The Nightie Nightmare

It has the sturdiness of sackcloth, the durability to outlast repeated washings and a deserved reputation as the ultimate male repellent. Ladies of Kerala, we are talking about your favorite dress: the ubiquitous nightie. Not to be confused with the skimpy negligee or any itsy bitsy item with lace and frills, the nightie is commonly defined as a simple housecoat, usually oversized and in single colors. A staple of the middle class, this forbidding apparel (as the name itself makes amply clear) is meant for nighttime dressing. But such narrow sartorial definitions have never put off the nifty keralite woman. So the nightie is worn round the clock, day in and day out. With such devastating results, that it gives a whole new meaning to the word eyesore.

Why is it so popular? It is the perfect dress to slip on (literally!) for the long hours of backbreaking housework that most women have to endure. The inevitable stains, sweat and grime are easily assimilated. Men hung up as they are on matters like beauty and high fashion never mull over such practical details.

The nightie has even traversed the generational gap and class distinctions. An eighty-year-old grandmother is as likely to wear a nightie as a ten-year-old girl. Women, who labor in the sun and do grueling manual jobs to make a living, often go to work in a nightie. Just as their middle class counterparts, ensconced in their comfortable homes, go through the daily grind of housework in this popular battledress.

So who should have the final word on nightie? Those who argue that high fashion should be sacrificed at the altar of comfort and utility? Or should we listen to those who plead for esthetic dressing, for attire that is sensible and sensuous?

What say ladies?