A façade of wealth

Putting on a façade of wealth with Pajamas:  

The Chinese wear their pajamas to show they’re rich, 

but every culture wears their pajamas in some way.

I spotted three people in the underground marketplace under the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum wearing pajamas. Before I went to China when I thought of wearing pajamas in public I thought of: A. my professor mom who hates it when students wear their pajama pants to class, and B. Stacy and Clinton on What Not to Wear complaining about people wearing their pajama bottoms to the grocery store because, the hosts feel, one should always dress well.

Then you go to a different country and all your ideas and assumptions get shaken up. The trend [of wearing pajamas in public] started in China in the 70s, when pajamas were brought over from the West. In China, because people couldn’t afford to buy clothes to wear to bed, wearing pajamas in public was a way to show off their wealth. Personally, I think that looks like you’re trying too hard.

I wondered, then, why don't people just buy pajamas instead of regular clothes if wearing them around town impresses people? But that would be crazy, I thought. It would be the equivalent of people in the U.S. buying a BMW instead of a house and sleeping in their car. Insane, right?

Except that people actually do that. According to my friend, Trish, who lives in L.A. they do those kinds of things. “They buy expensive cars… to show they have wealth,” she said, “but live in dives.”

I thought I was making up something ridiculous, but I should have known better. Sometimes you don't need to write fiction because people already provide more than you could imagine.

I wonder why this is. Maybe we’re programmed evolutionarily to try to make ourselves look like we have plenty of resources to be healthy and strong in order to be more attractive to a mate and show that we could support our young.

It’s funny how something viewed as sloppy in one place is seen as a sign of wealth in another. It gives a new visual for “Fake it until you make it.”

The Chinese also have a different sense of public and private spaces than Americans. In preparation for the World Expo in 2010, the Chinese authorities recruited citizens to police residents they saw in pajamas to tell them to go home and change in order to reflect a more “civilized” image to foreigners coming to the Expo. Citizens were rightfully upset. I love the people who wore their pajamas in civil disobedience.

There’s just one thing I have to admit. As a freelance writer, I am typing this column at home in front of my laptop in silk pajamas I bought in China.  They are very comfortable and a pretty lavender. I wanted to check the mail but it seemed silly to change clothes for something that would take less than a minute. I stepped outside in my pajamas because I thought, “Who am I trying to impress?” My pajamas cost the equivalent of $15!

In conclusion, if I can save up enough money I am going to buy a BMW and drive it around wearing my pajamas! Talk about leisure! This is what I aspire to—and it’s going to be awesome.

Written and photographed Summer 2011