CLOTHING FADS Teens get into pajamas for school, not for bed

A Virginia school principal wants the slack to end and the slacks to return.
WASHINGTON POST
At Annandale (Va.) High School, they were the ultimate symbol of senior slump: pajamas.
Checkered flannel or cloud-patterned cotton, it didn't really matter. Even little bunnies could exude cool -- and rebellion.
"It's the culmination of four years of hard work," said Anteneh Addisu, 17, the senior class president. "We just want to relax. We were going to wear our pajamas till we got an acceptance letter."
Encountering opposition
But Annandale's principal didn't find the fashion movement, known as "Pajamas Till College," fitting. Don Clausen got on the public address system and tersely told seniors he wanted the slack to end and the slacks to return. "Sometimes you have to state the obvious, but you shouldn't have to," he said. "Don't wear pajamas."
That set off a fiery debate at the school, one that appears to be raging nationwide. Just what is appropriate dress for school?
And, as Addisu asks, just what are pajamas? After the principal's edict, Addisu and several friends took marking pens to pairs of sweat pants and wrote "pajamas" and "Seniors 2003" all over the legs.
Some teen-agers say they simply desire comfort, while others claim to be pulling so many all-nighters they don't have time to change -- let alone shower -- in the morning. Pajamas have been banned in several school districts around the country, from Cherokee County, Ga., to Charles County, Md.
The trend, according to teen-agers, is to wear just the pajama bottoms with a matching T-shirt. Flip-flops or fuzzy slippers often complete the look. With teenagers spending more than $70 billion annually on clothes and shoes, market analysts say stores such as the Gap, Old Navy, Aeropostale and American Eagle Outfitters are making more room for what they term "dormwear."
"It's all about this casualization," said Brian Tunick, a retail analyst who tracks teen-age buying. "I think the teen out there is looking for newness anywhere they can find it. This year, it seems to be sweat pants and loungewear."
Only for school
Some teen-agers say they don't wear pajamas to bed, just to school. Heather Austin, 17, of Springfield, Va., chooses hers according to the calendar or the season. "On Halloween, I wore ones with little candy corn," the Annandale senior said. "The only difference between sweat pants and pajamas is that pajamas have a design on them. It's a technicality."
Administrators, however, say they know pajamas when they see them. And most don't like what they see.
"School is a place you go to conduct business, and your attire should reflect that," said Katie O'Malley-Simpson, spokeswoman for Charles County schools.
She said the county's dress code was recently revised to exclude "sleepwear and sleepwear-type clothing."
Review scheduled
The Fairfax County (Va.) School Board, which includes Annandale, is scheduled this week to review and vote on a dress code that would spell out expectations. It specifically would outlaw showing cleavage, midriffs or undergarments.
After weeks of discussion, a committee of school board members, administrators and students decided to leave the pajamas issue untouched, allowing principals to decide.
"Faddish kinds of clothing might appear at different schools," said Mary Shaughnessy, Fairfax's director of student services. "Our overriding thing is that students are expected to dress appropriately. There's certainly a lot of discretion for principals to build into it."
As the case of pajamas shows, clothing trends among finicky teenagers vary widely by district. At Severna Park High School, Victoria Boggiano, 15, of Millersville, Md., said wearing pajamas to school was popular years ago and is dated now. "That was so back in the sixth grade," she said.
The outrage over the pajama ban at Annandale is slowly dying down, students say. As the weather has gotten warmer, they wonder whether it might be replaced by one over skimpier clothing.
As senior Elaine Filadelfo, 17, put it, "Pajama pants cover up a lot more than other articles of clothing people would wear."