Men and flip-flops isn't a good look in the fashion stakes

I know it’s not my place to tell my husband what to wear - it’s not as though I’m exquisitely turned out - but you have to draw the line somewhere.

He’s become inseparable from a pair of leather flip flops. I can hear them flip-flopping around the house, in the kitchen, along the hallway, up the stairs…even when he’s outside - I can hear the leather slapping the flesh of the heel, flip flop, flip flop. It’s driving me mad.

I wouldn’t care if they looked good, but they don’t. Men’s feet are not the most appealing part of the body - pale. often hairy, yeti-like: they don’t belong on public display. Especially not size 12s like my husband’s.

As far as I can remember, flip flops have never made a mark in the fashion stakes. But this summer they’ve been highlighted as a top seasonal trend, thanks in part to A-list stars including Bradley Cooper and Jonathan Bailey heading out in them. ‘The long-held perception on flip flops has started to shift,’ says men’s style magazine Valet. ‘Today’s flip flops are more refined, often made from premium materials and designed with a streamlined silhouette that elevates them from dorm-room default to genuinely stylish summer essential.’

I’ve just Googled Bridgerton actor Jonathan wearing his and - A-list or not - it ain’t a good look. Bradley’s aren’t as close up, but even pictured from afar, they don’t do much for him either. Whoever is wearing them you still get a set of knobbly, prehensile toes sticking out of a trouser leg.

Even Bradley Cooper can't make flip-flops look good. Picture: Ian West/PA

To give them a leg-up in the fashion stakes, flip flops are now being called thong sandals, which is hardly the most appealing name, and some of them have a gap, like a small inlet, between the big toe and the others. Even the gloriously beautiful feet of Michelangelo’s David couldn’t give a good spin on these things.

To my mind, flip flops - both for men and women - belong on the beach. I’ve worn many a pair at Sandsend, those think plastic ones where you can feel the pain of every pebble as you hobble towards the sea. But I haven’t worn them beyond the shoreline of this country for a reason - they don’t look great on women either. I once went to an event at a local secondary school and the teacher giving the talk was perched on a stool wearing flip flops - it’s not just about how it looked, I also thought it far too casual for the occasion.

Aesthetics aside, flip flops were certainly the wrong choice of footwear for my husband to help break up a neighbour’s shed.

So I insisted he remove them, and he did, but what did he change into? Not a pair of sturdy boots, but sandals.

Sandals aren’t a great look for blokes either. You still get the toes poking out of trousers. They look slightly better worn with shorts, but only slightly.

Thankfully, he doesn’t own a pair of the most grotesque footwear known to mankind - sliders. Now these ugly slip-ons really are the pits. They are as elegant as a surgical boot. Bizarrely, they are often worn with socks, which looks ridiculous.

It’s okay at home, I guess, but when out and about - in the office, at the supermarket, at the cinema, in restaurants and cafes - do we want to see one another’s feet? Whatever the weather, we should keep them under wraps.