A reader question:
Socks or no socks?
I have never understood the fashion of not wearing socks with shoes. I find it uncomfortable and personally don't like the look (other than boat shoes with shorts). What are the readers opinions on this?
Kind regards
It is purely subjective.
ReplyDeleteDecades old debate. Picture a station wagon full of 7th & 8th grade boys headed to a jr high school “mixer.” Circa 1964-‘65. “Please stop,” says one of the passengers, while removing his socks. Jumps out of the car places the socks in a bush along the driveway leading to the mixer. The driver asks, “what are you doing?” “My mother won’t let me leave the house without socks on,” said my now lifelong friend. “I’ll get them on the way home.”
ReplyDeleteI love this....classic!
DeleteProbably thinking of it as a "fashion" isn't the most useful approach to understanding it.
ReplyDeleteThen what is?
DeleteWhat's truly awful -- male celebrities ("slebs") on red carpets, in formal dress but sockless. Beyond ICK. I am very sorry to say that I've seen this among the groomsmen at some purportedly-upscale New England weddings too. Regrettable.
ReplyDeleteI am usually sock-less in Spring, Summer and Fall, but where I am going and what I am doing determines which way I go. I always wear socks with Formal attire, and I think Funerals require a certain formality. At Weddings, I go with the flow of the group. As I am 70, and subscribe to the notion that elderly gentlemen should maintain a certain level of dignity, I normally follow the rule that I only appear in Shorts at the Beach or on the Tennis Court, but I am always sock-less if I do. Oddly enough, most of the men in my church go sock-less at Sunday Service
ReplyDelete70. “Elderly.” Eek! Please, I am un homme d’un certain age. And I never
Deletewear socks, (ok, except for a funeral) in June, July or August, even when I am all day upside down in the garden. Merci beaucoup.
Call it the code of the broccoli rabe. A Sicilian wouldn’t be caught dead wearing socks in the garden.
DeleteI second, third, and fourth Anon 7:36 AM's point.
DeleteIf an elderly gentleman doesn’t exhibit Dignity, how will younger gentlemen learn to emulate him? One has a responsibility. Also, I am the oldest individual in my family, the imminence gris.
DeleteHi, "younger gentlemen" are not emulating old men anymore, except ironically.
DeleteThere's a lot to unpack here. Are we talking about men or women? With trousers or shorts? In what context?
ReplyDeleteI'll assume we are talking about men because, if I may say this without being uncouth, who ever objected to seeing a woman's calves and ankles? :)
Going sockless began, as I understand it, among young men on the beaches of the Carolinas in the 50s when some teenaged brain thought it would be cool (literarily or figuratively) to omit legwear. The fashion spread from there to southern fraternities and then to other parts of the country by the 60s. As with all unfortunate trends, it's hard to say why it caught on or why it reappears from time to time like a chronic ailment. The best response, I believe, is to ignore it and wait for it to go away.
Speaking generally, a gentleman should always wear socks with trousers. Otherwise, he offers the world a slash of hairy flesh between cuff and shoe that is most unflattering. In addition, feet sweat, and a cotton or wool sock will dissipate the moisture more quickly than leather.
What about with shorts? I think there is room for debate. The Bermuda look of long shorts and long socks that nearly meet at the knee draws unwanted attention today. Yet, calf- and ankle- length socks sometimes cut the line of the leg in an awkward way. As for "no-show" socks, I have rarely found a pair that didn't show.
Personally, if I am going to the beach or to a boat on a hot day, I often wear shorts and boat shoes with no socks and then kick off the shoes as soon as I get there. Whereas if I am going about town in shorts, I wear sneakers with Smartwool "low ankle" socks.
WRONG. It started as a practical solution to a very specific problem: wet feet while sailing. Wet socks are not fun. If southern frat boys thought it was "cool," and decided to copy their more practically minded northern cousins, that's all well and good. But it started in New England.
DeleteI never go sockless and wear invisible socks with shorts instead. Unlike Anonymous above at 7.41, I have had no difficulty in finding pairs that did not show. My favourites are from PRL and Falke because they are100% cotton and cool to wear.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the original post. I always wear footies, if not regular socks. I find them much more comfortable.
ReplyDelete"Speaking generally, a gentleman should always wear socks with trousers. Otherwise, he offers the world a slash of hairy flesh between cuff and shoe that is most unflattering." OK, Aunt Karen. Why don't you just sit here in the shade and rest, and someone will bring out your windup Victrola and some nice music, and maybe you'll feel a little less like a censorious maritinet maiden aunt afterwards.
ReplyDeleteJees- lighten up Frances...
DeleteYeah, lighten up
DeleteI wear socks when I am also wearing a tie or hiking boots. I wear socks, albeit very short ones, with golf shoes. Otherwise, I go sockless. It may be an effort to retain the "I got away with it" feeling we got in prep school from leaving the locker room, sockless and tie untied. As to that expanse of hairy ankle being flashed, get more sun. O, BTW, I am seventy-five. Being forever young is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThe last few days of SWNE have been an education. I had no idea that there were men out there who don't iron their clothes and don't wear socks. Are they the same men? I'm going to keep my eyes peeled today. If you see me examining your fabrics and peeking around your ankles today, try not to be alarmed. It's science.
ReplyDeleteLove this !
DeleteWhat are socks? Shout loud, louder, I don't understand!
Delete* Shout out to Marcello and Raquel.
The preppie look aims for a certain insouciance that may be achieved by going sockless, imperfectly pressing your clothes, hanging your untucked shirt out of your sweater, leaving your collar buttons unbuttoned, and similar flouting of the bourgeois code.
DeletePreppy IS the bourgeois code . . . .
DeleteFor a long time I felt without style or grace
ReplyDeleteWearing shoes with no socks in cold weather
I knew my heart was in the right place
I knew I'd be able to do these things.
Talking Heads, 1980
I'm still wearing shoes with no socks 44 years later.
Never, ever wear socks, from Topsiders to Belgian loafers… never
ReplyDeleteGoing sockless whilst wearing boat shoes/topsiders/docksiders is acceptable. Going sockless whilst wearing "loafers," or any other similar shoe is NEVER acceptable. It's an abomination.
Delete'Southampton socks"... wearing socks in your Topsiders would be a cardinal sin...
ReplyDeleteA personal preference, of course. As for me, I’m generally sockless until the first snowflake hits the ground until early April.
ReplyDeleteAirhose!
ReplyDeleteAgree with the original comment. If i'm on a boat in shorts, i don't wear socks with the boat shoes. I also don't wear socks with water sandals or birkenstocks unless it's cold out - I have 'toe socks' for evenings when I'm tripping on a river via canoe and sleeping out. Because I work from home three days a week, I often wear sandals without socks.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I wear socks.
There is a tradition, begun in Annapolis but now also in DC and Virginia, of a “sock burning” ceremony on the first day of Spring.
ReplyDeleteI love socks! 365 days of the year! Clean feet rule!
ReplyDeleteTied shoes = socks. Slip-on shoes = no socks
ReplyDeleteI'll note that Cary Grant always wore socks with lace-ups (obviously) and almost always with loafers. And on the rare occasion that he didn't wear socks with his loafers, even he looked sort of shady and gross to my eye. What chance do the rest of us have? Gentlemen, put on your socks!
ReplyDeleteYes, but Cary Grant is dead so that should tell you something about socks. Thanks.
DeleteI hadn't realized, did he die of comfortable foot syndrome lol !?
DeleteWore socks for 25 years in the financial world with lace ups. Made a career change - now, loafers, more loafers and absolutely no socks. My disdain for socks is immeasurable…and I live in Boston!
ReplyDeleteIf you are wearing trousers, please wear socks. I watch Joe Scarborough every AM, and sometimes the camera will pan down, and show him sockless. I'm surprised Mika lets him out the door like that. Sockless with trousers just looks unhygienic. Sockless goes with boat shoes and shorts.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't anyone else get sweaty feet without socks? Invisible "Peds" at the very least, so I don't ruin the insoles with salty sweat.
ReplyDeleteI have shoes strictly for no sock wearing!
DeleteI would be afraid my Maliseets would explode if they were touched by socks. Even LHS can only handle small doses, well spaced.
DeleteAlways sockless unless skiing, running a marathon, playing tennis or golf... or when the temperature is below 32 degrees.
ReplyDeleteSockless with polished weejuns in summer . Khakis &
ReplyDeleteOCBB. Got all the Cajuns riled up at the office
butcept our General Manager, Princeton, Lacrosse, Naval Aviator.
He wore B2 suits. Era 70’’s.
I'm firmly in the sock wearing brigade (other than boat shoes and shorts). Apart from the comfort angle there are so many nice socks out there! In the warmer months I wear more colourful and motif (akin to motif belts) bamboo socks with my casual clothes.
ReplyDeleteThe problem seems to be that people don’t have a sense of when to do it and when not to do it.
ReplyDeleteAs a pediatrician who has examined a lot of feet I must stress the importance of personal hygiene and shoe care. Among ourselves we refer to the teenage boy sockless-sneaker/trainer odor phenomenon, an olfactory experience to which the sockless person often seems oblivious.
ReplyDeleteBoat shoes without socks were the norm on Cape Cod when I was growing up. Vivid memories of it. We were in and out of the water all day launching boats off the beach, scrubbing the bilges and bottoms of the boats. Sitting to shake the sand out of the shoes, wiggling our toes clean in the warm waiter.Sandy, wet socks drooping down around your ankles would be just an uncomfortable mess. Setting the shoes out to dry in the bushes overnight left them dry, smelling clean and ready to go the next morning. By the end of summer they had a salty stain all along the edges. Soaking them repeatedly in buckets of fresh made them supple again, and set aside for the long winter's wait for the next season.
ReplyDeleteI think we can all agree, the real question is, do we iron our socks?
ReplyDeleteWinner winner chicken dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteSockless in anything other than a topsider is a no-go to me.
ReplyDeleteMust be a sock for every shoe, perhaps the exception being a water shoe, eh?
ReplyDeleteLet's just acknowledge up front that all feet are not equal. Some people are really oblivious (men and women) to how "unkempt" their feet are (enough said).
ReplyDeleteMy vote: formal wear, formal occasion--wear socks. From there it's a sliding scale.
However, in the final analysis, it's a personal thing. Just be realistic. If your feet (toe nails!!) are the equivalent of Quasimodo, please, for the love of all that is holy, put on socks, and call your podiatrist.
Not a lot of debate up here in Canada. Simply put, if it is too cold to not wear socks you put them on. Period. When it is warmer, it depends on what you will be doing. If you are going to somewhere where socks would seem out of place; a pool or a beach for example, then you should omit the socks. Otherwise, wear some, whatever kind you like.
ReplyDeleteAs man over 50, I do sort of look askance at men who wear no socks with long pants or white gas station tube socks with sandals. As or the "celeb" look of suit with no socks - those people deserve to freeze their feet... since it could pretty much snow anytime except on a red carpet in Los Angeles.