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Coffee shop footwear gets roasted by an anonymous Instagram account

Some hundreds of years from now an intrepid anthropologist with a cybernetic brain and, of course, a jetpack might study ancient cultures by their choices in footwear.

Until then, Baton Rouge has @Morning_Feet_of_Magpie, a mystery-cloaked Instagram account that launched last fall. It features clandestine posts of the shoes worn by locals while they wait in line at Magpie Café, the popular coffee and foodie destination on Perkins Road.

The comments range from snarky to the occasional crumb of praise, but they never get too hypercritical and never show people’s faces in their images. The account is a quirky look at the demographics of a specific local hangout unlike anything else in Baton Rouge.

In casual conversation with some of the shop’s baristas, I broached the subject. They could only say that they are aware of the account, they all think it’s a little odd, and most importantly, they have no idea who is behind it. The only thing the staff has heard is that several people working together run the account rather than a lone poster.

Gleefully anonymous, the profile does list an email address. So I wrote to it. To my surprise, someone responded just a few minutes later.

Turns out the staff’s conspiracy theory is correct. A fluctuating roster of five to 15 people across three different states contributes to the posts. All at one point lived in the 70808.

“Only a few of us are actual regulars, and the rest make it a priority to stop in when visiting from out of town,” wrote one of the anonymous posters in an email response. “We love good coffee, the community and supporting local business.”

@Morning_Feet_of_Magpie began as a group text after some friends kept noticing what they call an “oddly specific trend” at the café: Men in lace-up chukka style boots with tightly cuffed skinny jeans. One would text a picture to the group, always prefacing it with “MFOM.” The others would join in with ad-libbed captions.

After this went on for a while, they decided to take their handiwork to Instagram.

The account has not exactly gained a huge following—so far. It could only count 93 followers at the time of this writing, but it has earned some victories, such as when the café’s official account @Magpie_Cafe has liked and regrammed its posts.

“How did that feel?” writes the anonymous responder. “Like we’d just been handed a hot, delicious Magpie latte with an intricately poured foam heart: warm and loved.”

Could @Morning_Feet_of_Magpie be an inside job run by current or former employees? Clues are scarce.

If anything, perhaps the group’s months of extreme secrecy should be praised more than any sartorial smarts.

“Never,” says their emailing representative when asked if they’ve ever almost been caught. “We’re way too stealth for that.”

Check out the footwear spotted at Magpie Café on instagram.com/morning_feet_of_magpie.


The Instagram account’s photos range from candid shots of customers’ sartorial selections to fun, Photoshopped images for holidays such as Christmas and Mardi Gras.

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account

Magpie Cafe footwear Instagram account