The genre is named after how the bands stared at their shoes, but shoegaze is basically a genre based around being loud with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, loads of feedback, delay, and what not. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of effects pedals and stuff. Often resulting in a massive wall of sound where the guitars drowns most of the other instruments a lot of the time. And the overall atmosphere is often very dreamy.
Just listen to My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" on repeat and you'll get it.
Bear got a reaction from leafwork in Ok so can someone tell me what people mean by shoegaze? Because from what I've gather