shoe lace color symbolism

[carakitty]

Back in the high school days I recall one of my friends telling me that wearing certain colors of laces in your boots was akin to professing your support for a certain life style such as purple for being a lesbian, or red for Nazis. I guess it would be similar to the colored ribbon craze which has been so popular lately. Can anyone tell me if there's truth in what she told me?

[carakitty]

lol sometimes I'm such a lazy ho.
Repeat after me class of one: Google is our friend. Embrace the Google.

[Serren]

I have some male gay friends that say that they wear different coloured laces in their boots to show what they are 'into.'

I think it maybe a little like when we were at school and there was a rumour that if you were a man and had a certain ear pierced it was meant to show whether you were gay or straight, I don't think anyone ever knew for sure though which ear it was tho lol.

[PortraitOfSanity]

Here in Chicago, it's gang representation. You can get your ass kicked for wearing the wrong colors in the wrong neighborhood, so noone really wears 2 colors of laces, or certain colors. Except for stupid kids of course, and then their mommies go on the news wondering why junior got his ass beaten wearing a cocked baseball cap and black and blue shoe laces. Ignorance is no excuse in my book.

[Pineapple_Juice]

I heard the same thing about bracelets. Like if you wear this colored bracelet it means you are homosexual and you like to be on top, etc. etc.

Guess that's more club oriented.

[Still Jack]

Over here it's that Nazi's generally have white laces in their boots. Punks tend to have red ones ( it used to signify political views, i.e. black/red striped for anarcho communism, and so on ). Local gang ( bunch of wannabe gangster fucks ), wear neon green. That's about it here really.

[KontanKarite]

I heard white laces equate to something of the Aryan Nation or some shit like that.

[korinna5555]

What do blue Care Bear laces mean???????????????



xD

[Stormtrooper of Death]

I just wear black laces in my boots.

I used to wear green and black, but those boots wore out.

[SweetJane]

I thought it was the color of the laces combined with doc martens, or boots, especially oxbloods. I have a pair because I like the S.H.A.R.P. or traditional Skinhead look, and I always just wore black laces in them because I have heard of this before.

I've also heard that this is complete bullshit, though, along with things like the color of flight jacket a person is wearing.

[Haunted House]

I have yellow laces in one boot and orange in the other. For all I know, I could be advertizing that I'm a gay Nazi who thinks the Earth is flat.

[Krick Wurkheiser]

I've heard that in the UK skinheads wore different laces to show their beliefs... whether racist or not, and if so what ethnic groups you hated, and if not what other things you were against, like a certain political party. That's all I know on the matter. The 'braces and laces game'.

Originally Posted by Serren

I don't think anyone ever knew for sure though which ear it was tho lol.

[Razeal18]

like anyone above the 8th grade would say "gee what laces define my political views?" stupid childish bullshit. i wouldn't perpetuate this silly practice, i mean is anyone that truley matters going to instantly write you off because of what laces you have in your boots? also would anyone who has an intelligent political view choose to announce it with shoe laces? c'mon

[Krick Wurkheiser]

Originally Posted by Razeal18

like anyone above the 8th grade would say "gee what laces define my political views?" stupid childish bullshit. i wouldn't perpetuate this silly practice, i mean is anyone that truley matters going to instantly write you off because of what laces you have in your boots? also would anyone who has an intelligent political view choose to announce it with shoe laces? c'mon

All you say is true, however it's no more silly than wearing any other gang uniform - it's a way of telling friend from foe [even if they all be immature]. It's not about people who matter writing you off, I don't think, it's more like a tribal tattoo - Ol' red-laces over there will kick my ass if I get to close, but hey there's somebody over there with green ones so we're safe together. It's just a symbol.

However, the whole thing does carry a recognizable whiff of immaturity...

[emeraldlonewoulf]

think of it like this, gang colors are like the battle flags and banners of old. certain cultural elements use laces to identify themselves to each other and opposing sides. What colors mean depends on both location and culture group. i say, if you are in a cultural group where what you wear is a life or death or get-your-ass-beaten matter, you will most likely know what is and isn't acceptable. If you don't, don't wear it til you find out what you are advertising.

[SiouxsiePernova]

I wear purple shoelaces in my boots, and so does my boyfriend. I selected them simply because my favourite colour is purple, but I am not bothered by possibly being mistaken for a lesbian. : P

[Krick Wurkheiser]

Originally Posted by SiouxsiePernova

I wear purple shoelaces in my boots, and so does my boyfriend. I selected them simply because my favourite colour is purple, but I am not bothered by possibly being mistaken for a lesbian. : P

I don't think anybody would think you werem unless the rest of your clothing was defined in a particular way. After all, skinhead culture has a style of its own, which when worn with the specific-colour shoelaces sends a message out to other skins.

[carakitty]

Reading the responses has been interesting.
When I was in high school i would wear purple laces when I was really in my Bi-Curious time. I would also wear yellow because one of my nicknames is Bumble Bee. Once in a while if I found a pair of really cool printed laces I'd wear those but often times you'd find the standard black laces in there too. There were too many preppy yuppy upper middle class people where I grew up to have any sort of real punk skin head subculture though. So colored laces at my high schools were more of a conversation starter I guess.

I think if a boy used to have only one ear pierced and it was the right side it was supposed to mean he was gay. That trend seemed to be in the 80s and very early 90s from what I recall.

[Razeal18]

i wore whatever the hell was available depiste any supposed meanings cause i was poor, and the only choice i got was out of the bargin bin. fuck you all you fashion statement fuckers be happy you had something that wasent second hand!! (this is all feined anger in case the sarcasim was too subtle)

[CIRQUEFREAK91]

i wear black on my boots.. no here really wears colured laces except punks.

[carakitty]

I would like to add that currently I have black laces in my most literally holy Docs, but would love to put in yellow again some time soon. For the Bumble Bee nickname symbolism (plus bees are just awesome all around!) and also because I'm one of those somewhat annoying optimistic Goth types. Smiling through the dark lipstick, playing pop-ish Cure + Siousxie and all that. =)

[Krick Wurkheiser]

Originally Posted by CIRQUEFREAK91

i wear black on my boots.. no here really wears colured laces except punks.

I'm a punk and I only wear black shoelaces... in fact, I more or less only wear black clothes. When in doubt, just choose black!

[Stormtrooper of Death]

It does go with everything!

[Anestheticx]

I know that Doc Martin shoe laces do hold symbolism. Depending on your area the symbolism may be more recognized or not, or hold completely different gang-related symbolism.:

Red: Can mean communism, as well as representing blood spilt. Can also represent someone who is involved with or supports punk culture or someone who does not support the Nazi movement.


Yellow: Can represent time spent in jail for a cause or someone who dislikes homosexuals.


Green: I have seen to symbolize Irish pride, a S.H.A.R.P ( skinhead against racial prejudice )as well as gay pride.


White: tends to represent white power/nazi culture support, but trads wear white as well.

Blue Can represent a supporter of punk culture, supporter of Police, or a S.H.A.R.P ( skinhead against racial prejudice )

Black: Neutral, or a S.H.A.R.P ( skinhead against racial prejudice ) or no preference.

[Borderline]

I used to wear purple ones that said "Goddess" on them in my sneakers.. Only because a good friend of mine gave them to me. I still have them to this day, nearly a decade later.