Is It Ever OK to Go Barefoot in Public?

A shoeless talk-show appearance leads a reader to contemplate the current rules around going barefoot in public, and our critic weighs in on naked feet in fashion and society.

It may seem strange to be discussing the ethics and aesthetics of bare feet in public as Christmas approaches, a time when many of us are contemplating the allure of fuzzy slippers and fleece socks. But very public fashion rule-breaking by celebrities has a way of starting conversations, not to mention trends, and Angelina Jolie did just show up on “The Tonight Show” couch in an elegant long black dress — and no shoes.

She said she had broken her toe the day before and couldn’t find comfortable footwear. Fair enough, though it’s hard not to wonder why a Birkenstock-like shoe wouldn’t have worked. In any case, the decision to forgo any kind of shoe — or sock! — was quite a statement during what Ms. Jolie said was her first talk show gig in about a decade.

It reminds me of when Kristen Stewart, during her stint on a Cannes Film Festival jury in 2018, got fed up with her high heels and simply mounted the red carpeted stairs without them, thus setting off a furor over the State of the Shoe, gender rules and why so many women still torture their feet in the name of fashion.

Conventional wisdom, at least in the West, has it that bare feet are for the beach and the swimming pool and are otherwise not for public consumption. (Some would say that even at the beach and the pool, flip-flops are a good idea.) Hence the fact that many restaurants and stores, at least in the United States, have a policy of “no shoes, no service.” But it is not actually against the law to go barefoot in public.

According to Susan Scafidi, the founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University, “Most barefoot bans simply reflect private dress codes put in place by restaurants, retailers and others concerned about safety and their own potential liability for splinters, slips and stubbed toes.”

The exception being the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which requires employers to ensure that employees wear protective footwear when necessary. And, Ms. Scafidi said, “a handful of state and local laws that require shoes in specific contexts, like water skiing in North Dakota, getting a haircut in Ohio, riding a motorcycle in Alabama or boarding a city bus in Racine, Wis.”