Best answer.
Hikers fairly often wear heavy wools sock and sandals, like Keens, those that protect the toes.
I think that older men in Florida were wearing bermunda shorts, sandals and calf high thin black socks, which does look a little silly to some.
But I dont care, myself.
Why do you think *anyone *cares what you wear in your apartment?
I’m talking teens/tweens, not hipsters.
We have cultural norms for reasons. An average person gets hundreds of clues in a few seconds about a stranger simply from what they are wearing and how they are wearing it; about their class, subculture, age, marital status, profession, personality, and many other subtle things.
For example, if I saw a guy with brown sandals and white socks, because it is rather unusual I’d look again, and evaluate whether he was an old retired geezer who either lost his wife or never listens to her, a clueless young nerd with zero fashion sense, or some other smaller category I am not familiar with.
Most women will prevent their guy from wearing truly stupid-looking clothes in public if they can. Some can’t, of course.
Yes: tribalism. The sense of belonging to a Group is strong. Tradition keeps norms alive, while Details Change. That doesn’t mean they have to make sense, or be practical.
How many of those first impressions are wrong?
Or in other words: we should conform to social norms in order for other People to make snap judgements about us? I don’t agree with that. I prefer norms like “Doesn’t hurt others; is practical for weather and work conditions; is clean; …”
In my culture, adult women are not the mommies of adult men who Need to tell them how to Dress.
'eff 'em too.
Hee. Teen of the 80s here too, and we wore pantihose (skin-colored) with ankle socks on top and then shoes. :eek: We were the bomb.
Oh yes, of course! Hose, then white or neon lacy mary jane socks, then shoes! Our toes suffocated but damn weren’t we cute?
Now I just go for a plain gray, beige or black sock with flats or loafers, even with skirts or dresses. I am tired of cold feet and blisters for the sake of fashion. I have also broken up with very high heels, too. But I refuse to sacrifice on quality. I’d rather have 4-5 pairs of really nice shoes than a closet full of painful cheapies. Shoes are something I am very picky and selective about, sorry to ramble!
Socks with dress shoes on women can go too teeny bopper or too geriatric bag lady, but I believe it can be stylish if you just mind the details and everything is good quality, AND the shoe is a closed-toe shoe. I am one of those weirdo throw-backs who feels open-toe shoes have no place in a professional setting, but I only impose that on myself. I realize not everyone feels that way.
Socks and sandals are trickier imo, any open-toe shoe with a sock is automatically very casual. But if, like the OP, that is how you feel your best, as long as your socks are clean and not full of acrylic pills and holes, wear what you want, this is America.
Maybe not, but there are limits to what my husband can wear in public if I am with him. On his own he can make whatever fool of himself he wants to.
I wear socks with my Keens during the winter. They are closed toed, so most people probably don’t notice, they could easily mistake them for sneakers. I have a set of grey and a set of black Keens, most my socks are grey mixes. If I wore white socks they’d probably stand out.
I wouldn’t wear socks with regular sandals.
I’m not disgusted by other peoples choice to do so.
It is fashion. I like guys with fashion sense, so I wouldn’t find socks with sandals particularly attractive.
You misunderstood me. The fact is, whether you want it to be or not, whatever you wear in public is a costume. You are on a public stage. If you want to blend in with the extras, amuse the bored, or knock people dead with envy, you will choose to wear different costumes. If you want to wear the I Don’t Believe In This Costume Shit costume, fine. People will read that one too. Snap judgements? We’re not talking about reading your soul here. Just your public persona. It could be wrong or right, but if you imagine that you and everyone else doesn’t make them every single time you encounter a stranger – and that you are in fact incapable of doing otherwise – you’re delusional.
I had to grow up quite a bit before I understood this.
I don’t wear sandals very often at all. Shit, I live in snow and cold weather. I will say, that I may sometimes wear socks, like little anklets it I’m doing a lot of walking and prefer sandals. Yes, that would be on vacation. Helps keep the sand and pebbles and such out from under your feet. Or at least more comfy. I live in a ski town. I stopped worrying about looking like a tourist years ago. I note that some folks wear down jackets in 50f weather. Others shorts. Don’t really care anymore.
I wear socks with crocs, it grosses the eff out of my kids. They constantly rib me about it. I don’t like shoes anyway. So when I wear them they gotta feel right. Socks have to have no toe seam, cause that’s just wrong. But sandals, not so much. The only sandals I wear will be a flip flop type. I don’t like the slide type, at all.
I haven’t worn leather sandals since the 60’s but living on the west coast in the winter it wasn’t unusual to see young guys with Pendleton shirts wearing white sox and leather sandals. Kind of a surfer thing, it wasn’t considered odd anyway.
My feet sweat more or less constantly, and having leather or plastic rubbing against my sweaty feet tends to rub my skin off. So on the occasions when I wear sandals, I generally prefer to have socks too. My wife is used to it, so I’m not worried about the fashion faux pas.
I wear black socks with black sandals. People think I’m cool. 
I’m sorry, that was a lie. People think I’m about as cool as the surface of the sun.
I’d add a select number of other athletic or recreational situations, but in general, amen. I mean, if someone want to look like a dork, they’re your feet, but I’m going to think you look like a dork.
I am of the opinion that people in North America are quite literally the worst-dressed adults in the history of Western civilization. I’m serious; especially in the age group from roughly 35 up, I am quite convinced people have never dressed worse. The percentage of folks I see who have no sense at all of what they’re wearing beyond the desire for cheapness and comfort above all is surely the highest it’s ever been; pyjama pants, flip flops, and pseudo-athletic wear in every situation. Wearing baseball caps at dinner, CHRIST. I have met actual adults who have no ability at all to acquire clothes that fit properly, match clothes into anything resembling an outfit, or reliable wear items of clothing appropriate to a given occasion. I know two Shorts Guys, guys who wear shorts 365 days a year even when it’s ten below, and it’s obvious the reason they’re Shorts Guys is they just don’t know how not to be.
I mean, you can laugh at fashions, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Fashions in the 70s look silly and gross now, but people then were much likelier to know how to dress - whatever you like of pantsuits or bell bottoms or brown everything, a properly fitted and matched outfit looks better than “random shit I picked up off the bedroom floor.” Here’s a picture I spotted on Wikipedia:
Obviously the guy’s outfit is dated (the lady’s outfit is fairly timeless) but he is indisputably a well dressed man. His suit matches, and it fits very well - you can see it’s perfectly fit in the shoulders, his vest fits right, and his pants are exactly the correct length. He’s wearing the perfect pair of shoes for his suit. The guy knows how to dress, and he takes care of his clothes and himself - his suit looks like he just picked it up fro the dry cleaners two hours ago and his hair is perfectly coiffed, his beard trimmed, and he’s wearing some jewelry on his right wrist that really goes with his suit. That guy put thought into buying his clothes. Wherever he is today I am confident he’s dressed well in today’s fashions. Dressing well is not about the fashion, it’s about adopting the fashion to compliment your appearance.
Socks with sandals was one of the first shots in the Let’s Dress Terribly revolution. If you wear socks with sandals you’re saying “I don’t care what I look like in public.” Hey, it’s a free country, but I’ll judge you a little.
Just recognize that some people are mature and self-confident enough to give exactly zero shits about what you or anyone else thinks of them. This presumptuous judgyness is precisely what establishes one of the biggest problem with American society today: It’s the root of intolerance and bigotry.
Some seem to believe they are just too well-heeled to see the different shades of egoistic attitudes.
What is WRONG with THOSE people?