Most of you already know I’ve joined the Crocs craze, admittedly late.

I was one of those Crocs-bashers, who made fun — still do! — of people who think bright pink plastic clogs go with anything. (They don’t!)

Look who’s wearing Crocs these days!

Just spend some time in Waikiki — where a new retail shop opened recently on Kalakaua Avenue — and you’ll see just how far the trend has gone.

Japanese tourists can’t get enough of these colorful footwear, donning them with sun dresses and golf pants. It’s incredible!

Now, I don’t hate Crocs, not the way people do on the popular I Hate Crocs blog or writer Steve Tuttle does in his rant in Newsweek last week. I just think they’re the kind of footwear you need to consider twice before wearing.

You shouldn’t wear them to a job interview — unless you’re applying to be a deckhand on a sailboat. And you might want to avoid escalators. (Kids are getting these soft shoes caught in the escalator teeth and suffering injuries.)

It’s about one thing, as quoted in a hilarious video parody on YouTube: “I’ve given fashion the finger.”

Here’s the vid!

So if you’ve got ‘em, wear ‘em. Just know not everyone will appreciate your fashion choices.

I was like any typical 10-year-old girl, I played with Lego, wished for an Easy-Bake Oven and, of course, worshiped Madonna.

Not the cone-wearing, gyrating Madonna. I’m talking about the “Desperately Seeking Susan,” clad-in-lace-and-rubber-bracelets Madonna.

Oh, yeah, I won’t deny it: I wore the lacy headbands, the black rubber bracelets, the silver crosses and hoop earrings. I even tried to tease out my outta-control black tresses to give it that tousled bedroom look a la the Material Girl.

I danced in my bedroom to “Burning Up” and “Into the Groove.” I clung to my adolescent views of love listening to “Crazy For You.” Madonna provided the soundtrack to my life at the time.

Well, now she’s turning 50 — Aug. 16, in case you’re wondering — and it’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since her first (self-titled) album. (And perfect timing: a new, unauthorized tell-all book, “Life With My Sister Madonna,” penned by brother Christopher Ciccone, just came out just in time for her birthday. How thoughtful.)

I give her credit: she’s still touring, still rocking a sick bod, still married (for now), and still churning out dance-floor hits.

But where has the Madonna from my childhood gone?

I look at today’s fashion and music icons — and I’m utterly disappointed (with the exception of Gwen Stefani, who would be my new muse except I’m too old now to have one.) I mean, no other artist — that I can recall — was so fashion-forward and trend-setting that would inspire Macy’s to open an in-store boutique.

At the risk of sounding like my parents, who wax poetic about “how it used to be,” I just haven’t felt that connected to music since the ’80s. There was something about that era — the bad hair, the worse outfits — that struck a pop-electric chord.

I’m sure my age had a lot to do with it. Tween years are highly impressionable. But still, there hasn’t been anyone like Madonna — even Madonna now.

So I’m throwing it out there: Did you worship the Material Girl, too? What memories do you have of ’80s icons? Miss those days — or glad the leggings and triangle T-shirts never made a comeback?

It’s official.

I wear Crocs.

It took me awhile to succumb to the trend — could you call it fashion? — but I broke down when I realized sometimes you need something sturdier than slippers but easier to wash than shoes. Like working in the yard or traipsing around at a beach cleanup.

I’ll admit: I never liked the Colorado-based footwear. The original clogs are, well, more utilitarian than fashionable. And I hate hate hate when people wear them inappropriately — like to a cocktail party or to a wedding.

But I figured there must be something to these shoes since it seems like everyone — even the New Zealand Olympic team — is wearing them.

Got any strong feelings toward Crocs? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em?

Or do you have another fashion pet peeve — leggings, scrunchies — you’d like to share?