Where did all the eccentrics go?

GagaJo I'm often in the 'Oh, f*ck it' mood too. Having a nice shower - then putting on clean PJs just seems sensible and comfortable - until I want to go out, then I'll get dressed.

Since Covid lockdowns, I'll garden in PJs too, I really don't care - but then I'll get very dressed up for the rare social occasions- just for a change.

Oh, I almost forgot!
A red hat, too.

She needs some loungewear.
Nobody can tell the difference.

An elderly aunt of mine went out in her nightdress the other day - she was retuned to her flat by the Police! Maybe if she was wearing pyjamas she’d have been ok.

Hope these shoppers in pyjamas have showered or washed first. Would not fancy them touching unwrapped fruit and veg.

As mentioned upthread, true eccentricity is more than just outward appearances, it’s intrinsic behaviour out of the norm, living your whole life unlike anyone else. Quentin Crisp was a wonderful example of British eccentricity and I do believe TV in Ye olden days had more eccentrics appearing than now. Yes there’s Mary Beard and Paton’s strange manner, but still…

I tend to agree.
Rather pjs than spending ages checking to see how eccentric one looks before going out.

Thank goodness there are still people who are courageous enough to put 2 fingers up at society, even if dropping the kids off at school whilst wearing PJs is utterly superficial. Why an earth are GNs getting hot under the collar about it? How eccentric! In my part of Yorkshire, there are plenty of eccentric people. Nowt wrong wi' that. I used to take my kids to school in my PJs in the 1990s. Just covered up with a maxi coat. Then I could get back into bed with a cup of coffee and do some reading for my degree course. Bliss!

My style is quite bohemian...I am an ancient hippy

Lucca

Going to the shops in pyjamas is not eccentric. It’s just lazy.

There speaks a woman after my own heart.

We are probably all eccentric in some way except if course Mr Rees-Mogg.

Boring here we used to have the mods with their Davy Crockett tails and parkas , the teddy boys with their drainpipes suade shoes and string ties the punks with lots of safety pins, the mohicans, the darkly dressed goths
all I see now is one lady (probably my age) who dresses in ‘60 s clothes usually a skirt with dozens of stiff petticoats under and a man with mental health problems who dresses in absolutely everything he can get his hands on (almost including the kitchen sink)
I too miss the eccentric dressers such fun

Granny1810

You can't have seen the red hat ladies. Gangs of them dressed in purple coats/dresses and red hats. Some look most bizarre

Thankfully, no.

Eccentricity is a way of thinking as well, my OH and I have it. We do get some strange looks sometimes when we're out and about!

I can't think of anything worse than gangs of self acclaimed eccentrics taking to the streets.

You can't have seen the red hat ladies. Gangs of them dressed in purple coats/dresses and red hats. Some look most bizarre

Nana8 There is a man in Perth, Australia who rides a penny-farthing bike along the path by the river, every morning. He's dressed normally, so I don't know if that is classed as eccentric.

It’s those men who dress as toddlers in jogging bottoms with their petits paquets ( as my French friend would say) poking rather too obviously out that disconcert me.

I don't think being eccentric is the same as having your own style but I guess the boundaries are blurred.

The reason I mentioned class was that in my experience, I have met some totally dotty people who live like they do not care what anyone thinks of them and it tends to come with a background of privilege.

As in, if they lived on a council estate and behaved like that they would be locked up or arrested.

I know of one family, in a council estate, who turfed their living room to let their rabbits graze but they were evicted.

yogitree

I have silver hair down my back, wear leggings or jeans with sparkly Doc Martens and a denim jacket and Russian style fur hat. I’m 67. Does this make me a bit eccentric ?

I think it makes you FABULOUS yogitree.

I used to know a proper upper class eccentric when I lived in Cornwall. I can't remember her title now - she was Lady somebody - but she would come striding into a room wearing a mac and wellies and shake hands saying "Hello, I'm Jonet the spelling mistake!". Her father had registered her birth and her should have been Janet! She was lovely and interested in everything.

Occasionally see a couple of goths in our small market town. They make me smile and remember when one of our DSs was a goth but that was in Leeds, where the trend started in the 1970s. Now he's very conventional and would probably be horrified if his son came home looking like that.

I think they are all in Ottawa at present

Come to Brighton, you'll never be disappointed when it comes to eccentric dressing!