Cold-weather cover-up suits me just fine

One of the rarely acknowledged advantages of our fast-approaching winter season is that people have to cover up parts of their bodies that are better left under wraps.

In particular, I’m delighted that men and women will have to retire their flip-flops and either bring out serious footwear or face frostbite. There is an accelerating trend toward incivility in dress, including overexposure of body parts that aren’t meant to see the light of day.

I don’t know what it is exactly that I have against toes, but I’d rather not see them except on a beach. People wear flip-flops on trains, buses, at the mall and to school. I was on a plane a few weeks ago and the woman across the aisle slid her naked feet out of her flip-flops and put them up on the back of the seat in front of her. There’s little enough privacy on an airplane; we’re packed in shoulder to shoulder. I ask you, did I need to see and smell her feet? Why didn’t her mother tell her it isn’t polite to wave your toes in public?

Of course, feet are only part of the overexposure problem. There are the low-riding pants on both young men and women, which expose the mysterious region known as Krakatoa. Everyone knows that Krakatoa is a place better left undisturbed. Why not hitch up the pants to a respectable place and keep the nether parts concealed? Sometimes women want to show off a tattoo, but isn’t the butt off limits for public viewing?

Then, of course, we have the bellies on display, with and without belly-button piercings and such. On one hand, it’s a good thing that young women seem more comfortable with their bodies; however, I don’t get the point of letting one’s midriff hang out. I see way too many teenage girls out in public in various stages of undress, and I don’t think this has to do with my age; I think it has to do with parents who throw up their hands and say, “Well, what can I do?”