Many contemporary PJ tops are designed to show the strap — popularized by another '80s icon, Jennifer Beals, in 1983's Flashdance.

A wide neck is key, says Jennifer Foyle, chief merchandising officer for American Eagle Outfitters Aerie brand, that advertises sweatshirts and other "relaxed styles" featuring asymmetrical hems or dolman sleeves. "Girls are wanting to show their bra straps."

While getting ready for school has never been easier, Mr. Williams' Shreveport pajama proposal has a difficult road ahead of it. Williams himself pulled his proposed ban on wearing pajamas in public from a commission meetings in March, stating that he was taking the item off the agenda because "we have some important tax renewals coming up, and I don't want to see us divided." But he promised to be back sometime this month to reintroduce the law.

Marjorie R. Esman, executive director of Louisiana's American Civil Liberties Organization, recently contacted Williams by mail to inform him that even pajamas as clothing as a form of expression is protected by the Constitution.

"To ban the wearing of pajamas, like any other form of attire, would violate a liberty interest guaranteed under the 14th Amendment," Esman said. "The government must demonstrate a rational basis for its ban — and Caddo Parish (William's jurisdiction) has no legitimate rational basis for regulating the attire of its residents."

"Creating new rules would be silly," Assistant Principal Wilson said. "Unless there's an obvious modesty problem or a significant distraction to other students, the less attention paid the better."

"I'd be happy if the students just kept their pants from sagging," Wilson added.

Davison Cheney writes, often humorously, at davisoncheneymegadad.blogspot.com.