IN THE DEEP MIDWINTER .....

Flannel pajama bottoms are not only out of the closet but through the front door, into the car and being worn all over town here in Maine. Notably by guys, I’ve noticed. 

Just last week, Mr. Wonderful and I were sitting in the waiting room of his pulmonologist, following up on a rough few months due to lung issues caused by his fall last summer when he fractured four ribs. We looked “Maine winter normal” in our jeans, puffer jackets and black Merrills when in walks a male patient wearing black Merrills, a puffer jacket and green and blue Scottish Plaid pajama bottoms.  

With snow in the forecast, we stopped on our way home at Hannafords for “bread and milk.” (DownEast factoid: Accuweather suggests that the idea of buying “bread and milk” before a winter storm dates back to the blizzard of 1978 which, after it pounded the Maine coast, kept people trapped in their homes for weeks. Ergo, getting “bread and milk” before a storm is as much a winter ritual up here as “quick starting” the Subaru before exiting the Boathouse Restaurant on a nippy January night after a crab cake dinner.) (I’m talking about activating a heated steering wheel, seat warmers and a fan blowing 80 degree warmth.) (Ahhhhh.)

Meanwhile, back at Hannafords, I’m in the express check-out line, cradling my 2% milk and loaf of multigrain, ruing I’d left my plastic shopping bag out in the car because DAMN I wasn’t going to pay a nickel to bag two items, when I noticed the man ahead of me sporting flannel pajama bottoms fashioned in red and black Buffalo Plaid. 

Being a bit of a snoop, I immediately started taking notes of where and when I spotted grown men wearing their “house pants” out in public. Let me count, and share, the ways — in the CVS aspirin and cough syrup aisle, in the middle of a 10 person line at the Kennebunkport post office, in the stands at a girls’ varsity basketball game in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at Home Depot in Biddeford and Aroma Joe’s in Wells, and in the paint department of Ace Hardware in Kennebunk.

Some people blame (attribute!) the wearing of PJs in the light of day to the pandemic. Weeks and months of working at home effectively dissolved the line between house clothes and out-of-the-house clothes. Loungewear became highly appreciated and purchased, thank you, Covid. 

Fashion photographer Bill Cunningham once noted, “Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life.” So guys up here apparently want 24/7 warmth and comfort, and flannel PJ bottoms serve as that armor. 

Interestingly, I have yet to spot a woman out and about wearing LLBean pajama bottoms. But Maine women do tend to wear what suits them. This morning, with temperatures hovering in the high 20’s and steady sleet slicking the driveway, my dear cleaning lady went to work in her preferred winter attire:

Everyone seeks their own comfort level and there’s nothing wrong with that!