I remember like everyone else the old man and the traditional sandals with socks trope. Then suddenly in the 90s in my area young men were wearing white socks with those Adidas soccer sandals like the European soccer (football) stars would because their soccer cleats do not feel comfortable on hard surfaces.
Sine then this look seems to have caught on with the young generation of college kids, athletes and would be athletes, and some rappers who were trying out their raggedy but hip persona.
Honestly it doesn’t really matter except to those who seem to have a problem with what others wear.
As a case in point one time all of the professional women in my office pitched a fit when some woman using our space for a week wore pantyhose with open toed sandals. You would have thought she was wearing live bloody bunny rabbits strung around her feet!
Some of us seem to have too much time on our hands.
Geez, it’s not that bad an offense.
It’s much, much worse.
Then again, I was taught your stockings/tights should never be darker than your shoes, but am now seeing
everywhere. :eek:
When I was young and foolish, I thought it uncool to wear socks and sandals. I wore Birkenstocks and bare feet out into Michigan winters.
Now that I’m old and foolish, I don’t much care. I unashamedly wear Keen’s with or without socks in various kinds of weather depending on my mood and circumstances.
I think that the reason more people don’t wear socks with sandals is because they haven’t tried it. It’s pretty comfortable.
I think most people hate it on others is because they need to get a life, and this gives them an opportunity to be fashion connoisseur poseurs.
BTW, I do think that may haters are generalizing from "old guys wearing Burmuda shorts, sandals, and calf high black socks’ as mentioned upthread. I usually wear khaki socks for this purpose, although I’m not above wearing white sports socks if convenient to me.
You’re not a man.
I really do think that most or nearly all of the restrictive and specific “rules” about what not to wear apply mostly to men. I’m not saying women aren’t likewise judged and criticized for their clothing choices, but my impression is that it’s more about the general style or appropriateness of the clothes collectively or outfit, rather than the specific pieces of clothing.
I know I can very well be wrong here.
I’m a woman, and I think you’re wrong. The “rule” about not wearing socks with sandals applies to women as well, but it probably doesn’t come up as much because women are more likely to actually follow this rule than men. I see men wearing socks with sandals fairly often, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman wearing socks with sandals.
Other women aren’t openly mocking the OP because they’re all grown-ups, that’s not the sort of thing decent people do, and most adults have bigger things to worry about than fashion policing their acquaintances. But I’m hardly a fashonista, and I would notice that a friend or coworker regularly wore socks with sandals and assume she either had some sort of medical condition or was totally clueless. I wouldn’t bring this up because it’s not important and it’s none of my business anyway, but if asked for my advice about an outfit then I’d recommend not wearing socks with sandals. A very stylish woman could probably come up with a way to wear socks with sandals and look great, but a very stylish woman wouldn’t be asking for my help.
I think there are a handful of people who are still bitter that men today dare to leave their houses on Sunday in anything less than a suit, tie, and hat.
It’s not necessarily a desire to wear socks with sandals all day long. Sometimes it’s hot when you leave the house but becomes too cold for sandals later on. If you have a pair of socks with you then you can put them on when that happens. Not that I do this; for some reason I seem compelled to follow the no-socks-with-sandals “rule”–going against my usual grain of not giving a flying F*** about what Dame Fashion says I must and must not wear.
I do totally agree that leaving the house in socks and sandals makes no sense.
I think you meant to say “makes perfect sense”. 
Sandals are way comfortable, even when it’s cold out.
Also, less sweaty feet are happier feet.
This is me.
Woman here. I know it violates a fashion rule. If I need to impress people, I know not to do it. But it’s SO much more comfortable than anything else I can wear on a hot day. (Well, bare feet are comfy on a hot day, too, but not if I need to do much walking.) So I often wear socks with sandals.
And that’s one of the fashion rules that makes me saddest. 
That and the “rule” that real pockets ruin the lines of women’s clothing, so it’s best to leave them out. I also hire a tailor to put useful pockets into my slacks.
I hate wearing socks .period. My normal work attire is loafers without socks, or other casual slip on shoes without socks, even in the winter time. About the only time I wear socks is with boots or with running shoes. Definitely not with sandals.
Look, really what is being laughed at is the older guy wearing bermuda shorts and calf high black dress socks. Yes, that combo does look silly. So wear ankle socks with your sandals and it’s cool.
Very few people wore socks with sandals until the late Eighties/early Nineties, when socks with Birkenstocks was a fashion trend. It palled fairly quickly, but it seems to have opened the gates for people who find it convenient and comfortable. Nothing causes as much distaste as outdated fashions, though, and it seems to me those who clung to “Birkensocks” after the popularity waned became sort of emblematic of Bad Fads.
I don’t wear socks with sandals, but I can see how they’d be cooler than shoes and not as chilly in air conditioning as sandals on bare feet. If I were the OP, I’d buy the wildest socks I could and embrace the look.
There’s a Progressive Insurance commercial for a “Dad Support Group”. One of the funny things is that they show (but don’t comment on) one Dad wearing Sandals with Socks (at 0:33 on the extended cut):
The thing is, my default is wearing socks with sandals. If feels more comfortable, believe it or not – I don’t get dirt and pebbles on my feet. But after years of relentless fashion-conscious ribbing by Pepper Mill and MilliCal, I no longer do this, and wear my sandals barefoot.
I’m convinced my MIL feels that people who don’t dress fashionably do so because it is a moral failing on their part.
If you see a guy with brown sandals and white socks, you should ask him if he posts on the SDMB under the name wolfpup. 
OK, not quite really, because I do think it looks kind of geeky. I wear sandals a lot in the summer and would never intentionally wear them with socks, white or otherwise. But here’s the thing. If I happen to be wearing socks in the house, they’re probably white, since they go well with sportswear which is all I wear 99% of the time. And if I need to pop out to the grocery store or something I’ll just more or less walk into whatever is at the front door, which in the summer is probably sandals. And voila! The white-sock-wearing brown-sandaled doofus is created, not out of ignorance, but mostly that I’m sure that the chances that it will offend anybody – or has ever done so – are about the same as the chances that, attired in this ghastly accouterment, I will meet the Queen or miss the opportunity to get propositioned by a hot babe during my short venture out.
Some might equate this with not giving a shit, and that’s probably pretty close to the truth. However I do my bit to make this a nice world. I pick up litter, I recycle, I yield for pedestrians. I maintain my house and grounds as part of a nice neighborhood. I doubt that my footwear is going to matter to the state of the world. The only way my footwear is going to make an impact is if it kicks one of the more annoying fashion critics in the rear end.
Hey, this is the SDMB. Emotions are binary here; the only two possible reactions are indifference and rage.
The only time I wore socks with sandals is when I was playing a “goofy” character in a show, and I needed a visual cue that would make the audience think “hey, that guy’s goofy!”
This is the SDMB. People will fight for eight pages about the correct way to order at Subway.
Out and about right now.
Warm spring evening.
Wearing khaki socks and brown sandals.
Mmmmmmm. 
There are, of course, exceptions… 
Me, I’d much rather see somebody in sandals and socks than wearing sandals with gross, nasty, dirty feet. Hey, it’s none of my business and people can do what they like, but when I see a middle-aged or older guy with nasty feet wearing leather sandals, it grosses me out. I *wish *he’d put some socks on!
I would only question it it they were flip flops with socks.