Pyjama party pooper

Cork fashionistas will have to take a style check if they want entry into a Cork cinema, as pyjamas have been strictly forbidden.

While the spring/summer catwalks might boast the silk, jersey and flannel outerwear pyjamas of designers Stella MacCartney and Clements Ribeiro, hopeful patrons of The Reel Picture in Blackpool won’t get as far as the popcorn.

Gillian O’Connor, manager of the northside city cinema said they were forced to put up a sign outlining the dress code to nip the fashion trend in the bud. The move was also seen at offices of the Department of Social Protection this week.

Respect

The cinema manager says, however, that the style appears to be something only seen in their northside business, as their Ballincollig cinema has not reported any pyjamas wearing customers.

“It’s a different demographic there. We don’t want people coming to our cinema wearing pyjamas because if they can’t be bothered to wear pants, it means they don’t have respect for us.

“It displays an overall attitude and it got out of hand. Now, we can legally ask people to leave if they attempt to enter wearing pyjamas,” she said.

She said there was also a huge difference between pyjamas and flannel pants.

“You can tell - The pyjamas have sleeping teddy bears on them!”

Cork Independent style columnist, Sarah Waldron, said this style could be a thing of the future and perhaps Cork is not quite ready for it. In fact, the style is a throwback to colonial India and was worn by the “leisure class”, she explained.

From the design houses of Jonathan Saunders, Haider Ackermann and Antonio Marras, however, pyjamas are earmarked for summer 2012, albeit without the sleepy bear variety.

River Island, Topshop and Penneys will also be introducing pyjamas-style suits in the coming months.

“The pyjamas as outerwear style is a throwback to the colonial Indian trend as they were worn by the wealthy who were too wealthy to work,” Sarah explained.

“If you were receiving guests into your home in the 20s and 30s in India, you would wear silk pyjamas. They were a symbol of prosperity.”

She said she would not consider the current trend as crossing any fashion boundaries.

“You must always look at fashion in context and I’m all for self-expression. If someone is too relaxed to put pants on, I hardly think they will muster the energy to commit crimes. I’ve never seen anyone in pyjamas committing any crimes.

“I have seen a lot worse fall out of nightclubs in Cork city on Saturday nights,” she added.