foot pedals while they played or they looked down in deep thought, we'll never know. The 'shoegaze' label caught on, and the term continues to apply to bands who create music in this genre, whether it is for entire musical careers or for certain 'shoegazing periods' the band went through.
Shoegaze music is defined by a distortion of sounds, the use of pedals to create signature sounds on stage, extended and droning grunge music which began immediately after the height of shoegazing obviously went in the exact opposite direction.) Sometimes it's difficult to pile all the groups in one shoegazing pile since the sound of each band usually significantly varies from each other, they always use the same effects while recording music. Shoegaze music definitely lives on with the new Nu Gaze music genre.
