Chester Borrows: Dressing down in a dressing gown

The onesie - fine for bedtime but not for a trip to the cinema.

By Chester Borrows

IT IS not often that New Zealand makes international headlines, but little old Hawera managed it in the past week.

Not for some stunning breakthrough in medical science or for innovation in the more expected fields of dairy or energy, but in banning the "onesie" and pyjamas from its picture theatre.

Most domestic newspapers, radio and television channels carried the story, as did media in Britain, Australia and the United States.

As I donned a suit and tie for my attendance at an Anzac service this week, I realised that it was only about the fourth time since last election day that I had worn a tie, let alone a suit. The reason was the solemnity of the occasion and the expectation of others that commemoration of our servicemen and women required a certain standard of dress.
Nobody wore pyjamas.

As a new candidate for selection in 1998, I was keen to portray myself as a worker — sleeves rolled up and ready for the job.

I lined up with four other aspirants and our photograph was taken for the media. Standing alongside these guys in their suits and ties, looking trim taut and terrific, I looked like a sack of spuds.

My police senior sergeant at the time asked: "Why weren't you wearing a suit?" and my reply about portraying a work ethic and readiness to serve with sleeves rolled up met with a scoff — "I want to vote for somebody who looks like an MP."

I didn't win the selection, and I relearned a lesson about dressing appropriately for the occasion.

I have no doubt that if I had worn a onesie or my pyjamas and dressing-gown to the Anzac Day service, I would have offended many people. It would have appeared arrogant and demeaning to those who had served and those who were remembering the fallen, but also to the attendants just for the effrontery of non-compliance with an expected dress code.

I would have got in the way of the ceremony and made it all about me.

It is not unusual for premises to require a dress code — restaurants, schools, stores, supermarkets, banks and even some government departments ban certain items of apparel or insist on minimum standards.

Some of these standards are about security, such as banning gang patches and regalia, or helmets in banks, for example. But most dress standards are about the comfort of others and recognising the significance of the occasion.

Men are often required to wear a "lounge or business suit" or "black tie" to formal occasions; women are told to wear "smart business attire" or "evening dress". On other occasions it is "smart casual".

These criteria are about standards, and what is wrong with that?

Chester Borrows

As soon as Kirsty Bourke, manager of the Hawera Cinema 2, made the press release about banning onesies and pyjamas to her theatre, two responses were obvious — the strong local support for her stand, and the hand-wringing excuses from many outsiders purporting to speak on behalf of the down-trodden, saying people should be able to feel comfortable at the movies and how expensive appropriate clothing was.

I notice that people don't wear their pyjamas to court, for a job interview, for weddings or funerals ... I guess they manage to find the appropriate gear when it suits them.

It seems that the most common response to an inadequacy of understanding or unwillingness to meet a long-held standard is to lower the acceptable standard.

Sometimes we come to our senses and decide the old ways acted as a barrier or merely harked back to an earlier time or to principles no longer held to have value. The move to wearing black rugby shorts and to using black laces was not a drop in standards, but a pragmatic response to keeping the gear clean and that those doing washing had more to do than soaking grass and mud stains out of whites — although cricket hasn't caught on yet.

But generally standards slide through non-compliance and, to my mind, it is refreshing to see somebody step up and put standards before profits.

Funnily enough, my first response was to decide to go to the movies — onesie-less — to show my support for Kirsty Bourke, so profits may well go up. Good on her.

■ Chester Borrows served as Whanganui MP for 12 years and as a minister in the National Government.