From "Are We All Supposed to Wear Socks With Sandals Now? A teacher wonders about the etiquette rules of contemporary footwear" (NYT).
Complicated! I'd like to say wear socks and sandals in whatever combination expresses the youness of you, but as between the people who have publicly overembraced a supposed rule against socks with sandals and the people who are squicked out by the sight of toes, I'd like to skew toward the toe-haters. But make a good sock choice. Wear socks that say: I know what I'm doing.
And for you Roman Empire buffs: "ROMAN SOCKS AND SANDALS: FASHION OR FAUX PAS? In this article Mark Griffin explores the history of this unlikely pairing." ("'Udones' were made either of pieced together cloth or woollen yarn using a type of knitting called 'nalbinding' or something that looks similar to netting called 'sprang.'")
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65 comments:
No. Hard no.
I’m trying to decide which looks worse. Men’s ugly feet or sandals with socks.
P.S. Why do fashion designers want all men to look gay.
Why are you looking at my feet? My eyes are up HERE.
Wear sandals, no socks but keep em on.
You slip out of your shoes to easily in professional settings, ma'am, socks or not...
Keep your footware on in public people and you don't have to worry about socks. If you smell, no matter where, fix that directly...
The rules must constantly change to keep the in-group “in” and the out-group “out”. And the more widely the rules are broadcast, the more frequently they must change.
Real men wear boots, even/especially in the working days of summer...
Hth. Your Madison roots are showing again! (femme men/backyard biker boys...)
Ok, since it was proffered now I want to understand examples of socks that that say: "I have no idea what I'm doing."
I need to find socks that look like shoes.
I am wary of wearing the warez of the N-word as whores to modern fashion sense.
I've got an old friend from college. To this day he's just an old hippie who happens to be good at business. But he always wore socks with sandals and I always kidded him about it. I have told him for some time that if he waits long enough, he'll end up at the cutting edge of fashion.
And here we are.
Wear socks without sandals. Lean in, prick your toes.
Miranda Priestly: You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that, in 2022, Reddit did a thread on the ugliness of toes, and then I think it was the New York Times Style section, wasn’t it?… who said the entirety of Gen Z refused to go out sockless. I think we need an over-the-calf here.
DON'T SOCKS DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF SANDALS?
I shout because I don't get the interest in varied footwear.
The whole point of wearing sandals, I assumed, was to have your feet unbound in the open air. But you wrap them in a sock and then use a sandal?
Seems like "going outside for fresh air" and then standing in a phone booth, (if they still had them.)
1. Sneakers. 2. Office Shoes. 3. Old Sneakers for Beach
That's all you need.
Achilles, my wife has heavy duty socks with polymer treads on the bottom so they are not slippery on our wood floors.
Tens of thousands of university people wearing Birkenstocks with white socks and carrying lattes scurry into the shadows like cockroaches.
Gen Z is so tech focused and AI-groomed that all bodily functions seem gross to them. Toes are ugly. Teeth get dirty. Ears are weird. Hair grows and grows and never stops.
Daughter (18) wears socks with her Birkenstocks. I do not.
I don’t wear them much any more, but I found socks make leather sandals much more comfortable. Can save your upper feet from rub blisters if you walk distances in them.
Many amphibious shoes similar to sandals have sock built in to ease the rub.
I don't recall it being the case, when I was young (60s/70s) that all cultural, fashion, or social meditations broke their subject down into a variety of responses from a variety of named generations. Am I misremembering that?
‘Squicked out’. New to me. I like it!
I have always disliked naked feet. I always thought my dislike was not shared by most people. Somehow, I am happy to hear that there is a whole generation of young people who share my dislike. Can I have nice summer dress shoes now that hide the toes?
If Gen Z prefers not to see bare toes, that's reason enough to wear sandals with no socks.
Socks are strictly functional. I wear them with shoes because they make the shoes more comfortable. I wear them with sandals when it's a little cold and I want to keep my toes warm.
I'm with CJinPA. What's the purpose of wearing sandals if you're gonna put on socks? Just wear shoes. This probably reflects that I only think of wearing sandals in situations where shoes with socks would be impractical and uncomfortable such as a beach or pool area.
It will probably be pacifiers with whatever generation comes next.
as george carlin said he’s gonna have a foreign accent
it might be seattle grunge but still an accent
"Wear socks that say: I know what I'm doing."
SUBMIT.
I wear sandals specifically to avoid socks.
Both is like wearing shorts with a sweater. It's not about fashion for me. It never is, and that's the me- of me.
As an elderly gentleman I have peripheral neuropathy in the toes. This makes shoes confining and uncomfortable. So I wear sandals - the alternative would be clown shoes - and socks for my own comfort. It doesn't matter how it looks - at my age I'm invisible anyway.
I love summer. Flip flops and Teva sandals. No socks allowed. Don't want to see my toes then don't look at them. My eyes are up here.
If I need socks, I'm wearing them with shoes. If I am in a situation to wear sandals, it is because I don't want to wear socks, otherwise what is the point?
Gen Z: Free the nipple! Cover the toes!
"The whole point of wearing sandals, I assumed, was to have your feet unbound in the open air. But you wrap them in a sock and then use a sandal?"
Socks aren't that warm. There's airflow. Socks can make sandals more comfortable because they're cushioning.
Comfort/friction padding, temperature and moisture regulation. With or without socks, open footwear allow your feet to dry/breathe better. Less sweat, less fungus. Take a look inside a closed toe slipper after a few months of wear some time.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
Achilles, my wife has heavy duty socks with polymer treads on the bottom so they are not slippery on our wood floors.
Might work if they are really tight.
But My goal is to go barefoot without getting harangued by Karen.
I wear compression socks, even with my sandals (usually).
White of course.
Like Temujin's college friend--it's all cyclic anyway.
me and the bubbas go to the Vietnamese for pedis every couple weeks…
The pretty women always threaten pink polish for the toes but I usually decline…
"Leather boots are still in style for Manly Footwear. Beads and Roman Sandals won't be seen. Football's still the roughest thing on campus. And the kids there still respect the College Dean....."
This tread among Gen. Zers is probably driven by the high cost of a pedicure. They're having enough trouble paying rent as it is.
Timmy do you like gladiator movies
Generation Z has a point. There are some feet that should not be allowed on public display through a sandals. Especially in restaurants where people are trying to eat.
Unless youre at the beech
IMNSHO, men should never show their feet in public except near water. Men should never wear sandals, except in those contexts. Definitely no socks. (various health reasons excepted)
But, young people are always pushing boundaries. When I was a kid, plaid shorts were what old men wore. Then in the. . . .90? kids started wearing them. It's all cyclical.
@Althouse: Socks aren't that warm. There's airflow.
In the upper Midwest this matters. Down in Florida, Arizona, or Las Vegas, wearing socks in the summer feels like putting little down jackets or gloves on your feet.
Long pants and long sleeves often make sense in the tropics, as they are better sunblock than greasy creams. They can be relatively cool too.
Points for using the word "squicked." Haven't seen that in a while. It's a good word.
The feet I object to seeing are those of most men and those of women who pointed toe high heels for years. Mangled feet I tell you. High heels might have done wonder for calf muscles, but the twisted toes more than offset that beauty advantage.
In my neighborhood, the socks with sandals demographic is taken up almost exclusively by Chinese, who wear the croc-like shower shoes with the band across the tops of the feet. Color coordination is optional if they’re over 40. In Gen-Z, it’s black sandals with white socks almost exclusively. I’m guilty of it too, but only in the house. When it’s cold and foggy, I pull out a pair of Japanese tabi socks, the ones with the separate slot for the big toe, so I can continue to wear my flip-flops and keep the feet warm.
"In the upper Midwest this matters. Down in Florida, Arizona, or Las Vegas, wearing socks in the summer feels like putting little down jackets or gloves on your feet. Long pants and long sleeves often make sense in the tropics, as they are better sunblock than greasy creams."
That makes it sound as though feet can't get sunburned. I've gotten bad sunburns on my feet. Hadn't thought of that as a reason to wear socks with sandals though.
I almost never wear sunblock. It's messy and I don't trust it. So I go out around sunrise and then later I walk where I can count on it being shady or I use clothing to protect me. If you think "Long pants and long sleeves often make sense in the tropics," then why wouldn't socks also make sense. Obviously, you'd want summer weight socks, not your winter socks. Sounds like you tried winter socks!
An advantage of socks is that they soak up sweat that would otherwise be soaked up by the shoes (or sandals).
@Althouse --
Feet are more often in the shadows, under pant legs, in the pool, in the river, etc. relative to the major and constant exposure of the head and arms. When swimming or snorkeling, the upper back, shoulders, arms, and head are critical for sunburn. I tried snorkeling without a T-shirt in Hawaii. Once. My feet were bare but undamaged.
I've lived in cold places and hot places and dry places and humid places. Take it case by case.
There is an old guy who attends my AA meetings who always wears threadbare but clearly expensive dress trousers and collared shirts, but he never wears shoes, not even sandals. His feet are crooked and pretty off-putting, and he has a hunch back. He's quiet but very well spoken, and he looks like a guy with some serious drinking in his past. I haven't figured him out yet, but I kind of wish he was wearing sandals with socks.
“ Wear socks that say: I know what I'm doing.”
My socks don’t say anything. I always wear socks with sandals because it’s more comfortable, but I don’t want them talking to strangers.
“My socks don’t say anything. I always wear socks with sandals because it’s more comfortable, but I don’t want them talking to strangers.”
Socks should be see , and not heard.
Flip flops are a generational attitude of a rebellious fashion.
Sandals with or without socks is better than these pumps.
My old boss was a former nurse and she was death on exposed toes in the office.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
Achilles, my wife has heavy duty socks with polymer treads on the bottom so they are not slippery on our wood floors.
I've seen them on women's feet when they leave the ER.
I'll weigh in: shoes and sneakers, both always with socks. Men with no socks? Only acceptable with flip flops at the beach. I do enjoy my deck shoes. I have three pair of the same color and I rotate them into the washer when they get nasty.
Women can wear what they want. What confuzzled me is the girls who wear socks to bed during sex. Then I found it it was where they kept their $
The worst place to have bare feet and flip flop sandals is an afternoon baseball game. The tops of your feet will get absolutely roasted.
Treaded socks are routine hospital patient garb along with back-opening gowns. They let patients keep the socks but either dump or wash the gowns.
Polyester socks are both slick on wood floors and burn your feet as they slide with the friction. Evil socks.
I've been wearing flip flops since the 50s - we called them go aheads, the local Japanese called them Zori, probably still do, women also wore a split toe sock/shoe with their Zori called a Tabi - in the Army in the late 60s they called them shower sandals - they're more culture than counter culture. I wore huaraches sandals in high school with wool WigWam socks - it was a surfer thing. I wore Birkenstocks with wool socks in the early 90s - it was a grunge thing. Athletes - adults and children wear slides with socks. Or Croks with socks. I wear sneakers, which we always called tennis shoes, with and without socks depending on the weather. Something I've never done or will is wear dress shoes without socks. Talk about elite nerd entitled footwear. If I'm not leaving home and just hanging out, I never wear shoes or sandals. It's 75 years of California beach life thing.
Sandals and socks were the true sign of a nerd in the Eighties. They were still associated with the cranky vegetarian socialists that the socialist Orwell despised. Now it's only natural that they will come back into fashion. What's up goes down and what's down eventually comes up. Such are the "binary oppositions" of the "fashion system."
I've seen a few long skirts around town. The season's big trend? Crocs are apparently very much on the way out.
"Toe cleavage" was also something someone tried to make happen. It would have to have been more appealing than seeing every toe whole, but it didn't catch on.
Are we talking sandals or athletic-type flops? You know, the kind you slip on and off without bending over.
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