Stigma against slip-on shoes in the UK?

[radicaldog]

I've lived in the UK some ten years. I don't wear slip-on shoes much. But yesterday I was wearing penny loafers (classic, round-toe mid-brown Carminas with cream stitching, worn with cords and a Shetland sweater), and I was told that slip-on shoes bring to mind Continental sleaze. I am Continental, incidentally. So, is this a widely shared view? I will continue to wear my loafers, but I'm just curious. Cheers.

 

[Gerry]

I'm glad to hear you will continue to wear your loafers. The most I would say regarding some other persons attire is that their taste is not my taste and no ime that comment is not a view that is widely held.

 

[Oleg]

Ah, but are you also sleazy? Maybe that would account for it.
I tend to regard it as a sign of the impending apocalypse, but you certainly see otherwise well attired folk wearing black loafers (with tassels, even) with their suits these days so it's a surprise if your casually worn ones generated much comment. Maybe it was the cream stitching that did it? Unless you were wearing them with a linen suit, too much sun tan and slicked back hair whilst leering at every woman you could find between the ages of 12 and 100, sleaze is probably a bit strong.

 

[radicaldog]

Sleazy? Who knows. Perhaps a bit louche. Seriously though, this was told to me by a close person who knows me well, and who doesn't think I'm sleazy. Also consider that I move in Guardian-reading circles, where left-wing puritanism abounds. So my taste in clothing does make me a bit of an outlier in those circles.

 

[Tangfastic]

I have never liked slip on shoes, I think I inherited this taste from my father who sneers at them.
For me they do have a sleazey, spivvy feel. I'm afraid I'm inclined to distrust or look down upon a slip on shoe wearer until they have proven their character, but I would automatically be positively prejudiced towards a 'good' shoe wearer. They are lazy shoes. If you are 4 years old or more and have nothing wrong with you, there is no excuse for not wearing lace up shoes.

 

[Spong]

I would say if the person who commented is clothes-aware enough to think slip-on shoes are sleazy but not clothes-aware enough to know about the correct use of classic loafers then they are merely carrying on prejudices unquestioningly learned from others.

Which, if your Guardian assertion is anything to go by, is even more likely to be the case.

 

[viator]



I have never liked slip on shoes, I think I inherited this taste from my father who sneers at them.
For me they do have a sleazey, spivvy feel. I'm afraid I'm inclined to distrust or look down upon a slip on shoe wearer until they have proven their character, but I would automatically be positively prejudiced towards a 'good' shoe wearer. They are lazy shoes. If you are 4 years old or more and have nothing wrong with you, there is no excuse for not wearing lace up shoes.

 

[Gdot]

Brown penny loafers in the winter? In the UK? A bit louche, I'd say.

If that's your steez, then that's cool. But yes - I imagine a good many 'proper' British Isle natives will look a bit askance at them. Then again, there are none so 'proper' as the 'proper' Brits, are there?

Walk through the streets in the 'business districts' of London and you will still see plain black cap toe oxfords on what 90% of the businessmen? If not more. Perhaps one out of twenty or thirty shoes will be brown and it will almost undoutably be on a young man.

I'm not saying I find it sartorially inspiring, just that the norm is still pretty consistent among the 'properly dressed'.

 

[GBR]



I'm glad to hear you will continue to wear your loafers. The most I would say regarding some other persons attire is that their taste is not my taste and no ime that comment is not a view that is widely held.

No.
Everyone will have their views but I have never heard such nonsense expressed.

 

[F. Corbera]

radicaldog, next step is to lose the socks while wearing loafers in the winter.

That's what I did today.

 

[Tangfastic]



Are you a UK resident who has something positive to say about the slip on? If so please do expand.

Not only are slip on shoes aesthetically incomplete and unpleasing, like a face without eyes or a nose, they are morally degenerate as they encourage the deadly sin of sloth. They are both physically and spiritually ugly shoes. While slip ons may be acceptable in lands where wearing loud odd jackets or afternoon naps are the norm, in industrious, decorous Albion you are marking yourself out as a second rater by soiling your feet in such an inappropriate fashion.

 

[forzagaribaldi]



Also consider that I move in Guardian-reading circles, where left-wing puritanism abounds. So my taste in clothing does make me a bit of an outlier in those circles.

I was out on Sunday for a promenade on Primrose Hill—with a Guardian journo no less!—wearing black Bass Weejuns with jeans, Smedley polo, and an odd jacket. Got some nice compliments from the rest of the party.

Slip-ons of any kind seem to really only be acceptable as general wear in the UK when the sun is out. Sunday was a positively balmy 15–16 degrees round here so everyone was digging out their Spring gear from what I saw.

 

[OlSarge]

"left-leaning puritanism" . . . yup, that about nails it. Certain segments of the British population have somehow managed to be tidy-wee since around 1800. Not much has changed.

 

[Sanguis Mortuum]



While slip ons may be acceptable in lands where wearing loud odd jackets or afternoon naps are the norm, in industrious, decorous Albion you are marking yourself out as a second rater by soiling your feet in such an inappropriate fashion.

 

[F. Corbera]