What is a Shoefie?

I use the word “shoefie” probably more often than I should. But over the past few weeks (and much to my surprise) I’ve noticed many new friends & acquaintances looking at me dumbfounded. “Shoefie” they ask? What is a shoefie? Which, quite franky, puzzles me as I was under the impression that this term had made its way into mainstream (read: non-fashion/ shoe blogger) vocabulary. Apparently, it has not.

Funny enough, everyone knows what a “selfie” is. Kim Kardashian just published a book full of them, for crying out loud. But hold on. Maybe I’ve stumped you again & you don’t know what a selfie is? Oh boy…

Considering the word “shoefie” derives &/or is inspired from “selfie”, let me correctly define the former for you:

Selfie: definition – noun [pronounced: sell-fee]: a photograph that one has taken of one's face, typically with a smartphone or electronic camera of some sort, to share over social networking websites

Teenagers may have started the selfie trend, but everyone & their grandma seems to be taking them as of late. I am happy not to include myself in the mix. My face doesn't quite cut it up-close. There's a reason why I take shoefies & blog about shoes instead!

Back to shoefie. Essentially, a shoefie does for shoes what a selfie does for a face. Your face. Your shoes. A shoefie is along the same vein as a selfie, but instead of angling the camera towards your face, you snap a pic of shoe-donning feet. Some people like to call it a “shoeselfie” but that term is becoming increasingly passé in my books. Call it shoe blogger snobbist, or whateves.  

So let's move onto the definition of “shoefie”:

Shoefie definition – noun [pronounced: shoe-fee]: a selfie of the shoes you’re currently wearing.

More specifically: a picture you take of yourself wearing shoes, snapped for the purpose of sharing the image on social media channels

There are many ways to take a shoefie. Some, featured in this portion of the post, are your standard #fromwhereistand & #viewfromabove variety. These are the most common, but people, especially IG users are becoming increasingly creative. You can now find “complex”, prop-adorned shoefies including flowers, fashion accessories, cupcakes & whathaveyou.

I've seen some strange shoefies, let me tell you! But as long as you're wearing them shoes & snapping a picture of them yourself, it is a “shoefie”; no matter how much or how little (just not too little!) of your shoes  you're showing off.

These are NOT Shoefies

More often than not, a shoefie is mistaken simply as a fancy-schmancy term for a picture someone has taken of their shoes. But to actually qualify as “shoefie” material, you must not only take a pic of shoes, but you wearing those shoes as well.

I see a slew of pictures on Instagram with the #shoefie hashtag that need not apply. Maybe people are tagging it to photos because the term is popular with a total of 244,888 tags to date (been there, done that)? Or maybe users just don't know what a “shoefie” is? Thank goodness I'm here to clear that up, Ha!

Here are examples of non-shoefies:

1. Picture of you holding your shoes

This is a pretty cute pic of my fave summer chunky heels & although I'm holding one of these in my hand and it is my shoe, it is not a shoefie. Not on my feet, not a shoefie!

2. Picture of your shoes in your house

Pretty shoes on a bed, carpet or garden doesn't a shoefie make. Even if they are captured by you, in all of their glory, in your home. Your feet in the shoes themselves are a basic requirement!

3. Picture of you wearing your shoes, taken by someone else

Isn't this a great shot of me in my hot pink shoes? Yes, it surely is, but as I can't give myself any photo credit for this one (my photog Conrad Collaco can!) it ain't another shoefie. No siree!

So thanks to my very confused non-fashion blogger friends for inspiring this post! I hope you're now all able to hold your heads up high & use the word “shoefie” in your daily musings about fashion. Just be aware of those around you who might just ask “what is a shoefie“? But I'm confident you're now more than prepared to answer that pressing question 😉

Did you know what a shoefie was before reading this post? If so, are those around you often confused by the term as some of my Torontonian friends?

xo Cristina

PS: I would kindly ask autocorrect to get with the program & stop with the swirly red underline of the world “shoefie”. I mean, come on, haven't we already resolved the fact that it is, in fact, a word?!

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