Supermarket Pyjama Ban

Derek Rose PJs from Idelwild, 95 squid from Idlewildlondon.com

It's not surprising that Tesco and Morrisons have decided to ban customers from wearing pyjamas. It started at the St Mellon
's branch in Cardiff Tesco and has been followed by notices posted in Tesco's in Altrincham. fuk.co.uk first reported on this nightwear trend in July 2000

http://www.widemedia.com/fashionuk/news/2000/06/30/news0000529.html

with our Scousers in Pyjamas news story. Since then, the practice of wearing your nightwear as daywear amongst working class women has spread across the land and is now a common sight in city centres, supermarkets and even on school gates. One way of interpreting this is that it in fact a status symbol: if you can socially afford to wear PJs in the day, it indicates you do not have to conform to the social dress code associated with ordinary work wear. It is a safe bet that any woman wearing her PJs (however well dressed) isn't heading to an office, or any other job, that day.

With unemployment set to rise even further, regardless of supermarket bans, more women across the UK are likely to be sporting bedwear as they mosey about town. And why not? A sociologist could argue that this bedroom uniform taken out into the streets is a valid social response to an economic situation. If you have no reason to get dressed in conventional clothes, why not slip on those fake or genuine Uggs or even some rather lovely slippers, and hit the town to do your errands? I can't see this spreading across to middle class heartlands though but the ban could make it all the more attractive to sartorial rebels in our communities. PJs could be the new bondage trousers, so to speak.