BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Etiquette Going Outside in Pajamas

Now this is funny I recently got a pajama set that had long purple pants, a short-sleeved purple top and a purple striped shorts. I would never wear shorts to sleep so I figured those were a never-wear item. However, today it was hot out so I was in the back yard in a light blue halter and the purple shorts which actually went nicely with it. So then when we went out to do our shopping I kept the pair on.

So technically I was in half of my pajamas today - but visually I had on a yoga-like top along with yoga-like shorts ...

there are a lot of clothes that look pajama-like and a lot of pajamas that look like clothes. People should wear whatever they like and are comfortable in.

I occasionally grab my mail in my PJ's. But I usually put a sweatshirt on over them so I look like I'm just in casual clothes.

Although I'm sure you want to make most everyone happy, a statement like yours might want to be reconsidered. If someone is comfortable wearing clothes which look and smell like they have been slept in, it's hardly appropriate. Further, if your neighbor is comfortable in a braless tank and tap pants to get the mail, mow the lawn and go grocery shopping that doesn't give them the right to offend everyone around them. We have rights but you don't parade your "rights" by irritating and offending those you come in contact with. You can wear what you like in the privacy of your own home. You can also yell "Fire" in the privacy of your own home. The public, however, should not be subjected to what's only comfortable for you.

That does make sense, you want to find a happy merging of "what I am comfortable in" with "what is in proper taste for the situation". So if you're comfortable being nude, that might not be appropriate if you're going for a walk by a children's playground

I walk my dog every night between 10 and 11 pm, and yes, I do it in my pjs, which for me are pj pants and a tshirt. I do put on shoes. But I live in a quiet neighborhood at the end of a dead-end street, so no one is going to be driving by on their way to anyplace, and I almost never see cars anyway. It's pitch black out, after all!

I also get up early in the mornings to go outside to feed any animals that I am rehabbing, and I wear my pjs for that, because I feed them and then go back to bed.

It's funny, I don't feel strange or bad about doing that, but some days when I get up and don't have to go anywhere or do anything, I wear my pjs until late in the afternoon - and that makes me feel much worse than walking the dog in my pjs! Walking the dog in my phs is okay, but just wearing them around the house makes me feel slovenly.

I think I kind of agree with Lisa P. I am a student at a very large university and it drives me crazy when half of a 300 student class is in their musty pajamas. lol! When it gets warm, the odor is actually pretty offensive.

I do think that its fine to wear comfortable clothing such as pjs or sweats if they are in nice condition and clean. Its when the rear end of the pants are worn thin or the colors are all faded that it begins to make me uncomfortable. It tells me that this person must not be very clean - because the last thing I want to do after a shower is put on two-day-old pajamas.

Its about when, where, and proximity to your closest neighbor.

I saw a young mother at the store in her pajamas. It was about 6:00 in the evening and she was with her husband or boyfriend and her child. The pajamas looked as if they had been slept in for a week and the bottoms of the pajama legs were filthy where they had drug on the ground,pavement, or floors of the store wherever she had walked. When I see someone in the store looking like that I think to myself,they must not care what they look like and they take no pride in the way they look. The guy she was with looked nice in a tee shirt and jeans. By the way I do go out in my back yard in my pajamas.

I love perusing the thread this topic has taken. Because this topic takes place on the etiquette forum, it's fun to see where this has taken us, discussion-wise.
The origin of eitquette surrounds the topic of others. Me, self, I, etc. are not typically central when etiquette is being considered. Etiquette focuses on those around us, those we come into contact with and how our actions impact those contacts.
From an etiquette standpoint we are putting PJ wearing in the context of how our attire is affecting those around us. PJs in our our driveway, our backyards, our decks/patios and in our homes are seperate from public view.
When we wear bedroom attire out in public, as stated in the threads above, we are conveying certain images to certain people. For some, they are uncomfortable with it. And that's something that needs to be considered no matter what you wear or do or say when you are around other people.