Puffy Pajamas and Furry Pants - An Update on Chinese Fashions

For a while, all the things I originally noticed about the importance of women's dress (and utter disregard for men's) rang true.  Men dressed like slobs (comparatively speaking) and women wore flashy heels, tights, short skirts, and blouses dripping in bling.  (Never any earrings, though.). Name brands made an appearance if they could be afforded; fake ones did if not.  People took the foreign teachers to the fancy western-style malls, I think to prove that they have them, though shopping at the wet market for groceries and the train station bazaar for bargaining is much more of a cultural experience.  People obsessively commented on each other's clothes and compared prices, styles, and places bought.

Then winter came.  The fashions didn't change.  Indoor heating is not particularly strong in Hunan.  There were coats, but...surely, these women had to be cold?  One day, in the office, I inquired about this.  My colleague, Linda, assured me all was well, because her stockings "had fur."  I beg your pardon?  I don't know about you, but when I picture furry pants, I think of something Austin Powers would wear, tacky, shaggy, and appropriate for the 1970's.

Not these.  Linda rolled up a legging and I could see what she meant.  Inside these pants was a soft layer of cashmere-like fuzz (a much cheaper material, though).  Someone took me to the train station to bargain for some of my own (they aren't sold in the malls) - red leopard print furry pants.  Not only are there pants, but there are also shirts, socks, hats, scarves, and mittens (I should patent underwear).  What a difference these articles make in how warm you can feel in the cold!  You may look a millimeter or two fatter, but it's like your clothes are hugging you.  Furry clothes are one of the greatest winter wear finds.

The other is puffy pajamas.  At some point in a Chinese winter, you'll be on the sidewalk and notice a woman go by in her high heels and...a snowsuit?!  No, it doesn't snow in Hunan, but it does get pretty darn cold, and it's damp.  In the winter, in your badly-heated apartment, with all your blankets, a hot water bottle, and a cup of tea, you'll still feel cold - but not with these puffy pajama suits.  You'll even get so hot, you can't sleep in them without sweating.  You might look like the Pillsbury dough boy, you may waddle around like a duck, but they are such a relief from shivering!  No wonder people don't want to take them off when they go outside.

Furry clothes and puffy pajama suits are quite possibly two of the world's greatest fashion inventions.  They may not be name-brand, and you may never see them on a runway, but they make a Hunan winter bearable.  Now, if only I had had them in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania...