My shoe fetish goes back to the boarding school days. If shoes maketh the man, brogues maketh the man better! Brogues and PT shoes, as we called them in the 1970s, were part of our uniform, worn both by boys and girls. It was the unisex look. Our brogues were good ol’ Bata black shoes with laces.
You can learn a lot about a person from their shoes. How you wore your shoes and how you polished them would make an impression and impact in school and after.
We polished our shoes daily in the dorms after dinner. The lazy ones just polished their shoes with a shoe brush, just getting the day’s dust off. But the earnest ones did it with spit and polish till their shoes shone. The same for PT shoes — some did a quick fix, putting chalk on the shoes but the shoes looked dirty in no time as the chalk wore off. The sincere ones polished their shoes with white polish and left them to dry overnight.
Our shoes shone brightest during the Founder’s celebrations, when everyone and everything was at their shining best, especially for the NCC parade and PT display and annual athletics. I must add, polishing shoes is quite labour-intensive.
Then there was another universe of shoes, home shoes! They were on display during “socials” and holidays and they varied from canvas, boots, monk-strapped to plain Oxfords.
Socials were get-togethers where the kids partied. The head boy requested the head girl for a dance to set the ball rolling and others joined in. The ballroom dance was like a box dance — we counted 1,2,3,4 furiously under our breath whilst holding the guy at an arm’s length. The guy would often get his polished shoe stomped on by his partner if a count was missed. He would curse and smile at the same time. When the music stopped, he would scurry for cover and not be seen or ask the girl for a dance again! The regular hip-hop and jiving started after the ballroom, and would bring relief to all.
Apart from the shoe-rating index, another factor had a “social impact”. In times gone by, the intensity of spray of the two popular colognes, Old Spice and Brut, could have a smell-axing effect.
Shoe contact before eye contact remained even when one left school. Unpolished shoes at the workplace were a no-no. From black shoes, tastes changed to burgundy and dark tan. Other quirks of grooming got added along the way. Clean haircuts, socks matching pants, belts matching shoes, well-knotted ties, good, fitted jackets and no showering with colognes spelt urbanity.
One could relate to the adage, Don’t count your shoes, but make them count. As time ticked, one has resigned oneself to changing fashions in socks and shoes. It’s sockless or go crew. The fetish has not diminished for one still analyses a person based on his flip-flops, sneakers or loafers. If it ain’t in the head, it must be in his sole!
