Once, sneakers were just plain, canvas things. And, we all wore school shoes most of the time. School shoes may not have been as fancy as your Sunday best shoes, but they typically were not loafers, either. Those were the days when sneakers were not specialized (running shoe, cross-training, etc.), IIRC. Once Nike hit full-force, the Dockside loafers became trendy “school shoes”. IIRC, the tennis shoe market really boomed in the 1980’s.
But nowadays, the tennis shoe (or sneaker) has become more stylish, so are “school shoes” passe? (Unless you feel like being dressy)? This question may apply more to men than women, IMHO. What do you say about all this?
So…are you saying that kids had shoes that weren’t sneakers and weren’t dressy but were somewhere in between, but still weren’t loafers? What, were these saddle shoes?
Anyways, when I was in elementary school, I pretty much just wore sneakers to school. Then by middle school, I started phasing those out. I don’t think I’ve ever voluntarily worn sneakers, or anything remotely athletic, in years actually. Except for the obligatory hour of gym. From my experience (I was in school from about 1989-2002), yeah, they’re tres tres passe. Although when I was a junior in HS, I got these really great pair of Robert Clerghere (sp?) shoes that go with everything, that are basically both formal and casual. But since I wore them all the time, they weren’t really school shoes…so, to reiterate, school shoes concept = phased out.
Well, saddle shoes are one example, but they were long gone by the time I entered elementary school in the 1970’s. Basically, for guys, they were generally known as just “school shoes”. Typically, they were leather or suede shoe with 3-4 eyes and (typically) a soft soul without no noticeable heel. If the style had a name, I don’t know it. These “school shoes” were a casual-style of shoe.
Maybe this was a left-over practice from our Moms? Once we were more independent, tennis shoes were the norm in school…at least for the guys. - Jinx
Kids here are into those Birkenstock-looking things. Still a lot of tennis shoes, tho.
To answer the OP: From this mom’s perspective, no, there no longer is such a thing as shoes reserved for going to school. I remember having three pairs of shoes: tennis shoes, school shoes, and church shoes. Nowadays children are just as likely to wear their church shoes to school and their tennies to church. Footwear for kids having become part of the giant Fashion Machine, they have many more choices than we did, especially since Mom and Dad are expected to deck out their kids in the Latest Thing. Bellybuttons and all.
I had to have school shoes, up until 2000. But I went to Catholic schools with the whole uniform anyway.
Let me tell you that after years of wearing them, you have to resist the urge to throttle fellow girls at your university who say, “I think saddleshoes are so CUTE! I should buy a pair and be all retro!”
My kids don’t go to school, but I have tried and tried and tried to reserve “church shoes” for them. They each have a pair of nice shoes (my son’s are just like what you described as “school shoes,” Jinx) but they want to wear them all the time and their dad lets them!
Does anyone else think that there is an advantage to learning how to dress nicely and save your nice clothes for church and special occasions?
BTW, I never had school shoes. The closest I ever got to that was when my mom would buy new shoes at the start of the school year, and we couldn’t wear them until the first day.
Man oh man! School shoes! Brings back memories, I tell ya!
When I was going to kindergarten and first grade (1976ish), I desperately wanted school shoes. My best friend who lived around the corner had brown lace-up Buster Browns and I desperately wanted a pair just like hers. I begged and begged, until my mom bought me a pair, and of course, I just wore sneakers all the time. Never again did I have school shoes.
Hey, my mom just called. She confirmed that the early '70s were the last gasp of “school shoes” as such. Here’s what she (born in 1942) had to say:
“Yeah, I had school shoes. It depended on the era, but they were bucks or saddle shoes or some type of oxford. It was a big deal to get them at the beginning of the school year–you had to take a number at the shoe store. The really racy kids had ones with two buckles across!”
Yes, I agree to a large extent. I think it’s good to have “nice” clothes and shoes reserved for special occasions in your closet, so that when it’s time to dress to go, the things are all clean and ready. If your kids are wearing their good shoes to play soccer outside, then that’s not good, because then they’ll be all dirty and worn when it’s time for church or whatever.
But maybe your kids are the types to want to dress well all the time. Do you have a little Alex P. Keaton on your hands?
I remember school shoes and play shoes. Never understood why parents want kids to “save” their shoes, especially when mine always griped that I grew out of them before they were worn out!
Perhaps if I wore them more often, Mom would have felt she really got her money’s worth…
This really is a flashback to an era with which I’m completely unfamiliar with.
Personally, I don’t think you go out of your way to save things. I mean, maybe a few things, but always wear them at least a little. Because you’ll never use it, never use it, and then you’re on your deathbed and you’re wishing you just wore that kickass Michael Jackson red leather jacket a few more times, or did just a few wheelies on the Porsche. (In my fantasies, I’m always a lot richer than I actually am…)
I had school shoes. When I went to Catholic school we weren’t allowed to wear tennis shoes/sneakers. In fact, for a couple years I had the dreaded CORRECTIVE SHOES, terrible olive-green clunky shoes. And when I got home, off came the uniform and school shoes, on came the jeans and tennies. My nieces and nephews are allowed to even wear shorts and T-shirts to school, not to mention athletic shoes.
FTR, I am no longer pigeon-toed, so I suppose I ought to be grateful for the corrective shoes.
