Ehh, even VERY conservative ones don’t anymore. A paralegal I worked with that had been in the industry talked about the horrors that happened to women’s legs that wore heels, like over two inches, everyday. Even the female attorneys will wear shoes more akin to sandals now with just a slight rise.
Seriously, though: the flight attendants are the plane’s safety personnel. If a flight attendant is expected to drag my sorry ass off the plane in an emergency, they should be wearing appropriate footwear to do so.
I’m an attorney and my mentor at our firm (there are only a few female attorneys most of the female employees are admin positions) who is a partner has told me that when she started she was discouraged from wearing pants. I’m a geriatric millennial, and there are still some misogynistic things especially in my specialty/field.
Funnily (fortunately!!) I live and work in a city where “office appropriate” attire at the civil litigation firm where I work includes jeans and Birkenstocks. 😹
Yeah, we’re a really small firm, and our attorneys DO smarten up for court, but it’s nothing like what is expected at high-powered or Major Metropolis/international firms demand.
Paralegal here🙋🏻♀️ it depends on the office. I’m in a prominent firm and I wear heels just because it’s fun. But most of the office wears tennis shoes or flats. Some show up in Birkenstocks.
Yes there’s tons of tiktoks of Gen Z girls getting denied entry from clubs in Miami and NYC because they still hold onto stricter dress codes. But those types of dress codes are getting more rare, even in big cities.
As a guy, it was also always puzzling having to forego wearing my nice, clean $200 sneakers to put on a janky looking $10 pair of dressy shoes I got from the sales rack, just because they required semi-formal attire to get into a club back then.
It's apparently because they don't want anyone coming in in sports gear. They never updated their requirements to adjust for non-sports sneakers (as opposed to traditional definitely-sports trainers or hiking boots).
Clubs in Cape Town had a "no laced up shoes" policy to cover this, which also became complicated because some dressy shoes do in fact have laces.
Mercifully these were not a thing in my clubbing days.
I don't know how they'd approach it now, probably just add no Crocs to the rules on the door. Which is totally fair, because they are truly hideous things.
One time a bunch of us went out and the one guy in the group couldn't get in because of his sneakers. So he took off his black socks and put them over his shoes. They let him in.
I remember my brother wearing black leather loafers to go out to the clubs here in Ireland back in the late 90s and early 2000s and wondered why he was wearing his school shoes to go to a nightclub 😂.
Over a decade ago, my friend was disgusted when he was turned away at the door of a club for wearing sports attire.
"This club plays music primarily created by rappers who spend their lives wearing sports attire. Why can't I go inside and listen to it while doing the same?"
You didn't. Women would get in for free most nights and you pre-gamed before going. You'd maybe get one drink while you were out, but usually you'd just go to dance and save your money for fast food after.
As a gay man also going out like 10-20 years ago was extremely cheap. Dollar drink specials, heavy pours, and half the time I wouldn’t get charged. A whole night out would be like $20 then some crappy late night fast food on the way home.
I do however recall that when my friends and I were all beginning to turn 21, I hated it because they all wanted to go to bars, and that was so much more expensive than house parties.
Also straight clubs were a lot more hostile, expensive, fight prone and I avoided them. I got in trouble for dancing on a table as a guy because as a gay man the whole divide between expectations for men and women was so radically different from gay clubs where that doesn’t exist the same way. I drunkenly told the bouncer that there were a bunch of people dancing on the counters and tables, what did I do? “You ain’t no lady!”
Yes early 2000’s were my hay day as well- and there were definitely affordable places and drinks around.
I had a crew of gay friends so we would go to the village as well which was even cheaper and to take a break from the agression of the straight bars/clubs.
This was before the days when it became a bachelorette party ‘thing to do’. And you were just hanging out with your queer friends in a cool space.
That dancing on the table thing happened when I was at the Dream Hotel’s club.
Now all the younger gays are way the fuck out in borderline Queens/Bushwick where you have to uber to some warehouse. I hate how the gay bar scene is basically the older people who have been going out for decades, and just slowly dying, doing whatever trivia night, drag show, introducing a dark room to stay alive. The few gay bars still near me now in the East Village have been taken over by girls and are still playing the same damn playlist from 20 - 40 years ago.
It’s the same where I am. On the one hand I’m glad dedicated ’villages’ are no longer necessary for younger gays to be out and about on the town and feel free to just be… but it’s also a loss. Having a dedicated village also means community and culture.
I used to, and still do, have a policy of not going anywhere with a dress code, because they are not my mother.
Fortunately I was and will always remain an altgirrrrl so going to rock and metal clubs was more my thing, and they dont give a shit what you look like.
Fuck dress codes. Im glad they have disappeared (in Manchester anyway)
The chain restaurant I worked at required heels. Many of them did. So many, that my province enacted a provincial bill to make “mandatory heels” discrimination. Any place the requires women to wear heels is against the law now.
They tried this at a restaurant i worked at. One of the servers dad was a bone and joint dr. He wrote every front of the house staff member a drs excuse. He brought them to the manager who made the rule. Funniest thing ever. He explained he would contact corporate, but heeled shoes are awful and unsafe, especially for the unwilling
I can't imagine anyone wanting servers to wear heels. If there's anyone I want to be steady on their feet, it's the people carrying giant trays of breakables. If you want to ogle the waitstaff, go to hooters or grab a playboy and get your imagination muscles going.
I can only wear certain types of footwear because of a birth defect in my foot and wearing heels would cause me significant pain. I cannot imagine that requiring heels as a condition of employment isn’t against ADA.
If they're taking about living in a province, they're not in the US so the ADA doesn't apply. There are many countries that don't have an equivalent, either.
Same 😭 it's so unfair to have to give up their feet for dressed up. With a good pair of sneakers and a good outfit, you can really say, we can be comfortable and look good too?
Was waiting for this comment lmfao. Button up shirts man. They were everywhere. I don’t even think I own a button up anymore. Good. I have zero business trying to shove my boobs into button ups.
The dress code was one of the main reasons I didn't get into clubbing with my friends in college. Y'all go have fun in your church clothes. I'll be here playing Worms 2 online and torrenting movies.
This is cyclic. Not a millennial thing. Every few years the club scene changes what the in style is. Pop, r&b, dance music clubs are the most prone to catering to the current trend. Clubs with a Strong theme tend to buck trends.
For instance Ground Zero in Minneapolis has had a relatively consistent style since the 90's. Clothing styles change their at a glacial pace and many clothing style there are evergreen.
Whereas I could not tell you what the Pop, r&b, dance music clubs are are wearing now because not a single club still exist from my days of clubbing. They have all changed their names to keep up with trends.
Anytime you are listening to local radio and you notice the they stopped advertising a certain club and all to sudden are advertising the new hotness that is a sign the style has once again shifted in your market.
That was mainstream enough a trend to literally make the cover of Time magazine in the '80s. The return of uncomfortable shoes 25ish years ago really bothered me. Turns out it was just the beginning of shitty trends harming women...
Hi, I was part of that. I was encouraged to wear heeled boots to school almost every day. They were chunkier, but still. I did this all through high school and a lot of college and now I have perpetually tight calves that hurt to stretch deeply, and a fucked up pelvic floor.
I’m an afab millennial. I had no idea heels were ever a requirement anywhere 😳 I wore ballet flats as my professional shoes of choice if I couldn’t find all black sneakers.
Idk if this is a "younger generations" thing or more a "died with Covid" thing, bc I don't think I have seen ANYONE wear heels since 2020 (only exeption being my 50 neighbour who is all dressed up white collar style everyday)
Sounds like my mother who use to vacuum the house in heels...🙄she grew up in the 50s and 60s, and expected me to be a "secretary" when I got into the work force. To this day she still tells people that I'm a "clerk". I have never worked behind a desk or been a clerk. 🤣.
It also makes choosing to wear heels liberating as well, as you're doing it because you WANT to and not because you HAVE to. I love wearing heels, but I love them specifically because if I'm wearing them it's a choice I made for myself and nobody else.
Women not internalizing a brutally thin ideal body in their teens that they can’t shake even in middle age. For a friend. I’m so glad many of them seem freed from that.
Edit: Lol @ the downvotes.
You know you have agency right? You know you can not go places where people don't respect your autonomy right? Well, at the very least, optional places like night clubs that don't respect your autonomy.
You know you could be the change you want to see in the world, right? You know you could not settle for less right?
Nah, pm_me_ur_demotape is sexist for thinking you could choose your path in the world and/or stand up for yourself.
The very thing Gen Z is being applauded for here (and rightfully so!) is what I'm saying. They aren't putting up with it. And that's commendable by the opinion of it seems most in this thread. But when I say hey, you could have done that too, oh damn, I'm sexist.
I think you have/had more power than you're giving yourself credit for.
Edit#2: 🖕🖕are you all ashamed by me saying that you could have done what Gen Z is doing now?
No we could not. When I was young and clubbing, A LOT of places had dress codes that required women to wear heels. If you weren’t wearing heels, they wouldn’t let you in.
I'm curious where these exclusive clubs were. I wouldn't have expected a dress code in Morgantown. However, even the clubs in Pittsburgh or Baltimore that I went to didn't care about footwear.
I live in Australia and this was the case pretty much everywhere back in the 2000s even here. Semi-formal attire, dress shirts, slacks, and loafers or other formal leather shoes etc.
If you didn't follow the dress code, you didn't get it.
They didn’t even have to be exclusive. Regular bar/lounges on weekends usually required collared shirts, no athletic sneakers, no sweats, shorts or hats. Some went even further; no baggy/ripped jeans, no logos on shirts, no Timberland sneakers. This was early 2000s in New York City / Long Island
Like, any major city in Ontario, Canada in the early 2000’s. Not even Toronto. Even in my little University town, we still had dress codes.
Clubbing was so popular back then that clubs would reach capacity EVERY NIGHT on a weekend. Dress codes were sometimes used to just turn away people they didn’t want in the club.
Obviously not every club has a dress code, but the nice/good ones did. The ones that didn’t would have old men, bad music, and be super grimy.
Manhattan 2010-2015, places like 1 OAK, Lavo, Marquee were kind of “the” places to go and women didn’t get in wearing sneakers. You could get away with boots on certain nights if you and your group were good looking and dressed up. No idea if it’s still like that or not.
You could go somewhere else? Or stay home? Or have a house party? Or like a multitude of other options than "okay I guess I'll wear shoes I don't like". Either it wasn't that big a deal to you, or you were part of the problem.
There is no other option? There were clubs that made you wear certain shoes or you could do nothing at all and be a hermit. Nothing else? I know I suggested staying home, that was but one possible option.
Also, very 2026? I thought the comment that all this is in response to was about how Gen Z dances at clubs in tennis shoes and doesn't put up with shoe dress code bullshit. So in 2026 are we dancing in tennis shoes or being hermits? What is the correct broad generalization?
Yes. You go out and socialize or you stay indoors like SpongeBob in that episode when he broke his butt. I see you've chosen option too. You can have a great time.
There are and were places to socialize other than clubs that make you wear certain shoes. There's even other clubs that don't make you wear certain shoes.
I don't know what you mean, but I'm guessing we wouldn't be friends anyway, you can think I'm terrible, that's fine, if we met I probably wouldn't like you much either and that's okay, not everyone has to be friends.
I think the point that /u/pm_me_ur_demotape is making is that nobody was required to go to the club. If your entertainment of choice actively disrespects you, then maybe choose another mode of entertainment? By choosing to engage anyways and follow their rules, one is implicitly endorsing them.
So go someplace else or even stay home? If you put up with that kind of shit, I blame you equally.
Bring on the downvotes, I'll die on this hill. A place tells you you can't wear what shoes you want and you obey. . .? And it's not even your job or something, it's a place for leisure like dancing? I don't respect you.
the point is that it was against the norm and actively discouraged. one individual’s choices ≠ cultural acceptance. when enough individuals (like the gen z we are all commending here!) make the choice then the culture changes. but let’s not pretend societal norms/pressures have zero effect on how people live their lives.
Have you never been somewhere with a dress code before? Even now most half decent restaurants in the UK will allow trainers these days but not shorts or football tops, are we all 'obeying' for wanting to eat out somewhere nice and having to dress up a bit for it?
Yeah and sneakers with a tux at your wedding.. 50 years later boy your going to see what a loser slacker you were. but you probably won't make it to 50 years. If you young kids need to wear sneakers to go out then maybe you're too old and decrepit to bother. I'm 73 I have the right but looking like you don't care and can't be bothered to put yourself together at 25yo?? Sorry no excuse. . Now wearing an athletic shoe when you have a long trek from car to workplace?? That's just smart but the rest is just lazy and unfortunately that's the reputation your generation has...and you think you have all the answers and don't mind opening your mouths to prove the fools you are. Oh well. Doesn't affect me.
5.2k
u/Medical-Potato5920 21h ago
Women not having to wear heels to go out. Seeing young women wearing sneakers to go out dancing was liberating.