I was in a quandry this morning as I was getting dressed.
I had run out of socks.
Specifically, I ran out of long socks. Normally I will wear regular white long socks(Tube socks if you will) with long pants and short socks (that go only just above the ankle) when I wear shorts, though I will wear my long white socks with shorts as well.
Anyways, Mrs. D suggested I wear the short socks today since I was out of long socks. I told her that I have never worn short socks with pants, only with shorts. She didn’t think it would make any difference. She also told me I should never wear my long tube socks with shorts, though I don’t see a problem with that.
So what do the Teeming Millions think? What combinations of socks with pants and shorts do you think are acceptable to wear?
IMO tube socks shouldn’t be worn with shorts. Unless they’re the soccor/baseball style sports socks, but only if you’re planning on playing sports. Short socks would be fine with pants. Now if you’re wearing sandals with pants or shorts NO SOCKS ALLOWED.
I used to be a tube sock-er. Then I met my husband, and discovered he wears these wee short socks. As I had never seen anything like this before, I pointed and laughed. Then I met his family (all men) and they do the same thing! I was quite disconcerted by all the male ankle-age I was surrounded by. It was so weird. I really did feel like a foreigner! They may as well have been wearing wooden shoes.
Then I noticed other folks around here who did the same thing. Not everyone, no, but many people. Eventually it sunk in that nobody really cared. This is a pretty liberal little place, and I came from a very repressed town, where, if I wore socks like that, people would whisper and giggle behind my back and speculate on my sexuality. I think I cried when I realised no one cares how you dress around here. Then I started looking up and around at people’s faces instead of their socks, and I noticed they all had their own style… some conforming, some way out there, most somewhere in-between, but all co-mingling. A woman in a business suit with long, pink hair; a little goth chick hanging out and laughing happily with a jock-lookng dude… I had finally arrived at paradise.
So I switched socks. I wear these wee little socks now, which I will wear with any outfit (unless I’m wearing sandals). They turned out to be the most comfortable things I have ever worn. I have one pair of tube socks left, and I hate wearing them. They feel too warm. Which is fine in the wintertime, I guess, but I have nice warm boots that don’t even require socks to keep my feet warm. Plus, the tube socks leave those ribbed lines on my lower calves.
My second paragraph ramble had nothing to do with the OP. I’ve just been very repressed for a long time. But now I wear ankle socks.*
Tube socks do not represent repression, nor do ankle socks represent liberation. Do not try this at home. Cape does not enable you to actually fly. Each sold seperately. Batteries not included.
I wear either, depending on what I am wear and how cold it is outside.
One of my biggest bugs is having socks that won’t stay up. I cannot stand that. I will buy a new pair and put them right on if a sock starts to fall down.
Shorts - Either regular length white crew socks with tennis shoes; more commonly deck shoes with no socks; or flip-flops, no socks.
Casual pants - Socks that are long enough so no skin shows when I sit or cross my legs, i.e., dress socks, but noticeable patterns are OK, like Argyle. Not long, almost-to-the-knee socks, though, never…feels like men’s panty hose to me, sorry.
Dress pants - Same as above, but with very muted patterns or solid colors.
For me, that’s a remnant from Catholic elementary school. We had to wear navy blue knee socks and of course they would wear out and fall down, or we would run around and they would fall down. I absolutely hate the feeling of having to stop and pull up my socks because of that.
So I try to never have to wear socks (not even in the snowy winter) at all, but knee socks are forever banned.
My mom has no fashion sense and one of her persistent crimes is wearing a longer-than-the-knee denim skirt with knee-high tubes socks, with stripes!! And peach-color Nikes from the 80s. I love my mom but oh goodness.
Long socks only if they won’t be seen, i.e. with long pants.
Ankle socks with shorts.
No socks with sandals, although I will allow a tiny exception–for some reason, woolly socks with Birkenstocks or similar in cold weather amuse me, and so they are permitted.
These rules apply to both men and women. You are welcome to wear your socks however you like, though, as long as you don’t ball the dirty ones up and throw them at me.
Working (that is, suit pants and jacket): Long black socks. Maybe some dress sock pattern.
Casual - Pants: Either the aforementioned long black socks (I get the Hanes black tube socks, so they’re really no different from the white counterpart), white tube socks, or white ankle socks. Really, it doesn’t matter.
Casual - Shorts: Ankle socks (caveat: If I’m doing something in which I want to wear shorts for heat concerns, but don’t want the discomfort of anything scratching up against my lower calves, I’ll wear the long tube socks. Examples: Lawnmowing, hiking, golf when I expect to be going into the woods after errant shots (which considering the state of my play is more often than I’d like to admit).)
And of course, if I’m wearing sandals or flipflops, no socks regardless of pant length.
White socks should only EVER be worn for sports. Whether they should be long or short is therefore dictated by the dress rules/team uniform of the sport in question.
Shorts should be worn with no socks, or with those very short “trainer” socks that give the impression of wearing no socks. (I agree wholeheartedly with anyone who is about to respond that shoes with no socks is both uncomfortable and disgusting, but rules is rules.) The only exception to this is in the case of sportswear worn as casualwear.
Work attire (ie a suit) should be worn with long navy socks. Long grey socks are also acceptable. Black socks (any length) are NOT acceptable unless you are a butler. No other colour is allowed (and they should bring back hanging for wearing white socks with black shoes). I expect this last rule will be contentious, especially amongst the non-Europeans here. Sadly, however, that doesn’t make it any less valid.
Don’t worry - this is fixable. It’s socks! If it were something really important, like shoes, or purses (well not pursues since you’re a dude and all) then we’d be worried. Kalhoun summed it up exactly as I would have - listen to her. She knows things.
Then you should be more imaginative . How about those very short “trainer socks”? Or just sports socks in a different colour? [I hope that by “casual pants” we are talking about jeans or cargo pants; you really don’t want to get me started on the chinos-with-trainers look.]
