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NZ schools swept up in bizarre footwear fad
October 09, 2007 09:51am
PEER pressure is taking on new meaning in Auckland schools as the fad to wearing slippers to school gains momentum, reports a leading newspaper.
According to the New Zealand Herald the latest fad among Auckland schoolboys is wearing household slippers to school.
The paper reports the boys are shrugging off the risk of punishment by not wearing regulation shoes.
The boys are using excuses, including having left their shoes in the car, or that they broke, when trying to justify the odd choice of footwear.
How the trend began is uncertain, but it may have started by rapper Snoop Dogg, who has been photographed in public wearing the slippers and wore them to a magazine interview last year.
One teacher said banning the slippers was impractical because so many students were choosing to wear them.
"Snoop's done it, and now everyone wants to, and we can't end up sending 20 kids home each day," she told the paper.
In the great scheme of shoes, slippers (slip on shoes) were introduced as the original lounge lizard footwear. Whilst they have gained more reputation for oldies back in the 18th century these were the libertine special. Hence Snoop Dogs' reference for the bedroom slippers look.
Snoop Dogg (aka Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jnr) and the Snoopadelics are popular in NZ and Australia (as elsewhere), despite being recently banned by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship who prevented him from entering the country on character grounds, citing his prior criminal convictions. Behind the hardman image his name Snoop Dog evolved from his family nickname Snoopy. Young Calvin was a Peanuts fan. The hip-hopper has an Australian girlfriend, Sophie Monk (Bardot), and now wants to immigrate to the big brown land much to the consternation of the Australian authorities. Calvin grew up in California’s Long Beach City where he was a teenage member of the notorious Crip gang, the Rollin' 20's Crips lead by Bow Keene Mundine. (I jest not). He served short prison sentences and there his talent for hip hop was recognised and developed. Members of Crips and Bloods value the medium of gangsta rap and use it as a form of musical graffiti to communication. A large part of the allure is the secret signs and symbols (the knowledge). Clothes form a very important part of the culture and hence many of the hip hop lyrics refer to shoes and other attire. Despite singing of the virtues of “Chucks,” in Snoopafella.
I said, "Herb, my man, just make me fresh
And I'm sure that I can handle, all the rest"
With a snap of his fingers sparks began to shoot
And I was jumpin in my body: a slick silk suit
On my feet was some white tube socks
And a fresh pair of Chucks from the Foot-lock
Snoop Dogg also promotes a rap clothing brand which includes signature sneakers i.e. Pony Sneakers (“Doggy Biscuitz”). Snoop Dogg is a self confessed pot head and loves guns with recent convicteds for both. Whether as a mark of defiance or not, the rapper has taken to wear slippers outside with boldly embroidered marijuana leaves on them.
“Early the next mornin, when I awoke
I threw on me old slippers with me old housecoat”
(Snoopafella)
The new fad fashion in NZ has afflicted schools when hundreds of kids appeared in their slippers. Befuddled by the phenomenon and over whelmed by the number of children involved school authorities are at loss what action to take. Many have put the defiance on non conformity to peer pressure but the likely reason is the alarming rise in street crime culture epitomised by the Crips and Bloods of the US and sung about by ‘gangsta rappers’.
As the Snoopman would say “fo' shizzle, ma nizzle.”
The hip-hopper has an Australian girlfriend, Sophie Monk (Bardot),
Sorry to correct you (& terribly ashamed to admit to my knowing this) but Sophie Monk (or whats left of her) is engaged to one of the Madden brothers from Good Charlotte. (Joel or Benji)
FYI Nicole Ritchie is engaged to the other Madden brother.
I of course, bow to your superior knowledge of the glitterati. The two celebs did meet when they were shooting a movie (as you do), and at the time of Snoop Doggs ban from Australia, they were, according to the media, an item.
Just such a busy life so difficult to keep up with.
NZ schools swept up in bizarre footwear fad
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