View source for Slipper

{{Short description|Informal footwear}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Slippers.jpg|thumb|Open-heeled slippers]]
'''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.<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/slipper Definition of ''slipper''] Retrieved 2017-09-12</ref> They provide comfort and protection for the feet when walking indoors.

==History==
The recorded history of slippers can be traced back to the 12th century.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
|last1= Snodgrass
|first1= Mary Ellen
|title= World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence
|chapter= Slippers: Slippers in History
|date= 17 March 2015
|access-date= 24 April 2024
|publisher= Routledge
|isbn= 978-1-317-45167-9
|page= 532 
|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gO9nBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA532
|language= en
|quote= Ancient Athenians imported Laconian slippers from Sparta or Asian slip-ons from Persia. [...] Roman women wore {{lang | la | socci}} (slippers) indoors and for assignations. [...] After 449, Anglo-Saxon grooms received their brides' 'slype-scoes' (slip-shoes) from their fathers-in-law as symbols of protection and female control. [...] Trends continued to offer new sensations, as with the Italian {{lang | it | pianella}} (wedge mule) and the {{lang | it | scarpetta}} (slipper) of the late 1300s made in the same fabric as an ensemble. In contrast to the stride of the booted male, women adjusted their gait to suit the slipper, an emblem of femininity.
}}
</ref>
In the [[Western world |West]], the record can be traced only to 1478.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://betsyblue.co.uk/blogs/news/9037635-history-of-the-slipper |title= History of the Slipper |date= September 10, 2013 |website= betsyblue.co.uk |access-date= 2020-03-01 |archive-date= 2017-09-22 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170922100857/https://betsyblue.co.uk/blogs/news/9037635-history-of-the-slipper |url-status= dead | quote = The earliest recorded reference to the slipper was is[sic] in the 12th Century by a Southern Song Dynasty Officer where he describes two types of slipper he saw in what is now Vietnam. [...] In the West, slippers were first recorded around 1478.}}</ref>{{better source|date=April 2024}}<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.iinuu.eu/en/wisdom/good-to-know/slipper-history|title= Slipper History |date= September 9, 2010|website= iinuu.eu|access-date= 2020-03-01}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2024}} The English word ''slippers'' (''sclyppers'') occurs from about 1478.<ref>
{{oed | slipper}}
</ref>
English speakers formerly also used the related term ''{{linktext|pantofles}}'' (from the French word {{lang | fr | pantoufle}}).

[[File:2016 Singapur, Downtown Core, Muzeum Cywilizacji Azjatyckich, Ekspozycja (067) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Peranakan]] Chinese wedding slippers from the late 19th century]]

Slippers in [[China]] date from 4700 BC;{{Dubious|reason=4700 BC, deep into prehistory and the Neolithic, would be extremely early, earlier than the [[Areni-1 shoe]] and other finds from the cave. Well-preserved archaeological finds that old from organic material, such as shoes, would be a sensation. Also, was cotton really used that early in China?|date=June 2024}} they were made of cotton or woven rush, had leather linings, and featured symbols of power, such as dragons.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Snodgrass |first1= Mary Ellen |title= World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence 
|date= 17 March 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-45167-9 |page=532 
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gO9nBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA532|language= en | quote = In China as early as 4700 B.C.E,, court robes and cotton or woven rush slippers sported leather linings and embroidered dragon-and-phoenix designs as emblems of power.}}</ref> 

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.<ref>
{{Cite web|title= The history of the slipper |url= https://www.ernestjournal.co.uk/blog/2017/8/14/the-history-of-the-slipper |access-date= 2022-03-30 |website= Ernest journal |date= 14 August 2017 |language= en-GB | quote = Inuit and Aleut people would make shoes from smoked hare hide to protect their feet against the frozen ground inside their homes.}}
</ref>

Fashionable [[Orientalism]] saw the introduction into the West of designs like the {{linktext|baboosh}}.

[[Victorian era|Victorian]] people needed such shoes to keep dust and gravel outside their homes.<ref>{{Cite web |title= The history of the slipper |url= https://www.ernestjournal.co.uk/blog/2017/8/14/the-history-of-the-slipper |access-date= 2022-03-30 |website= Ernest journal |date= 14 August 2017 |language = en-GB | quote =  [...] the discerning Victorian gentleman was in need of a pair of 'house shoes' in order to keep the dust and gravel outside – much better than ruining his expensive rug and beautifully polished floor.}}</ref> For [[Victorian era| Victorian]] ladies, slippers gave an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills and to use embroidery as decoration.<ref>
{{Cite web|title= The history of the slipper |url= https://www.ernestjournal.co.uk/blog/2017/8/14/the-history-of-the-slipper |access-date= 2022-03-30 |website= Ernest journal |date= 14 August 2017 |language= en-GB | quote = Embroidered slippers presented Victorian ladies (on both sides of the Atlantic) with an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills.}}
</ref>

==Types==
{{more citations needed section|date=June 2016}}
Types of slippers include:
*Open-heel slippers – usually made with a fabric upper layer that encloses the top of the foot and the toes, but leaves the heel open. These are often distributed in expensive hotels, included with the cost of the room.
*Closed slippers – slippers with a heel guard that prevents the foot from sliding out.
*Slipper boots – slippers meant to look like boots. Often favored by women, they are typically furry boots with a fleece or soft lining, and a soft rubber sole. Modeled after [[sheepskin boots]], they may be worn outside.
*[[Sandal]] slippers – cushioned sandals with soft rubber or fabric soles, similar to [[Birkenstock]]'s cushioned sandals.
* Evening slipper, also known as the "Prince Albert" slipper in reference to [[Albert, Prince Consort]]. It is made of velvet with leather soles and features a [[grosgrain]] bow or the wearer’s initials embroidered in gold.

[[File:Diechäschlabbn.jpg|thumb|Novelty animal-feet slippers]]
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 [[chappal]]s (flip-flops) are worn as indoor shoes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Khanna |first=Parul |title=Hawai chappal the new fashion accessory! |url= http://www.hindustantimes.com/fashion-and-trends/hawai-chappal-the-new-fashion-accessory/story-ApEvMe8tiIjRDhcsizQaWI.html |newspaper=Hindustan Times |date=3 October 2009 |access-date=19 June 2016}}</ref>

==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.<ref>Tatar, Maria. ''The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales.'' New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2002.</ref>

A pair of [[ruby slippers]] worn by [[Judy Garland]] in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|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.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ruby red slippers fetch $666,000 |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ruby-red-slippers-fetch-666-000-1.275235 |access-date=2023-04-11 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> On both occasions, they were the most expensive shoes from a film to be sold at auction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-expensive-shoes-from-a-film-sold-at-auction|website=guinnessworldrecords.com|title=Most expensive shoes from a film sold at auction|access-date=2018-12-09}}</ref>

In Hawaii and many islands of the [[Caribbean]], the term ''slippers'', or ''slippahs'', is used to describe [[flip-flops]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kell |first1=Duke |last2=Kell |first2=Nancy |title=Teaching with Equity: Strategies and Resources for Building a Culturally Responsive and Race-Conscious Classroom |date=9 August 2022 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-64604-379-8 |page=160 |language=en}}</ref>

The term "house shoes" (elided into ''how-shuze'') is common in the [[American South]].<ref>Cassidy, Frederic Gomes, and Joan Houston Hall (eds). (2002) ''Dictionary of American Regional English''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bunny slippers]]
* [[List of shoe styles]]
* [[Moccasin]]s
* [[Lady's slipper orchid]]s
* [[Ruby slippers]]
* [[Slip-on shoe]]
* [[Slippering]] (punishment)
* [[Uwabaki]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Slippers}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Footwear}}
{{Clothing}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Slippers| ]]
[[Category:5th-millennium BC introductions]]
[[Category:Footwear]]
[[Category:Shoes]]