I heard this summer sound yesterday: "flip flop, flip flop, flip flop". The person ahead of me was walking along in her flip-flops. So I asked everyone I talked to yesterday about flip-flops and when did they become part of our popular culture. My proposed answer was after the war with the great economic growth and the widespread adoption of popular culture trends in the U.S. and Canada.
That doesn't answer the question of where did they come from or how did it start? What happened was the U.S. soldiers brought Japanese zori with them. And this caught on in the 1950s during the postwar boom. They were redesigned and changed into bright colours in keeping with the vivid 50s. In the 1960s they became associated with California beach style. They have continued and expanded ever since, so much so that they are an accepted shoe style.
They have an ancient beginning. There is a picture of thong sandals from the New Kingdom of Egypt dated 1550 - 1307 BC. We know intuitively that this makes sense and that the Greeks and Romans wore versions of flip-flops. I seem to know this from the sand and sandals epics we saw as children. Or maybe they were wearing sandals in the movies. I just checked - no flip-flops - fabulous sandals.
Today there is discussion on flip-flops as casual wear. Here's the advice on when not to wear them:
Restaurants with cloth napkins
Red carpet events
Churches
Funerals
Business meetings
First dates and blind dates
Isn't that delightful? The advice seems consistent with when flip-flops originated in the 1950s. Can you imagine deciding ahead of time what to wear in a restaurant "with cloth napkins." And decide to wear "nice shoes" on a first date. What is missing from the list? Can you wear flip-flops to weddings? Here you go...
Our picture today is a close-up of a leaf pattern. This is the leaf of a Prayer Plant. Maranta leuconeura, also known as prayer plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Marantaceae, native to the Brazilian tropical forests.
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