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. They provide comfort and protection for the feet when walking indoors. They are not really for use outside, as of their lack of grip, and waterproofing.

History

The recorded history of slippers can be traced back to the 12th century. In the West, the record can be traced only to 1478. The English word slippers (sclyppers) occurs from about 1478. English speakers formerly also used the related term (from the French word pantoufle). Slippers in China date from 4700 BC; they were made of cotton or woven rush, had leather linings, and featured symbols of power, such as dragons. 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. Fashionable Orientalism saw the introduction into the West of designs like the. Victorian people needed such shoes to keep dust and gravel outside their homes. For Victorian ladies, slippers gave an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills and to use embroidery as decoration.

Types

Types of slippers include: Some slippers are made to resemble something other than a slipper and are sold as a novelty item. They are usually made of soft and colorful materials and may come in the shapes of animals, animal paws, vehicles, cartoon characters, and so on. 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.

In popular culture

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 that the slippers in the story were instead made of fur (French: vair), but this interpretation has since been discredited by folklorists. A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The 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. On both occasions, they were the most expensive shoes from a film to be sold at auction. In Hawaii and many islands of the Caribbean, the term slippers, or slippahs, is used to describe flip-flops. The term "house shoes" (elided into how-shuze) is common in the American South.