Amazed at the power of pyjamas

Clothes maketh the man – or not, my washing line tells me. I count one pair of pants and two tops. The rest? All pyjamas. The pants and top – matching, I’ll let you know – I wore one of the rare times I went shopping in the nearly five weeks of lockdown.

The other top I use for my daily work video conference to hide – you guessed it – pyjamas.

In fact, the only reason I do washing nowadays is because I’m running out of my chosen daily attire.

I’ve known early on clothes don’t matter anymore.

On day three, I stood in front of my cupboard thinking: “No, that top doesn’t go with the pants…” when it dawned.

Who cares? Who is going to see you?

So I want to tell Mark Twain, Desiderius Erasmus (the coiner of the phrase, I believe) and Shakespeare, who all told me in powerful words that clothes make you powerful. They simply don’t.

They don’t give you an air of authority; they don’t take you from a messy appearance to “have the air of a god” and they certainly don’t “proclaim” me…

At least not any more.

Zooming with a friend, I hear her husband, a powerful man with an even more powerful job, puts on “a decent shirt” when swaying the sceptre in online meetings.

“But if only his colleagues can see under the table.

“He’s wearing shorts, socks and sandals – German style”.

We laughed – and I felt slightly less guilty for just not bothering.

I still do my job exactly the same way I used to when I did bother.

Earrings, that red scarf to brighten up my appearance are now all ineffectual.

As long as I do what is asked of me, frankly, my dear, nobody gives a damn.

And I rather like this new value system.

Clothes become the symbol of everything we thought were important before the virus: appearances.

Those killer heels that cost the price of a full petrol tank, that todie-for designer couch.

It’s all just stuff, I now know. Stuff I don’t need; stuff I frankly don’t give a damn about.

Stuff that definitely don’t define me. So no, respected scribes, I’m pleased to say you are wrong.

Pyjamas truly do make this particular woman feel like a real goddess.