I WALKED along side Yishan Road from our apartment. People I
walked past kept staring at my feet then looked at my face with puzzlement. I
stride down the couple flights of stairs to the subway in station four,
unmindful of my countenance and the simple fashion I was clad with. People I
met along the way kept glancing at my feet then gawked at my face.
The recurrence of people staring at me quizzically from toe to
head, as if I just wore the most ridiculous footwear puzzles me. That’s why I
asked my pretty Filipino friend, Byen, “What’s wrong with wearing rubber
slippers in public places here in Shanghai?” Like me, she’s also wearing a pair
of simple slippers, yet, I only got a bemused expression and shrug from her.
A lot of presumption came up when I brought this question to my
Filipino friends also living here, who, in the Philippines were used to just
wearing rubber slippers or flip flops even in fancy malls and other public
places.
Being Filipino myself, simplicity is in fact, a fad in our country
that never went out of style. Famous Filipino celebrities are just clad in
their simplest white shirt and denim jeans with a pair of simple slippers. They
stroll along the mall and even attend events on them. Does it matter? Of
course, it does, but not as much as the person wearing them. Confidence also
adds to the beauty in a person. It’s just like eating a peanut. We do not eat
the shell, but the nut inside it. So, it’s what one holds inside that really
matters more.
Getting used to this lifestyle and fashion then, most of my
friends and I would slip into our simplest footwear and stroll along the
streets in People Square, at a park in Century Avenue and other crowded and
nice places where tourists and locals alike usually go out to unwind or for
recreation activities. We usually get a lot of funny expressions from many
Chinese people. Their faces obviously read, “She’s odd and out of style,” as
they looked at us, and act as if wearing simple things like a pair of rubber
slippers would make us less of a human. I just shrugged it off anyway.
I brought this question up to my Chinese friend who is a
Kindergarten Teacher. She simply said, “It’s not common to wear slippers
outside, we only wear them at home.” Still unsatisfied with the answer I got, I
asked another young Chinese friend studying at Song Jang University. She gave
me a longer answer yet such didn’t change my mind about sticking to my simple
fashion statement.
A long time ago, people used to wear slippers even in public
places. However, as time meanders and brings us to another generation after
generation, slippers became out of style, until it became unpopular as we
approached the contemporary era where people are more concerned with looking
more fashionable and attractive in public places, even at the market,
notwithstanding the risk of discomfort they put themselves into as they walk
for more than 30 minutes on hard pavements. Simplicity then became neglected,
so do the rubber slippers.
We see women, young or a bit older like in their mid-forties,
wearing pretty and very high heeled-close shoes walking how many blocks before
they get to their destination; their ankles showed some red marks at the side,
signaling discomfort and pain. We came across a young lady being carried by her
lover on his back. The guy held the sexy red high-heeled shoes on his left hand
while the other hand supported his girlfriend’s back. The girl’s feet looked
swollen already, and we couldn’t help thinking, “she should’ve worn a more
comfortable footwear.”
Personally, I believe there’s no such thing as out of fashion,
because time basically recycles them as generation moves to another generation.
The fashion in the 80’s may not look great now; the trend in the 50’s may look
shabby and over killed but eventually, these fashion statement that went out of
style will become popular again in a few years from now. Thus, style is not the
whole pizza, but only a slice of it, while the other and the bigger part is,
how one carried him or herself in public.
Moreover, it’s how one brings comfort to oneself when choosing to
be all simple that matters more. One shouldn’t think too much about what the
public would say about their fashion sense, because in fact, it doesn’t make
sense at all. In Shanghai where travelling by foot is not uncommon, I would go
for comfort than style and fashion, because it’s not just our physical
reputation that’s important, but more of how we bring ourselves to act at an
appropriate manner that does.
So, as the subway train opened its electronic sliding glass and
metal doors, Byen and I dismissed the looks of criticisms from the locals that
greeted us as we entered the transportation, because despite the simplicity in
our attire, we are comfortable with what we’re on and we believe that we are
presentable and neatly clothed. Though simple we may be, but the big smiles on
our faces that exudes our confidence is what makes the difference. After all,
it may sound so cliché, but I still stand behind the quotation that says, “With
Simplicity, one can find real beauty.”
