It’s pretty much a guarantee that you’re going to see me out and about with socks and sandals. We don’t wear shoes in the house, and (unless it’s the summer) it’s too cold to be barefoot hanging out inside.
If I have to go out and run quick errands, I’m certainly not going to take the time to lace up a pair of shoes to satisfy some fashion aesthetic when I can spend two seconds stepping into sandals on my way out the door.
Now, if I’m going out to dinner / work / a bar / whatever, definitely not. But grabbing groceries? Sorry.
It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, there are fashion standards and they change over time. No one would seriously go to a business meating, wearing one of those small brimmed 50’s hats Sinatra used to wear, unless he’s a fence in a movie and wears the hat with a sleveless undershirt.
There are also regional or national differences. We Eurotypes can always spot an American tourist a mile away: Tevas w/ socks, shorts ending above the knee and the shirt tucked in.
All of these are considered dorky over here. It doesn’t have anything to do with age, as American college kids backpacking through Europe look the same way.
The fact that the OP said “white socks with Tevas” rather than merely with sandals, as if it were some sort of sacrilege against precious tevas (I had to look them up on the adtags, though I’ve heard of them, I didn’t know exactly what sort of shoe they were). I don’t mean to offend the OP, namebrand worship is just one of my pet peeves.
Other than at work (where it’s steel toed boots and steel-toed Baffins) it’s usually tennis shoes, even in winter (best kept secret, there are a lot of states that are MUCH colder than the “panhandle” and Anchorage area).
“Bunny boots” are probably the official Alaskan footwear.
As to Alaskan style, though I’ve lived here 37 years, I’m not a “real” Alaskan by most of my fellow Alaskans’ standards (I hate the holy trilogy of Hunting/fishing/snowmachining and the fanatical, often heavy drinking, mindset that goes along with it).
What sums up my Alaskan fashion style? I was meeting my old boyfriend at a restaurant a few years back, and as I was Oooooh so carefully trying to make my way across the ice-caked parking lot, I heard a lady say “Oh you GO girl! High heels in the winter?” Yep, tiny stiletto heeled purple suede demi-boots. Took me about 5 minutes to go 30 steps. The ultimate fashion victim.
So, suffice it to say that people who wear socks with sandals, to me? So what? (I do have to admit that calf high black socks with sandals, ICK! So I do have some sort of standards, however small, I guess).
Also, why not have socks on? Bare sweaty feet against your footwear? YUCkOOO, that equals smelly sandals in no time at all.
I see. I get your point. I thought the specificity a little weird myself, but they have been in style lately it seems. (I used to think I was the only one in SoCal that wore the damn things, but now I see them all over). OTOH the fact that this seems to have turned from a fashion rant into “OMG you slave to namebrands!!!111” annoys the hell out of me, but you didn’t start it. Meh.
(I used to backpack my dress shoes to school or I’d freeze to death waiting for the damn bus, so I appreciate this chutzpah!)
Now that you mention it, there does seem to be a category (mostly kids) of Alaskans that seem to have some sort of weird “pride thing” going on regarding dressing as light as possible in spite of the weather.
Wish I knew where to find it, but a local morning DJ team did a funny spoof of the “real men of genious” beer commercials on this group. Something about “Mr. MY arns are bright red and I have severe fro-OOOstbite!!!”. It was, of course, much funnier to actually hear it.
Anyway, you see these kids mostly at bus stops, (and sometimes adults out and about downtown) but it can be 10 degrees and they’ll be there with their shorts or minis and high heels and nary a coat in sight.
Brrrrrrr! I used to do the same thing though, do kids just not feel it? I lived across the street from my HS, so at least I could stay somewhat warm while I walked to class or my locker, but standing waiting for a bus? Or walking downtown (especially with the way the wind blows in off of the inlet). Double BRRRR!
I know a high-level civil servant who wears Birkenstocks with socks (black ones) along with his suit, every day, and as far as I know he has for his entire career. He knows it looks dorky but he doesn’t care.
On another note, you can keep your Tevas and Keens because Chacos are the best sport sandals ever. And you’ll be happy to hear I got the kind with the toe loop so even if I was momentarily possessed by fashion’s satan, I couldn’t wear socks with them if I tried. If we were to seek legislation to stop this fashion nightmare, perhaps we could mandate all sandals to have flip-flop-type toe loop things.
And here, it’s German tourists (and occasionally east Asians who, going by the ones I know, do it to keep their feet clean), who lead in the socks-with-sandals department.
I never thought of it as an “older dudes” thing. If anything, I thought of it as a Federline thing. Do you want to emulate *Kevin Federline * in your fashion choices? Or anything? Do you? DO YOU?!?!?!?
Hell I’m 26 and if I didn’t spend so much time in West LA I wouldn’t have a clue either. Damn kids need to stay off my lawn with their ugly boots and their hippity-hop.
CanvasShoes, those kids sound like the corollary to the 0 degree down coat and insulated boot wearing set at my campus. If it gets below 65 they think they’ll freeze to death. I always get “aren’t you cold?” until I explain that where I live it’s 40 degrees cooler or more (except in the summer, when it’s 40 degrees warmer).
Just outside of Lancaster, actually. Getting to Palmdale is practically a third of my commute - yeah I should probably move, but I like the peace of the desert out here in the tumbleweeds.
Yeah, I’m reading this whole thread and looking a bit shifty. I bought my first pair of Chacos in about 2000 and wore them pretty much daily – that is, if I was leaving the house for anything other than a nice dinner out or a business-casual job and it was above freezing, I was wearing my Chacos.
They more or less wore out last summer at long last and I bought a new pair. Current boss wears flipflops to work and doesn’t care if we show up wearing anything as long as we didn’t sleep in it, so unless I have a reason not to, it’s sandals.
Without socks, allow me to add, though rainbow socks – especially the kinds with the little toes – are perfectly acceptable.
Yes, I know my shoes are ugly. But they last forever, they don’t slip (I swear I could walk up a wall wearing these suckers), and they don’t make my foot stink. There’s some kind of antisweat or antimicrobial substance in the rubber. Don’t ask me to explain; I just know that not only do I not have stinky shoes, I don’t have stinky feet when wearing these.
Also, I’m quite rough on my shoes and my feet are extra-wide, and Texas summers are vicious. I recall I did sweat through my socks once. These are the most comfortable shoes I own. So I do, at the mild risk of looking like a pillock.
Actually, guys here all go around with their shirt untucked. To me it looks decidedly odd to see people’s shirttails hanging out. I guess that’s one trend for which I’m not anxious to jump on the bandwagon. I’m letting the “let your pants hang below your waist so people can see your underwear” thing pass me by too.
I’m more in accordance with this view. Ditched the Tevas for Keens last year; I work outdoors, am on my feet on the job, rough gravel always, and Keens are more substantial. I am of a utilitarian mind with footwear, with a job that is rough on shoes. I often wear socks(white and black ankle socks) with them in the morning, because it really feels good to have em. As the day progresses, they get soaked and stinky, and I take them off to go ala sandal. I really don’t care about the fashion of it; it’s a comfort thing. I’ve noticed that it helps to cut down with Stank Sandal Syndrome.
