When I was a kid and still living in the US, my mother absolutely and emphatically forbade us children from ever wearing sneakers, no matter where or what. I always thought it was some kind of Little Lord Fauntleroy thing of hers, not lowering yourself to the level of the underlings ... ha ha.
Maybe i should rethink her stance after having read this ... ha ha
agracier,
First, please remind me what your Member Name means or refers to. I've always found it interesting and probably forgot your prior explanation.
Now remember that my sneaker fetish began no later than age 13, about 1965 or earlier when they were far less prevalent and accepted for everyday casual wear than now. Most were the original canvas and rubber type (Keds, Converse, etc.) and the running shoe or mesh fabric type of sneakers or runners or trainers began to be extremely popular and prevalent in the 1970's and later. We rarely wore sneakers either except for PE, but mom didn't have any strong objection to them. I'm just guessing but I think many people like your mother perhaps felt that 1) they were just too casual to be worn by properly dressed people, 2) only jocks or low class, poor or undereducated people would wear them, 3) as they were intended for sports, they usually looked dirty and likely smelled bad too, and 4) most were real rubber and a lot of people find that rubber has an odd, even kinky sort of odor and texture even when new.
Now except for bicycling and swimming and mostly skin and SCUBA diving, I'm not much of a jock or sportsman, especially so before graduation from college in 1974. That's at least part of why I surmise that my sneaker fetish arose directly from my earlier rubber fetish, because I obviously really liked the aroma and texture/feel of the rubber in the first sneakers I ever wore and also saw on cute cheerleader classmates, Keds. I'm 68 now and essentially live in sneakers, mostly Keds and Converse with some other mesh running shoes like Nike, Saucony, Reebok, etc. Now I have very nice leather dress shoes and enjoy looking well-dressed and dapper as much the next guy, but they need a lot more maintenance and have a shorter useful life than sneakers.
Eric