With the right shoes, toe cleavage is sexy. Those shoes are not.

Until I saw this pic, I never realized how much toe-cleavage annoys me. Ick.

Whose feet are those? Balk?

Toe cleavage leads to toe lactation. And thus, toe cheese.

Know what else? What's up with straight men wearing flip flops? That seems wrong to me.

@sheistolerable: men in flips flops is ok with me. it's the fucking douches in Teva sport sandals. it's like, dude, you are not on a expedition - you are eating fucking gelato in washington square park.

the summer shoe gestapo begins.

More horrifying than those shoes are the bunion-feeted women who try to squeeze into them.

@sheistolerable: flip flops + board shorts are the summer uniform.

What about eating gelato in Washington Square park in an Expedition, in Tevas?

@Thaddeus Kosciuszko: perfectly acceptable.

@Thaddeus Kosciuszko: What about eating gelato in Washington Square park in an Expedition, in Tevas?

While yelling into a bluetooth headset.

@colinsmith: Board shorts? How come men are allowed to wear what they wore in 1996 and I had to trade my Roxy sundresses and giant platforms for flats and bizarrely proportioned tunics? At least board shorts are better than seersucker.

Ugly shoes are shoes you can't fucking move in.

toe cleavage doesn't bother me.. it's the ones who expose their beer fat roll over the super lo-cut jeans/too tight, too short jersey shirt combo. Add in a super-polyester-y G-string poking outta that and you got something to keep you off your lunch for weeks. Ladies, if Nikka Costa couldn't make ass-crack work, you certainly cannot.

@ellagood:
I will see your Tevas and raise you Crocs. I maintain that they were created for the sole (geddit?) purpose of destroying my spirit.

@IBentMyWookie: God, I'd almost managed to forget about those. Pray for a cold snap?

@sheistolerable: Word on that boys/1996 thing. Wake me up when I'm allowed to wear loose khakis out to a bar again (Gap ads notwithstanding).

Anyways, a chick on the train this morning had total toe cleavage, and I couldn't stop looking at it, even though it was ass. I expected her to lean all the way down to where my face was pointed and say "helLO, I'm up HERE, perv."

The problem with toe cleavage is calling it "toe cleavage."

That makes it sound like it's supposed to be sexy in some kind of puffy pneumatic way, and it's not. It's sexy because it looks like your shoes are about to fall off, and suggesting that your clothes are about to fall off is sexy.

@sheistolerable: It's because we run things. For what it's worth, I miss your Roxy sundresses too. Shoulders are sexy.

those shoes are cute! don't be mean

No name flip flops are ok - with proper foot prepping. Prada/Gucci /Chanel flip flops are just redonkulous. On anyone (hear me Chelsea boys and Jersey girls?).

@ellagood: Honest to God, I've always assumed that anyone in Tevas inherently smells like feet.

It is what it is.

I like toe cleavage. There, I said it.

How could there be 20 comments about summer footware and not one mention of havaianas - the hipster flip-flop?

Being that toe cleavage is the only cleavage I have (as long as we can all agree butt cleavage blessedly OVER), I am all for it. Push those puppies up and together and work it. Meow!

i always just used to assume that people with toe cleavage were lazy shoe shoppers. but it's now become apparent that people are doing it on purpose. i feel so old.

Regarding flip-flops in the city, I've never been able to do it. I guess it's the thought of every particle of spit/urine/vomit/blood/shit that's touched the street coming in contact with my flesh that makes me retch.

Yes, I'm a germ-phobic ninny. I'd wear gloves year-round if I could get away with it.

Toe cleavage is the least of this lady's problems. From deep inside that Radar article on codpieces.

Talk about an eye-boggling array of gross fashion trends throughout history. I couldn't help myself.

Would a shoe stretcher help?

@sheistolerable: you can wear whatever you want, you'll just attract the board shorts boys. which i would avoid. cause, isn't that like connecticut frat boy leisure wear? but that's me.

My Brother bought used Tevas on eBay. For his kids! But we do a boat share. So I shut up.

I love my toe cleavage because it compensates for my lack of other cleavage.

Toe cleavage is like anything else: it's attractive on attractive people--and by that I mean attractive women. No male should ever show his feet except at the beach. Period.

Oh my goot-ness! You all should see m'blog about bad shoes! I just started it, so it's, like, all retarded at the moment. But I was just about to write a whole thing about toe cleavage and now I can't. I fucking hate toe cleavage. and Crocs. and tevas. but you should REALLY see my thing about Dick Loafers.

@Ian Spiegelman:
Agreed! And even then he should shove his toes into the sand.

Theres nothing worse than that wirey hair on the big toe or that green chipped pinky nail.

No matter how often I try to convince myself that toe cleavage is /posh/cool/blah blah blah, someone in the group (usually male) will always point downward and say "Your shoes are too big."

So there you go. Fuck it.

@iceprincess: Wanna hang out?

@ Ian Spiegelman: What traumatic experience makes you hate men's feet so much? I think they are one of the sexiest attributes on a guy!

And how come men don't show cleavage anywhere, except for the ONE place where it's really gross, the butt crack of a construction worker for instance?

@Ian Spiegelman: What traumatic experience makes you hate men's feet so much? I think they are one of the sexiest attributes on a guy!

And how come men don't show cleavage anywhere, except for the ONE place where it's really gross, the butt crack of a construction worker for instance?

I feel so violated by the toe cleavage.

@IBentMyWookie: nah, only mario batali and dudes who have to be airlifted from their homes wear those.
oh! and jared leto - i saw that douche in a pair once.

@fasthugger: oh, absolutely. they think that just because their feet are never confined that their sweat glands cease to operate. so fucking vile.

@HoHoKennedy: USED Tevas. for the CHILDREN. for the BOAT SHARE. you just brought me to a whole new level of depression i didn't know existed.

That picture makes me think "urgh. smelly." and not in a good way. plus those shoes totally suck in an ironicallyhip80s way. i bet the rest of the outfit has a bunch of stuff that doesn't really match, and there is something involving yellow spandex cut in an outre manner. Whoooo! Fashion!

@Seeräuber Jenny: Oh, sweet fucking jesus - the bound foot picture is the biggest bummer of my day thus far - and i'm working on a research paper on "gentle killing machines" for the cattle industry. Dr. Temple Grandin....bound foot...must go take valium....

@ellagood: Yeah, Jared Leto had on a pair of silver Crocs. How utterly NOT rock and roll, despite the silverness. I think seeing that picture is what made me despise Crocs even further. Plus The Leto harms me greatly on many levels.

@HoHoKennedy: This is the most wonderful thing I've read. Ever.

How far we've come. No one has mentioned Birkenstocks.

Toe cleavage: nice in the right shoes.
Those shoes: not nice.
Flip-flops: never, ever, ever. Men or women. No. Unless you're on the beach.
Tevas: Are you fucking kidding me.

@Phyllis Nefler: I once knew of a certain older woman who wore Birkenstocks year round, with and without socks depending on the temperature outside. She had one pair with a girlish satin oriental design. Quite amazing.

I see flipflop girl has not made her opinion known on this topic yet.

I'd fetishize those.

@Meredith and others: I don't quite get the anger over flip flops. I really don't think they're that big a deal - Rainbows and Reefs are fairly innocuous for example - and I think some shoes like ballet flats or loafers can look kind of awkward when paired with shorts. I'm talking mostly about women, but I've never minded them on men either as long as they don't have ankle straps or something.

@Phyllis Nefler: I just think they're the laziest of lazy choices, not to mention gross/potentially dangerous on New York streets and sidewalks. People often wear them because they're the easy choice, and while I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, sometimes you just have to try a little harder, depending on what else you're wearing.

I hold up that college women's field hockey team that visited the White House last year and got their official photo taken with every last one of them (well, maybe a couple weren't) wearing flip flops with their state visit finery. It's just wrong. And if I sound like a fashion fascist, well, that's because I am.

I believe that toe cleavage is only a sin when the toes look more like they are trying to make an oozing escape from a shoe that is obviously too small for the wearer...or if it is just a hideous shoe which is a sin in and of itself. On the right foot, in the right shoe, toe cleavage can be sexy.

@Meredith: Ah yes, although it was a lax team. Stupid laxers.

The biggest mistake some of the girls made was not the wearing of the flip flops, but the wearing of the chunky platform flipflops. What did they think that was, the Clinton administration?

If you're a fashion fascist - where do you stand on shorts with HEELS!? Personally I think there's no better way to make one's thighs look as prominant as possible.

@Phyllis Nefler: That's easy. Shorts are out altogether.

This whole sandal/flip flop snobbery is a total conspiracy, probably started by the people at Converse.

@lovelyday: Designer sandals are okay as long as they're not just crappy flip flops with a big showy brand label. People wearing the Marc Jacobs flip flops should be smacked on the street.