Slippers are a type of shoes falling under the broader category of light footwear, that are easy to put on and off and are intended to be worn indoors, particularly at home.[1] They provide comfort and protection for the feet when walking indoors.
The recorded history of slippers can be traced back to the 12th century.[2]
In the West, the record can only be traced to 1478.[3][better source needed][4][failed verification] The English word "slippers" (sclyppers) occurs from about 1478.[5]
English-speakers formerly also used the related term "pantofles" (from French pantoufle).
Peranakan Chinese wedding slippers from the late 19th century
Slippers in China date from 4700 BCE;[dubious – discuss] they were made of cotton or woven rush, had leather linings, and featured symbols of power, such as dragons.[6]
Native American moccasins were also highly decorative. Such moccasins depicted nature scenes and were embellished with beadwork and fringing; their soft sure-footedness made them suitable for indoors appropriation. Inuit and Aleut people made shoes from smoked hare-hide to protect their feet against the frozen ground inside their homes.[7]
Fashionable Orientalism saw the introduction into the West of designs like the baboosh.
Victorian people needed such shoes to keep the dust and gravel outside their homes.[8] For Victorian ladies slippers gave an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills and to use embroidery as decoration.[9]
Open-heel slippers – usually made with a fabric upper layer that encloses the top of the foot and the toes, but leaves the heel open. These are often distributed in expensive hotels, included with the cost of the room.
Closed slippers – slippers with a heel guard that prevents the foot from sliding out.
Slipper boots – slippers meant to look like boots. Often favored by women, they are typically furry boots with a fleece or soft lining, and a soft rubber sole. Modeled after sheepskin boots, they may be worn outside.
Sandal slippers – cushioned sandals with soft rubber or fabric soles, similar to Birkenstock's cushioned sandals.
Evening slipper, also known as the "Prince Albert" slipper in reference to Albert, Prince Consort. It is made of velvet with leather soles and features a grosgrain bow or the wearer’s initials embroidered in gold.
Novelty animal-feet slippers
Some slippers are made to resemble something other than a slipper and are sold as a novelty item. The slippers are usually made from soft and colorful materials and may come in the shapes of animals, animal paws, vehicles, cartoon characters, etc.
Not all shoes with a soft fluffy interior are slippers. Any shoe with a rubber sole and laces is a normal outdoor shoe. In India, rubber chappals (flip-flops) are worn as indoor shoes.[10]
The fictional character Cinderella is said to have worn glass slippers; in modern parlance, they would probably be called glass high heels. This motif was introduced in Charles Perrault's 1697 version of the fairy tale, "Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre" "Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper". For some years it was debated that this detail was a mistranslation and the slippers in the story were instead made of fur (French: vair), but this interpretation has since been discredited by folklorists.[11]
A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy GarlandinThe Wizard of Oz sold at Christie's in June 1988 for $165,000. The same pair was resold on May 24, 2000, for $666,000.[12] On both occasions, they were the most expensive shoes from a film to be sold at auction.[13]
In Hawaii and many islands of The Caribbean, slippers, or "slippahs" is used for describing flip-flops.[14]
The term "house shoes" (elided into how-shuze) is common in the American South.[15]
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Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (17 March 2015). "Slippers: Slippers in History". World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence. Routledge. p. 532. ISBN978-1-317-45167-9. Retrieved 24 April 2024. Ancient Athenians imported Laconian slippers from Sparta or Asian slip-ons from Persia. [...] Roman women wore socci (slippers) indoors and for assignations. [...] After 449, Anglo-Saxon grooms received their brides' 'slype-scoes' (slip-shoes) from their fathers-in-law as symbols of protection and female control. [...] Trends continued to offer new sensations, as with the Italian pianella (wedge mule) and the scarpetta (slipper) of the late 1300s made in the same fabric as an ensemble. In contrast to the stride of the booted male, women adjusted their gait to suit the slipper, an emblem of femininity.
^"History of the Slipper". betsyblue.co.uk. September 10, 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-09-22. Retrieved 2020-03-01. The earliest recorded reference to the slipper was is[sic] in the 12th Century by a Southern Song Dynasty Officer where he describes two types of slipper he saw in what is now Vietnam. [...] In the West, slippers were first recorded around 1478.
^"The history of the slipper". Ernest journal. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-03-30. Inuit and Aleut people would make shoes from smoked hare hide to protect their feet against the frozen ground inside their homes.
^"The history of the slipper". Ernest journal. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-03-30. [...] the discerning Victorian gentleman was in need of a pair of 'house shoes' in order to keep the dust and gravel outside – much better than ruining his expensive rug and beautifully polished floor.
^"The history of the slipper". Ernest journal. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 2022-03-30. Embroidered slippers presented Victorian ladies (on both sides of the Atlantic) with an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills.
^Kell, Duke; Kell, Nancy (9 August 2022). Teaching with Equity: Strategies and Resources for Building a Culturally Responsive and Race-Conscious Classroom. Simon and Schuster. p. 160. ISBN978-1-64604-379-8.
^Cassidy, Frederic Gomes, and Joan Houston Hall (eds). (2002) Dictionary of American Regional English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
