Saturday morning at the bakery, thirty-somethings came to pick up their chocolatines in Quartz anoraks, Ciele caps, over ostentatious flannel pajama bottoms. Not in jogging: in pajamas! I tell myself it’s Saturday, getting out of bed.
Thursday afternoon at Provigo, I come across an owner of plaid pajamas in a city coat. The same week, I learned that the students of a secondary school were doing the same thing, much to the chagrin of the school authorities. Since then, I see tired pajamas everywhere. Checkered, unicorns, small animals. Soon will appear those of Christmas!
The pajama bottoms in public are therefore normalized, having become a custom in 2022. This nightwear saw its triumph in broad daylight, soft and proud of it. The thing is understood: after two years of pandemic and confinements, public pajamas would be neither more nor less than a sequel. Twenty-four months of cocooningof Zooms in shapeless joggings and Teams in soft, it gives the fold. We embraced super comfortable clothes, we slouched in plush sectionals, our feet surrendered to Crocs and UGGs, our homes turned into refuges; we get food, parcels, medicine and work delivered there through the platforms.
Well settled in our interiors, the body coiled in soft cotton, we stuffed ourselves with Netflix series, our brains welcomed the surrounding softness so much that they began to think limply.
Benevolence was the watchword. We emerge now, a little amazed, more scarred than we thought. Flat soles and pajama bottoms are only the most visible symptoms to the naked eye.
It must be said that this bodily – and intellectual – attitude fell on favorable ground. We are tolerant and kind. Quebec is generally consensual. The angles of our social relationships are rounded. We speak a less specialized French there than in France. We prefer accommodation to confrontation. Our welcoming social safety net cushions the hard blows of fate. Politically, we re-elected the CAQ, an extreme center party.
The outside world is increasingly hostile: war in Ukraine, anxiety-provoking global warming, COVID-19 still lurking. Even with us, social fractures are widening, camps with sharp positions oppose each other on the left and on the right, inveigh against each other and cancel each other.
Times are uncertain. The most common posture is that which consists in going to crouch at the bottom of a cozy cave, to curl up; and if you go out into the threatening outside world, make it armed with your soft shell: the bottom of your pajamas…
Softness is our ultimate refuge and we line our walls with wadding. Knitting has never been so popular for a long time. Cookbooks and tableware are recipes. We will celebrate Christmas in warm settings, we will go to concerts by candlelight and even our chic clothes will be loose and loose.
Some are campaigning for the return of structured clothing, suits and tailoring. They argue that an outfit that holds up compels clear thinking. Which is not wrong. The outfit holds the body, the high heel is an offensive, the steel cap installs a balance of power. Clothing that has body also has thought. Look at the French; their clothes and their snapping phrases… We too, at some point, will emerge from our torpor and face the hostile world in beautiful clothes, with straight shoulders and confident steps. There will be clear forms, dry and crunchy fabrics, more biting words, social debates that take place. But at the moment we are still a little morally depressed, a little softer than in our natural state. We feared for ourselves and our loved ones. We are still fierce and fearful. One day we will take off our pyjamas, but not yet.
When we’re ready to moult, I hope we trade soft for soft. Because that’s who we are, we Quebecers, deep within us. Our gentleness is a precious quality, a quiet strength. We think wide and expansive. The shapeless pajamas will pass, but the joggers and the soft knit will remain. So much the better. Because if the soft is a renunciation, the soft is welcoming. Let’s stay flexible, that’s our strength.