You Wore Flip Flops To The White House?

A photo of Northwestern Unversity's national championship women's lacross team, taken during the athletes' visit to the White House last week, shows four of the nine women on the front row wearing flip flops with their dresses and skirts.  Yes, flip flops.  I'm all for comfortable footwear, but wearing flip flops with a dress or skirt? To the White House? To have your picture taken with the President of the United States????

As you would expect, controversy has ensued.  A front-page story in the Chicago Tribune included the above headline "You wore flip flops to the White House?" Family members of the players expressed similar dismay, saying the summer footwear staple was too casual for a visit with the President.  The mother of one player said to reporters "Don't even ask me about the flip flops.  It moritifed me."  Wow.  You go, mom.  If my award-winning athlete daughter wore flip flops to the White House I'd be mortified, to.

Before visiting the White House, Kate Darmody carefully planned her outfit.  She bought a sundress from Ann Taylor.  She put on a stand of family heirloom white pearls. And then she slipped on flip flops to meet the President.  So did about half of her teammates. 

Twenty- and thirty-somethings will pair flip flops with everything from shorts to sweat pants to cocktail dresses. For the moms and the rest of us, the shoes -- best known for their flapping noise they make -- are meant for places like the pool or beach or the backyard.   One of the hottest trends this summer, flip flops are no longer a dime-store purchase, with some costing several hundred dollars. Whatever.  Regardless if they cost two hundred bucks or thirteen dollars, they still didn't look right for a visit with the President of the United States. 

I guess I shouldn't be to surprised by this - people don't even dress up for church or visits to the funeral home any more, so why should they dress up for a visit with the President of the United States?  Granted, the flip flops the girls wore to the White House are not the old school rubber flip flops from back in the day, but they were still flip flops. All I can say is "What were you thinking?"  If you're runningup to the corner convenience store, or to a neighbor's house, flip flops are fine.  But to the White House???  What were you thinking?