Bermudians do not take a slur on their culture lightly.

So when they discovered an ad on page 85 of the October 20 issue of People magazine, talk exploded on to the streets.

The full page photo was for the TLC TV reality show, `What not to Wear', and it showed a man from the waist down wearing Bermuda shorts, socks, and loafers with tassels.

From all appearances it seemed logical to conclude that TLC was calling Bermuda shorts a fashion faux pas.

But how could this be?

Impossible, many Bermudians said.

Bermuda shorts are the national dress.

They are practically a rite of passage for many young men.

But there they were - labelled `What not to wear'.

The idea that Bermuda shorts may look funny to some people seems very strange to those who have grown up here. Shorts are worn elsewhere (in fact, Bermuda shorts are credited with paving the way for shorts to become acceptable casual wear for boys in the 1970s), but nowhere else are they worn with the requisite knee socks and dress shoes.

However, even in Bermuda, it seems, the style is disappearing, especially among the Island's younger workers.

The Royal Gazette conducted a survey on Reid Street late on Friday afternoon to see just how everyone feels about Bermuda shorts. In 20 minutes, 23 men in business attire walked by - and of those 23 only nine were in Bermuda shorts.

Granted it is almost November and getting colder.

However, we also wanted to see if there was a correlation between age and shorts.

We did not stop every man and ask him how old he was but made estimates based on appearance, and found that of the nine men who were in Bermuda shorts only one appeared to be below the age of 40.

When we turned to the retail sector, however, Bermuda shorts appeared as popular as ever.

H.A.E. Smith's said sales were "on par" with usual sales, save for last month when retailers had to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Fabian.

Bermuda shorts were also still very popular with tourists, they said.

However: "People are definitely wearing them less," said Tempest Re employee Tammy Harney.

"Especially in the younger generations. They never really seemed like something young people would wear."

Rhodes scholar Trevor Leitch, who recently wore a pair of Bermuda shorts to meet the Queen, agreed the shorts may be perceived as something only older people wear.

"There tends to be a glamour issue among our peers; they see shorts as the outfit of our parents and as such something to be rejected, or worse as the outfit of schoolchildren and something to be grown out of," he said.

However, he added: "I think there are a lot of reasons why young businessmen would choose not to wear shorts.

For one, it's no longer as practically necessary as it used to be - all offices these days are air-conditioned, so you don't feel uncomfortable in the heat of the summer wearing long pants.

In fact, some offices are so cold you feel a chill wearing shorts.

"Another important factor is the spread of `business casual'. These days workers in many companies aren't required to wear anything more formal than a polo shirt and Docksiders to work.

Bermuda shorts in comparison is quite a smart dress, and thus is forced from daily wear to special occasions only.

"I don't think American influence really has that much to do with the declining popularity of Bermuda shorts - though granted, I wouldn't want to be caught on the subway in Manhattan wearing them.

"I think it's true that a lot of young people just starting their careers in international business don't wear shorts, but that's really just a small subsection of the population.

"You still see people regularly wearing shorts in the hospitality industry and the civil service, usually because employees in these occupations are given less choice to wear what they would like by their employers."

Expatriates seemed to agree with TLC that Bermuda shorts are what not to wear.

"They look ridiculous," one English expatriate stated. "And they're not worn anywhere else in the world."

However, some Bermudian women had a very strong reaction to the idea that Bermuda shorts may be disappearing. "I love them," one woman stated. "I don't know what I would do without them."