Excuse me, but when did it become OK to wear your pajamas in public?

I’m not knocking the practice. I’m just saying I didn’t get the memo.

I realize I’m not the most fashion-conscious dude out there but, come on, shouldn’t there be a way for us to be told that men can now wear hats inside a restaurant?

I realize that fashions are ever-changing, especially for women.

Men can pretty much wear the same shirt and pants for decades but women have to be on the cutting edge of style.

For that reason, we need something like a fashion newsletter that comes out quarterly to keep us up on the latest trends.

I was visiting my mother-in-law at her assisted living facility the other day when I noticed one of the staff members wearing “pants” that reminded me a great deal of a pair of my PJs.

The pants had copies of my alma mater’s logo running up and down the legs.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone out in public wearing what appeared to be pajamas.

Not that it’s a bad thing. The miniscule tank tops and short-shorts I’ve seen stretched across large expanses of flesh make the PJ phenomenon seem paltry by comparison.

By the way, who said it’s kosher to wear a top that reveals a C-section scar on the abdomen? I saw a woman at the beach whose scar made it appear that I was looking at her backside.

But perhaps that’s more a matter of taste than fashion.

And what about something that was fashionable in the first half of the 20th century, went out of style and now has returned?

Does the fact it was formerly in style negate the need to come out with a statement of return to glory?

I’m talking about fedoras, like the hat my father used to wear when I was a boy. Fedoras were very popular until President Kennedy chose to go hatless at his inauguration in 1961.

After that the full-brimmed hat seemed to go on a long sabbatical until recent years when they’ve begun to crop up again.

I’m not sure but I think it’s a case of men finding the hats in their father’s attics and deciding to wear them in remembrance of the good ol’ days.

Speaking of hats, why haven’t the domed derby hats regained the same popularity of the fedora? And why don’t men wear the top hat – á la Honest Abe – as trend setters?

There’s one style of full-brimmed hat that’s seemed to retain its popularity – the bucket hat, sometimes called a boonie.

It’s made of cotton and is very flexible with a brim that can be pulled down to form an upside-down bucket or worn up like a fedora.

Come to think of it, the guys I saw wearing them when I was a teen are probably the same ones I see with bucket hats today.

They just never had the heart to get rid of their comfortable headgear.

Bucket hats are pretty versatile, besides their convertibility. Sportsmen, in particular, use them to display fishhooks, golf tees or other decorative pins.

Women, on the other hand, seldom wear anything on their heads these days except for baseball-style caps.

Whatever happened to women’s hats and bonnets?

I guess I’ll never know unless somebody decides to come out with that fashion newsletter.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll get out my pajamas, slip on a tank top and rummage around to see if I can find my father’s old fedora.

See you downtown. You’ll recognize me by my surgical scar.



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, would like to see calypso pants come back in style.