Never mind the cat’s pajamas — Peggy Blakley has him beat.

“I’m the pajama queen,” said Blakley, 52, of Colonie. “If I have one pair of pajamas, I must have 70 pairs of pajamas. Those I can’t fit into my drawers, I hang up.”

Peggy might be part of the minority when the moon is up. When many people dress for nocturnal appointments, they are no longer wearing matching tops and bottoms that looked good on Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in 1966. Loud plaids and solids in flannel are fading away, as more people decide gym shorts, T-shirts and sweat pants are fashion enough for the midnight hours.

“It’s not what it used to be, there’s no question about it,” said Mike Bernstein, longtime owner of Simon’s Men’s Wear in Schenectady. “What’s happening today is you’re doing more in the sleep shorts, essentially a boxer short but fuller, more relaxed. You can do it in silk. You can do it in cotton. You can do it in flannel.”

Changes in sleepwear

Bernstein began noticing the changes about six years ago. “It’s not what it used to be where every man used to wear pajamas,” he said. “It’s not even close.”

One reason: men’s clothing is changing.

“What’s happening now is you get a more casual lifestyle. Even the pajamas are getting more casual, if you want to call them pajamas,” he said. “I don’t even refer to them as pajamas. It’s all sleepwear now.”

Flannel lounge pants have become popular for men and women. They’re longer than traditional pajama bottoms, often have pockets and can be worn during the morning and afternoon without adverse fashion criticism.

For Blakley, pajamas remain a fashion staple. “I enjoy the comfort of them and I enjoy the look of them,” she said, adding the PJs she wears must match. “I live in them, I really do,” she said. “If they’re wrinkled, I have to iron them.”

Some people agree with Blakley. Others go another way.

“Stretch pants and a T-shirt, usually it’s my boyfriend’s — it’s nice and big” said Giovan Couture, 22, of Schenectady, a clerk at the Muddy Cup coffee shop off Proctors arcade. “And slippers, of course. Still have to wear slippers.”

Paul Sickles, 54, of Duanesburg, does not wear matching pajamas at night. Or sweat shirts. Or T-shirts. Or slippers.

“I don’t wear anything,” he said. “I’m a naked guy when I go to bed. It’s been that way forever.”

Sickles, owner of the Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe on State Street in Schenectady, talked over evening wear with a customer between cigar puffs.

“I wear boxers,” said the customer. “But women, they’re always cold.”

“They can’t wear enough,” Sickles said.

Kadie Ertel, 22, of Nassau, prefers matching outfits.

“I like to match, it’s classier than a T-shirt and a pair of shorts,” said Ertel, who works at the Proctors box office.

Sweat shirts and shorts are for other times, added Liza Freedman, 43, of Watervliet. “I think that’s a college thing,” she said. “I have to match. . . . I guess men don’t have that problem.”

Not all college kids dig the gym look for early morning sleep assignments. At Pace University’s New York City downtown campus, freshmen in Maria’s Tower have classrooms inside their dorm.

“Residents, male and female, often wear pajama bottoms to class,” said university spokeswoman Samuella Becker. “They don’t have to go outside and brave the elements — just take the elevator down to the classrooms. I don’t know where in Pace’s 102-year-history that this tradition began, but it continues today.”

Match, or mix-and-match?

Bob Warlock said his evening fashion choices have changed.

“When I was younger, I preferred nothing,” said Warlock, gift center coordinator at Proctors. “Now that I’ve gotten a little older and it’s cold, I wear the long [flannel] bottoms and just a shirt.”

Others wear matching pajamas because they are accustomed to the tradition.

“I like regular pajamas. I like them to match,” said Marion Elliott, 78, of Niskayuna, a Proctors gift store volunteer. “I was brought up that way. Those were the kinds of pajamas we wore as kids.”

Pajama sales will pick up around Christmas, and sleep togs are also popular gifts around Valentine’s Day. Bernstein says the mix-and-match approach to sleepwear often supersedes the matching sets.

“I’ve got five women in my house, and they all wears pajamas,” he said. “They’ll wear formal pajamas or they’ll also do lounge wear where they’re wearing a pair of shorts or sleep shorts with some kind of knit top. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the formal matching top and bottom, but women tend to be a little more sexy in bed, maybe depending on their moods, their feelings. For sleepwear, men are just ‘climb in bed.’ ”

Some will disagree. Carole Hochman, head of the New York City’s design group that bears her name, said her company manufactures many different fabrics and prints in the men’s collared PJ style.

“Men prefer casual drawstring pants and T-shirts because they feel less dressed up,” Hochman said. Women, meanwhile rely on fabrics that feel good.

“Women love comfort above all else,” Hochman said. “Easy care, and the feeling of relaxation.”

Going out in public

Shane Cisneros, a fashion forecaster for global photo supplier Getty Images and a former editor at The Daily, a fashion industry publication, said pajamas have become separate garments.

“I think the old-school idea of pajamas, of a matching set, is sort of dated and not really relevant anymore,” he said.

The pajamas he sees are designed for 12 to 7 activity, and also 9 to 5.

“You can make a run to Starbucks in them, as well as sleep in them,” he said. “It’s more about what you would wear to sleep at home and maybe do a quick grocery run. That’s so present in paparazzi images right now.”

Colors are also changing.

“I see a lot more pinks and spring palette colors, lilacs, lime greens,” Cisneros said. “Not dark. Dark has a very 1930s screen siren film look — you know, long silk pajamas, black. People would rather feel fresh and young, and white is just such a calming color. I think people gravitate toward white and the lighter colors.”