Why Are So Many Men Wearing Sandals in NYC?

Let us pause for a moment to consider again the astonishing transformation of what was, at one time in the not-so-distant past, a niche hippie staple, mostly popular among commune dwellers and people who shopped in the Brattleboro Food Co-Op. Now, it’s the Type O blood of footwear, a fashion universal. Judging from my walking tour of Harlem, Midtown Manhattan, Greenwich Village and SoHo over several sweltering summer days, the sandal of the season is, without any doubt, the Birkenstock Arizona (or, for the more fashion forward, the big-buckle Madrid). Both models were so ubiquitous on city streets that it left little doubt as to why the 250-year-old company reported revenues of nearly $1.6 billion last year.

And while Birkenstocks provide marginally more foot coverage than the flip-flops that the designer Tom Ford once famously told People magazine he “wouldn’t be caught dead wearing,” they still produce an egregious display of toes perhaps not previously deemed suitable for city streets.

Yet, what constitutes suitability anymore? Even into the early decade of this century, visitors to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the neo-Gothic landmark in Midtown Manhattan, were encouraged to observe a dress code. Like those at houses of worship around the world, it was one that underscored modesty. Bare shoulders and, for women, uncovered heads were a no-no.

So, too, were miniskirts, shorts and sandals. Roughly 5.5 million people flood into the cathedral each year, and, inevitably, policing propriety has been forced to take a back seat to bag checks. Who has time to bust visitors for offending Tevas when the real possibility exists of people carrying weapons or explosives into public buildings? “Revealing” can be interpreted in many ways.

What, anyway, the designer Aaron Potts recently asked, does “revealing” mean anymore in terms of fashion? Whether seeking self-expression or relief from the heat, people routinely take to city streets dressed in rugby-style short shorts, bralettes, bikini tops, camisoles, tights so body-hugging and tops so sheer that a viewer may as well be wearing X-ray specs.