Fyodor On Fashion (and Girls, both big and little).

The lunacy of little girls wearing their pajamas to school (from The Washington Times) serves as an excuse for ol' Fyodor to ruminate on the vagaries of the fairer sex. (To skip to the hot and steamy peek at Fyodor's private life, follow the bouncing asterisk*. BTW, stop calling it an "asterick". Please.)

"Pajama Day" was once a novelty at school, the chance to be silly and wear attire usually reserved for the privacy of home. But these days many young people - 11-year-old Haley Small included - are wearing PJs in public, anytime and just about anywhere.

Haley's favorite look: a T-shirt, flip-flops and pajama bottoms, with designs on them ranging from Snoopy to monkeys, basketballs to smiley faces.

"Part of it is because it's cute; but the majority of it is because it's comfortable," says the sixth-grader, who lives in Glen Rock, N.J., and often wears her PJs, "so I can sleep the extra five minutes." Pajama bottoms are better than jeans, she adds, because they're cool but less constricting.
Public pajama-wearing grew out of college students' long-standing habit of rolling out of bed and into class. Now pajamas are a fashion statement, with such retailers as Old Navy, Target and J.C. Penney offering myriad styles for adults, teens and preteens.

The trend isn't popular with everyone, though. School officials from Houston County, Ga., to Katy, Texas, to Southfield, Mich., to Bakersfield, Calif., have banned pajama-wearing at school.

And even some under-30s think it's inappropriate to wear them anywhere but home.

"It isn't a matter of being too casual," says Olga Shmuklyer, a 28-year-old New Yorker who readily acknowledges to being a member of the "flip-flop" generation. She simply thinks pajamas aren't flattering, for anyone. "They look like vagrants," says Shmuklyer, whose own college-age sister wears pajamas in public, much to her "dismay."

Others have noted adults getting in on the act. Preston Kirk says he was taken aback when one of the twentysomething cast members in his community theater group in Marble Falls, Texas, came to rehearsal in pajamas. "It took me an hour to figure it out," Kirk, who's 60, says of the woman's outfit. "But then, I'm 'old school.'"

Haley's mom, Ellyn Small, says that the first time her daughter wanted to wear pajamas to school, "I was dead set against it." Then she realized other kids were doing it and didn't mind so much.

"The pajama bottoms and T-shirts cover just as much of her body, if not more than the clothes she would normally wear," Small says. "I'm sure there will be plenty of times down the road for me to put my foot down and tell her she can't do or wear something."

Bob Hallman, another New Yorker whose 15-year-old who sports sleepwear in public, says he's also fine with it. "All I ask is that they wear PJs appropriately," he says. "Not too big and too loose, not too small and too tight."

Wear PJs appropriately? Makes you wonder what else his 15 year old wears to school.

Kristina Philips, a 20-year-old junior at Ashland University in Ohio, says she'll wear pajamas to early classes, informal meetings or when she's feeling too sick to wear regular clothes.

"But once you start wearing slippers with them, people start to make jokes about a pajama party," she says, recalling how one student got teased for doing so her freshman year.

She also believes that K-12 schools are well within their rights to impose pajama bans.

Haley, the 11-year-old in New Jersey, thinks they shouldn't make such a big deal. She says that few people at her school, teachers included, have said anything about her pajamas. She does concede, however, that she may not be given so much slack, one day.

"It would depend on what type of job I had and what day it was," she says. "If I had a press conference or something, I'd wear something nice. But I'm not a very dressed-up person myself. If you found me in a skirt, that would be amazing."

*This one got me to thinking about a cookout at a friend's house last month. One of his neighbors was there with his wife and college-aged daughter.

Let me get this over with early: The daughter was gorgeous. Drool-inducingly gorgeous, on the Fyodor Scale. Your Humble Servant is no dope. He noticed this immediately.

The thing I noticed almost as quickly was the young lady's belt. She wore one of her father's (I assumed.) old neckties in the loops of her jeans. Even as I flirted with her a bit, the thought that kept rolling to the front of my old idiot noggin was "I have ties older than her." (I have no doubt they will someday be back in style. Then ol' Fyodor will be sitting pretty.)

This made me grin almost constantly, which is definitely not my style. She must have liked it, because she flirted back. Or maybe I was just imagining that.

Then again, maybe not. She Who Must Be Obeyed soon swooped in to end my fun with her usual style and grace and dragged me away from Lil' Miss Temptation.

When She heard what I had been thinking during my moment or three of weakness, She nearly choked on Her Arbor Mist Blackberry Merlot on ice. (Which, BTW, tastes just like sody pop. Great for mellowing the ol' Ball and Chain. [Just kidding, sweetie.] And, now that I think about, it would work wonders on flirtatious college girls.)

I received a red-hot bite on my earlobe and permission to flirt with The Ultimate Coed all I wanted.

How sick am I to be disappointed that She trusts me?

How sick am I to still be wishing She had started a wild sweetened wine and grass stain catfight over me?

Cherche la femme, kiddies. 'Cause I don't think the French would permit cherche l'homme.