The Oxford-Shoe-Worn-Casually Appreciation Thread

[Patrick R]

Do you take your shoes off when you go to someone's house who doesn't ask you to? If they wear shoes inside themselves?

I don’t think I know anyone that wears shoes inside themselves in 2021.

 

[ValidusLA]

@Mercurio, women do not need to wear head coverings in church, as the link you posted confirms. Those who would like to require women to wear veils are like the Pharisees in building hedges around the law. And as @Oswald Cornelius mentioned, some men (namely bishops, cardinals) attend with a head covering.

@ValidusLA, the streets and buildings of LA are still more or less dirty, despite the weather and pavement, from auto fluids to animal waste (bird droppings, dog poop/pee, even human waste, which I'm reminded of every time I stand at a urinal). I'll bet the homes w/ 100+ person parties were well cleaned afterwards, probably by professionals. When we come home, my wife makes us change clothes pretty much immediately as well.

Yes, they almost certainly were cleaned, often daily.

But on the flipside, I know many wealthy Asians who have their floors and entire homes cleaned just as often. Most of my friends who live in HK or Bangkok have daily house cleaners (because its insanely affordable to do so compared to the US).

I've found that this is a very white American practice, and only among some white Americans. When I lived in Russia, people there are insanely clean and everyone takes off their shoes. I have noticed the same when stepping into homes of immigrants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Not sure what you mean by "some" unless you mean almost all Americans of Western European extraction. I also don't know any African Americans or Latin American families that observe this rule. My brother's wife is Mexican American, and grew up with no such ideas. She is from El Sereno, and none of their friends ever take shoes off.

In fact over for brunch today I had my good friend who is a descendent of Fong See, one of the first Asian immigrants to marry a white woman in the US despite anti-miscegenation laws. Her aunt is Lisa See, author of On Gold Mountain.

Her mom is 3/4 Chinese, and when I go to her mom's house no one takes off shoes. Their entire family wears shoes in the house. My friends husband is African American, and they never take shoes off in the home either.

I think this idea that only white people wear shoes in the house is....incorrect.

 

[Mercurio]

@Mercurio, women do not need to wear head coverings in church, as the link you posted confirms. Those who would like to require women to wear veils are like the Pharisees in building hedges around the law. And as @Oswald Cornelius mentioned, some men (namely bishops, cardinals) attend with a head covering.

You are right, my fault.

I believe it was compulsory when as was a little kid, many years ago. I remember all women wearing a veil, but I haven't gone to a Catholic Church since a long time.

 

[acapaca]

Not sure if you're trying to misunderstand or what.

Muddy shoes don't exist in LA was my point.

I am not arguing for walking inside with muddy shoes.

I'm asking why:
If taking a hot off inside is fusty and antiquated, why is an expectation of taking shoes off inside not considered so (absent actually dirty shoes)?

My point is that I don't know any place where people wouldn't take their shoes off before going indoors if their shoes were muddy. In other words, there is absolutely nothing that is unique about LA in that regard.

People/cultures who are concerned about cleanliness to the extent that they don't wear shoes indoors, they don't wear any shoes indoors. Not just muddy shoes (which no one anywhere wears indoors). Not just shoes of someone who walked on dusty, non-paved roads. Any shoes. Floors/streets/roads/yards are seen as dirty places. Even the nice pristine floors of Los Angeles.

 

[ValidusLA]

My point is that I don't know any place where people wouldn't take their shoes off before going indoors if their shoes were muddy. In other words, there is absolutely nothing that is unique about LA in that regard.

Not arguing they wouldn't. I'm saying its never muddy in LA, yet most Asian Americans take off shoes regardless of levels of dirt on them. Because its traditional. Which is fine.

Just like removing a hat is traditional. Which is fine.

People/cultures who are concerned about cleanliness to the extent that they don't wear shoes indoors, they don't wear any shoes indoors. Not just muddy shoes (which no one anywhere wears indoors). Not just shoes of someone who walked on dusty, non-paved roads. Any shoes. Floors/streets/roads/yards are seen as dirty places. Even the nice pristine floors of Los Angeles.

Once again. I understand this. But its tradition, not function in many cases.

 

[acapaca]

Maybe the reason folks in LA don't take their shoes off is so everyone will know they can afford derbie shoes.

 

[JFWR]

Sadly, I don't have a full body pic taken of me last night, but I did wear this outfit that I thought went well with my green shoes yesterday.

Green shell strand half brogued oxfords
Argyle socks
Grey trousers
Green turtle neck
Cashmere overcoat in a 3r2 style.



I do regret not getting any pictures where you can see the whole outfit, but didn't have any opportunity to do so.

 

[dieworkwear]

Yes, they almost certainly were cleaned, often daily.

But on the flipside, I know many wealthy Asians who have their floors and entire homes cleaned just as often. Most of my friends who live in HK or Bangkok have daily house cleaners (because its insanely affordable to do so compared to the US).

Not sure what you mean by "some" unless you mean almost all Americans of Western European extraction. I also don't know any African Americans or Latin American families that observe this rule. My brother's wife is Mexican American, and grew up with no such ideas. She is from El Sereno, and none of their friends ever take shoes off.

In fact over for brunch today I had my good friend who is a descendent of Fong See, one of the first Asian immigrants to marry a white woman in the US despite anti-miscegenation laws. Her aunt is Lisa See, author of On Gold Mountain.

Her mom is 3/4 Chinese, and when I go to her mom's house no one takes off shoes. Their entire family wears shoes in the house. My friends husband is African American, and they never take shoes off in the home either.

I think this idea that only white people wear shoes in the house is....incorrect.

I won't wear shoes in the home but I'll wear jeans in the tub ? ???

 

[JFWR]

I won't wear shoes in the home but I'll wear jeans in the tub ? ???

Is that a joke about the guys who wash their jeans in the ocean?

 

[ValidusLA]

I won't wear shoes in the home but I'll wear jeans in the tub ? ???

Gotta break in that raw denim, yo.

 

[Keith Taylor]

Half a lifetime ago I read electric meters for a living, and I'm still mortified by the memory of tracking dog **** a dozen steps across a woman's pristine cream carpet before she noticed and screamed at me to freeze. For the rest of my time at that job I religiously took off my work boots at every front door, which could mean removing my shoes 100 times a day.

These days I don't care. It's expected in my part of Asia to remove your shoes, but I have hardwood floors and patterned rugs that don't show dirt, and in any case Ulaanbaatar is dry as a bone most of the year. I'll only bother to take off my shoes after the first snow falls, because dirty snow is a nightmare when it melts. Other than that I don't give a damn. I firmly believe that people should expose themselves to a little dirt to keep their immune system on its toes, so I welcome the dust and crap people track in to my home. I don't like to live in a bubble.

 

[dieworkwear]

I don't like to live in a bubble.

Living in a bubble is why I'm on StyleForum dot net.

 

[dieworkwear]

In 100 years, no one will wear shoes in the home and one lone voice on an internet forum will pull up photos of the Golden Age of Hollywood to show how men used to wear shoes in the home, but not convincing anyone to take up the practice.

 

[ValidusLA]

In 100 years, no one will wear shoes in the home and one lone voice on an internet forum will pull up photos of the Golden Age of Hollywood to show how men used to wear shoes in the home, but not convincing anyone to take up the practice.

Shoes in the home is cosplay.

 

[Stylewords]

Wear loafers. Everyone will think you're wearing house slippers. Problem solved.