For years I have noticed people wearing bedroom slippers in public, apparently with no embarassment or intention to be silly. (My inference, of course. The point is that they weren’t goofy teenagers trying to get attention for being ‘different’ or wierd.)
It always seems really odd to see someone walking along with normal clothing and fuzzy bedroom slippers in the mall or a public building. Just the other day in the mall I saw a guy of about 30 years old, normal appearing in every way, wearing a nicely tailored, attractive tan suit and tie – and shuffling along in bedroom slippers. He was with other friends or family who were equally well dressed and wearing normal shoes.
So what is this about? Why do people wear bedroom slippers in public?
Perhaps they’re comfortable? Once I walked 5 km to work through heavy rain, and I seriously considered changing into bedroom slippers when I arrived, primarily because they’d keep my feet dry, but also because they would be more comfortable than the water-damaged shoes I wore outside.
Anyway, why does your gaze drift downward to people’s shoes? (cue joke about the difference between introverted and extroverted mathematicians) If you weren’t looking down, you might not even notice.
Ohhhhhhh, they’re comfortable. Now I understand fully. Thanks for that in-depth explanation. I had not realized that bedroom slippers are comfortable. :dubious: My point is why people wear them in public when they don’t wear their pajamas or walk around in nothing but their underwear, which also might be comfortable.
But if you see nothing odd about it, then maybe we’re on to something.
And ‘why does my gaze drift downward to people’s shoes?’ Are you serious? You never notice people’s shoes? Other than the fact that I sometimes notice all sorts of things about people who cross my line of vision in public, the shuffling of slippers sometimes does prompt a glance downward.
I tend to walk around with my head pointed slightly downward as I’m usually deep in thought. Not that I’m that deep, though. Consequently, I notice more feet and shoes than I do faces. Which is odd, because I’m not a big fan of the unshod foot. But I’ve definitely noticed people wearing slippers in public, and found it equally strange.
(The advantage to walking while looking down is that when you’re walking against traffic and the person/people walking toward you subliminally detect that you’re not looking at them, they naturally tend to move out of your way, to avoid a collision. That’s how I’m able to walk down a sidewalk for blocks in a row without moving out of anyone’s way- they move instead. As a result, you see a lot of shoes. And I’ve found plenty of money (bills) on the sidewalk this way.)
Anyway, I have no explanation other than (1) they’ve given up on their personal appearance, or (2) their slippers are the most comfortable shoes they own, and dammit, I’ll wear 'em wherever I want.
I have seen people wearing pajamas in public. Mostly, it’s teenagers, but I’ve also seen a few adult women wearing them, too.
Another thing I’ve seen recently: people wearing gardening clogs as shoes. You know, those rubber backless clogs made out of brightly-colored plastic? Yeah-- those. Can’t be comfortable.
You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. Just like I was. I figured they were like the jelly shoes in the 80s, but they’re not. My sister finally made me try hers on. They’re squishy and comfortable and very nice. I usually don’t buy things that are clearly fad-y, but I confess I have a bright green pair of the clogs. Happy feet!
I’ve been wearing Birkenstock gardening clogs, in all settings, since I bought my first pair when I was Perennials Manager at the Fertile Delta in the early nineties. They are awesome, and of course I want royalties for starting the current fashion trend in that direction . . .
For some folk, it might be some problem with their feet, and slippers are the only thing wearable.
I know someone who had ingrown toenails removed, and wasn’t able to wear shoes for some time, even after the toes had healed enough to remove the large dressings.
Some people make a point of not wearing shoes in the house. A lot of those people might wander around the house in bedroom slippers rather than their bare or socked feet, taking off their shoes and putting on the slippers when they come through the door. Or they may just take off their shoes and put on slippers for comfort when they come home from work, while otherwise staying dressed. If you’re going to run down to the corner grocery for a quart of milk, it then seems like a bit of a hassle to put your shoes back on. Of course, if you run around outside in them, you’re defeating the purpose of taking your shoes off in the house to avoid tracking dirt around.
I wear slippers in the house for another reason - I wear a heel lift on on side, which does seem to prevent my developing hip pain[sup]1[/sup]. I wear the slippers to hold the heel lift. And, yeah, I might just go run an errand in the slippers.
[sup]1[/sup] - yeah, I know “one leg is shorter than the other” is a classic bogus diagnosis by chiropractors. I’ve had a chiro, a PT and an orthopedic surgeon (hence, a real MD) all independently tell me this, and they all said the same side was short.
Many years ago my next door neighbor’s mother would go across the street every morning in bathrobe, slippers, and hair curlers, and gossip on the neighbors’ porches, one after another.
The other housewives usually just stood there, being polite and leaning on their door frame, without either inviting her in or going out, for a half hour.
They would this this rain or shine, summer or winter, when a raincoat would cover the bathrobe.
Made my dad just shake his head every time he saw them.
To get back to the OP: so as far as we know, wearing bedroom slippers in public apparently isn’t yet another new fashion trend that I’ve missed (a la pajamas in public)?
I guess I had always assumed that these folks just didn’t care and were in the “comfort supersedes all other concerns” camp. Lord knows you can see plenty of people who have given up and just don’t seem to give a damn how they look.
But the nattily dressed guy in the suit and bedroom slippers threw me off. He put on a nice outfit and I’m sure he was proud of how sharp he looked. Then the fuzzy bedroom slippers. That made me wonder if there was some sort of cultural or ethnic norm I’m unaware of.
Is it possible that what you’ve been seeing around are Uggs, or some variation thereof? They’ve been very popular in recent years, particularly on college campuses, which is where I tend to hang out. I can’t speak for their popularity going back much more than 3-4 years, though.
Anecdotally, the only people I’ve ever seen wearing actual, fuzzy bedroom slippers like these in public are teenagers and people stepping outside to grab the morning paper.
You know … I saw one episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy where Carson bought the guy a pair of fancy slippers to be worn out and about with a casual, but sharp, jacket-and-pants ensemble. Did the slippers on the well-dressed guy you saw look ratty and cheap, or did they appear to be a cut above regular slippers?
Well, now that you mention it, they did kind of match the suit – the same color of tan at least. Not the shoe type slipper with a heel, but the type with no heel that you just slip on.
Maybe this guy was very fashion forward, so far forward that I just thought he was a wierd loser.
One Christmas in Sears, I was confronted with a 300 hundred pound guy, wearing bedroom slippers and a thong and a muscle tee. :eek: He had been swimming at the beach and had his stuff stolen.
I don’t remember ever seeing people walking along in a public place wearing bedroom slippers with regular clothing.
But…one time I wore bedroom slippers to a restaurant when I was wearing the bridesmaid dress I had worn all day, because my feet just hurt too darned much to keep wearing the horribly painful bridesmaid shoes. But that was just one time in my whole 40 years of living, so I don’t think it goes very far towards explaining the epidemic of slippers wearers that you’ve been seeing.
Or imagining seeing.
The reason people do this is because nobody ever smacked them really hard and said “HEY, you don’t go out in public in bedroom slippers, pajamas, flip-flops, undershirts, boxer shorts, curlers, etc.”
The people I see who are inappropriately dressed are usually also having a cell-phone conversation in an inappropriate place or just being loud and obnoxious. Nobody ever taught these people manners.
