The lately-shamed legrope-less hordes at Byron clumsily losing longboards into swimmer's heads - they are only imitating their idols (rasta, tudor, campbell et al) as they are/were portrayed in the media in the height of anti-legrope neo-soul era.
Let's take a random selection from the centre of the target STAB audience - 28, competent ability - when he is packing for his indo trip, now he most likely will think: "na booties are lame" - this image here one of the many influences (along with heresay from his semi-pro mate and observations from surf films) that inform his opinion. When this very same bloke is now going over the falls on a shallow section a week later, feet bare, wishing he could have the security of a protected foot to plant on the reef to save injury to other parts of the body, as one does without thinking on a beachbreak after a wipeout. But no, he has nothing, he makes a futile attempt to float atop the water in the tumult of the whitewash; his hip is grazed first, then a knee and hand; he then stands up anyway, water now shin-deep, to jump over the whitewash of the next wave.
Fundamentally, we find disregard to danger attractive. Any time there is an option to wear a helmet (snowboarding, skateboarding etc), the cooler choice is to not. Teenagers exploit a (imagined) loophole in the law by riding with the chin-strap undone, just to show that in the event of a crash, their head still has the possibility of sustaining unhindered damage. Wearing s rash-shirt vs getting sunburnt bare-chested, or wearing earplugs vs the naturally cooler option of not wearing earplugs in a rock band. What do we attribute the attractiveness to? That which is inherent in minimalism? Or an irrational evolutionary drive about courage in the face of danger?
Now, let's think about the purpose of the shoe now as a whole - a) protection b) aesthetics. Consider the precedent of circumstances in which we wear shoes and tell me: what surface do we walk across in day-to-day life that exceeds the risk of injury of a tropical reef? Tiles, pavement, carpet, grass, dirt; all relatively smooth and innocuous; yet we wear shoes.
It is difficult to take a single step across reef without breaking the skin at least in some small way, and the concurrence of reef and the tropics means any small nick is susceptible to bacterial infection.
In the case of urban casual day-shoes, which need only to ward off occasional and minor risks to foot safety (perhaps a shard of broken glass, a discarded needle, the bite of an ant) aesthetics can dominate decision making. This class of sneakers, vans, converse etc. improve on the aesthetic of the bare foot.
We need then to look at a different class of shoes to make an apt analogy to the bootie, towards more risky terrestrial environments that rival the treachery of a coral reef - take a tradesman: steel cap boots, a adventurer: hiking boots, a butcher: gumboots, a footballer: football boots. All these shoes are tailor made for a particular function without a focus on aesthetic (nonetheless - for good or bad - they do have an unavoidable aesthetic affect). The bootie is simply the protective footwear designed for sea-going, and the surf bootie a further specialised sub-category
From the above, we may postulate that as functionality increases, coolness decreases - most of us would agree one clear example is the comparison between a fetching man on a vintage single-speed bicycle wearing jeans and a t-shirt versus a gaudy cyclist on a lightweight modern carbon frame wearing a Lycra ensemble.
However, is not what is considered aesthetically-pleasing or 'in' at any moment arbitrary? Is not functionality the rightful master? As the architect Louis Sullivan famously said "Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom ... form ever follows function", or to quote design demigod Steve Jobs, "design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
We can draw on numerous examples to illustrate this point: Timberland work boots were arbitrarily adopted as an aesthetic item by American Hip-Hop artists in the late 90s; the now-fashionable sneaker was originally just a shoe for athletics, the full-deck surfboard grip came in, out, and back in again while it's function remains unchanged: indeed, even the bootie itself in context with a long -legged wetsuit in cold climes is acceptable - even fashionable.
So in conclusion, wear booties my friends! We strap shoes on already for far less!
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