White socks - god's gift or an abomination?

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At my school white socks were the absolute once-worn-never-forgiven fashion anathema for totally snobbish reasons, i.e. if you wore them you were a "Kev". Indeed people with suspected Kev-ish tendencies would be pointed at and called "White socks!". As a result I don't think I have worn them for a non-sporting thing ever. Was this rampant snobbery unique? Are they OK?

― Tom, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

stevie?

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Its okay for women to wear them. They're lucky - they get to wear anything.

― Magnus, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Why is not okay for guys? What if he's wearing jeans and sneakers, is he supposed to wear black socks?

― Samantha, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

White socks rank amoung my favorite things ever. Both on men and women, with any wardrobe, at any time.

― Jeff, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

White socks for me as well. They're simple and they're there.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

he wears white socks = he is paul weller
(he wears white sox = he is dirk)

― mark s, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My first teenage girlfriend, Cynthia, taught me that white socks and black shoes are a HUGE no-no. Unless you're Michael Jackson in 1983. Therefore I've always and exclusively worn black socks since I'm 13 years old.

― Simon, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Who the hell sees your socks anyhow?

― Ally, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Simon, you are correct, sir. White socks should only be worn with jeans and sneakers.

― Sean, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Although I wouldn't go so far to say "black only". Depending on what else you're wearing, a grey, navy blue, and/or patterned sock is fine as well.

― Sean, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I went to an all-girls high school and it was not, contrary to Magnus' suggestion, ok for us to wear white socks, although I did for longer than I should have done (sigh). I suppose it *was* regarded as worse for blokes, though. But it wasn't seen as a sign of Kev-dom, in fact the opposite (er, at least by my definition of Kev), it was a sign of geekdom. Which makes sense, heh. Oh, for a time machine.

"What if he's wearing jeans and sneakers, is he supposed to wear black socks?"

Erm, all my jeans are indigo (this may also be a sign of geekdom, but I love indigo jeans, I don't know why) or black and my trainers are all black and grey, I have to wear dark socks with them.

I have a pair of grey socks and I worry that they're dangerously close to white. I mean, they're fairly obviously not actually white, but I worry about it. But since they're too light to wear with the stuff I normally wear anyway they're generally restricted to being worn around the house.

― Rebecca, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My first teenage girlfriend, Cynthia, taught me that white socks and black shoes are a HUGE no-no.

So you've let a teenage girl dictate your fashion sense since then, is what you're saying. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Rampant young-person sneaker-wearing in the U.S. made white socks something of an under-25 norm over the past couple decades -- thus wearing non-white socks was "cool," in the sense that wearing a tweedy jacket with elbow patches would have been cool.

Over the past few years: more general shift to non-white socks, most notably in the young-punk Blink-182 pull-black-socks-to-knees-when- wearing-shorts way. Currently brightly colored stripes = mark of eccentricity, "individuality."

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Who knows more about fashion than teenage girls?

― Kris, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes, Ned. And I won't mention her tips regarding underwear.

― Simon, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Who knows more about fashion than teenage girls?

If it's the same teenage girl, that would be the real question. Does Simon keep her in a preservation formula?

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

On the who-is-going-to-see-your-socks topic, I think the white socks alarm arises from the 80s, when the majority of the young population wore significantly shorter trousers than nowadays, therefore your socks were exposed most of the time.

Anyhow, in my opinion white socks + pumps/trainers are OKish, it is the shoes (especially black) which provoke the well-known nausea

― Laetitia, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, I run the "Teenage Girls Preservation Society".

― Simon, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Teenage girl status alert! Where does this come from? I like white socks. I also like colored socks. I even like white socks with black shoes. (The only times white socks are not okay are when you are wearing sandals or all black but other than that they're all right.) I never ever wear black socks and black shoes, though. If the shoes are going to be that picky about what socks I wear then I will wear stockings.

― Maria, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Black CKs, black trousers, black socks, black boots. Anything else would be uncivilized!

― Simon, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's not the shoes, it's the sandals! Sandals with socks = big no no and british men of a certain age have this tendency to wear grey socks pulled up as high as they will go, a small pair of shorts and sandals. *Shudder* I'd also like to bring vests into the equation here, you know, proper ones not t-shirts. Does anyone still wear them?

― Bill, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Laeticia is a great name, I am vastly horribly jealous at this moment.

Anyhow, these days no one does see your socks unless you are wearing stupidly short trousers (which is going to get you laughed at more than the sock thing) OR you are wearing shorts (which is a no-no no matter what color socks you have on).

I actually like the white sock w/ black shoes and trousers thing. I guess it all comes down to the idea that I like that vaguely Swingers look on guys. I mean, if you're going to a formal event then by all means put on some black socks but besides that...

Girls are allowed to wear whatever socks they want.

― Ally, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In my school, white socks were strictly outlawed and so there was a certain amount of rebellious "Hey teacher! Leave those kidz alone!" kudos to be gained by wearing white socks (white socks was one rung above untucking your shirt but one rung below wearing your tie really really short). My rebellion took the form of always being perfectly smartly dressed - a form of rebellion I have stuck with ever since.

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Your school regulated your socks? Where did you go to school, Nazi Germany? My school wouldn't let us wear belly shirts.

― Ally, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nitsuh on current American skater youth trends: pull-black-socks-to-knees

Now if there was any sock-wearing style even more guaranteed to get you labelled a geek when I was at school it was socks reaching your knees. Well, except for beigeish socks + brown sandals + full length trousers, but only the computing "teacher" did that.

So is anti-white-sock feeling just a UK thing, or is it not even that?

― Rebecca, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The vato teens around my neighborhood go for white sweat socks pulled to the knee, Long shorts that just skim the tops of the socks and barely hang on their hips, wife beaters, and hair bleached orange. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds.

― Samantha, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NO! No to white socks, NONONONONONONONO.
Nothing white below the waist. That includes white trainers, white jeans and ESPECIALLY white socks. Jeezus bleedin' CHRIST, white socks? That is the absoloute worst.

― DavidM, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Your school regulated your socks? Where did you go to school, Nazi Germany? My school wouldn't let us wear belly shirts.

No, I went to school in Malden Manor near Kingston, which from what I remember from history (mine and world) is quite different. They didn't let us wear trainers to or from school either, though this was completely unworkable and I think they knew this. Didn't stop our Headmaster from making "I got a phonecall from someone saying that some pupils were seen on the 213 bus wearing trainers" type speeches.

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Must be a British thing. Being a bit of a pleb/prole I merrily wore white-sox until some university friends, who obviously had my best interests at heart, sat me down and explained that, really, it wasn't on. I took their advice. A girlfriend even later told me my white-sox was a reason for previous total indifference. Fascists.

― stevo, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You Brits are weird.

― Samantha, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

that's insane, james. the catholic schools here are required to wear white and dark blue socks. what could be wrong with white socks from a dress code standpoint? they're perfectly neutral and dull. here we're just not allowed to wear spaghetti strap tank tops, halters, or backless shirts (which is annoying but reasonable, sort of).

― maria, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

And what exactly is a "Kev"?

― Samantha, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Suits and black shoes might be a good idea for black socks. Otherwise white socks, their cheaper they soak up sweat and they arent so gawd awful flimsy. Now those nice big woolly socks in winter are classic.

Whats a kev?

― Mr Noodles, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sean and Simon are on the money here.

― scott p., Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If there was any sock-wearing style even more guaranteed to get you labelled a geek when I was at school it was socks reaching your knees.

That's precisely why it's cool again -- it's breaking one of the most basic youth-fashion taboos in North America.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Plain white socks are fine. White socks with the word "sport" written on them not as much.

― David, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wore knee high white socks last year with black mary jane shoes, and all day men were asking if they could "pick me up after school". DUD!

― rainy, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

At my school white socks = soul boy. Not necessarily a mocking name, at least to begin with. Whatever happened to soul boys (did they all become born-again dad rockets like king soul boy P. Weller?)

Microdisney had a good song called 'Soul Boy' back in the day...

― Andrew L, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My Dad wears black socks with sandals.

― bnw, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Don't all dads tho?

― Kim, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wear grey socks. With sneakers, I wear grey socks that don't reach my ankle and barely peek over the shoe, if that. My boot socks are grey too, though some are brown/grey and some are blue/grey. With dress shoes, of course black socks, but who wears dress shoes?

I was in a friends wedding over the summer and had to borrow black socks (friend let me keep them, woo). I had more black socks when young but they must've evaporated. Nobody I know dies or gets married very often so I have no need for black socks.

All my white socks have been retired.

― Cryosmurf, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like the Yankees and the Dodgers myself, and Comiskey Park is hella ugly, but I wouldn't call the White Sox an abomination!

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Almost every school in Australia has a compulsory school uniform. The only ones that don't are strange old hippy (often called "Community") Schools and Montessori or Steiner Schools.

Everybody else has a set uniform.

State schools tend only to have dress, skirt, trousers, shorts, shirt, jumper, blazer, socks, shoes, schoolbag & sports uniforms but a lot of the private schools, and even some of the catholic schools, also have hats, caps, gloves, sports blazer, bathers etc. and also define things like what colour ribbons you can wear in your hair.
Oh, and all the primary schools (Kinder to Grade 6) have compulsary caps/hats when the kids are outside in an effort to prevent skin cancer. They are trying to make sunglasses compulsary to stop eye damage from the sun too but a lot of poor parents kicked up a fuss saying it wasn't fair that their kids weren't allowed to play outside just because they were too poor to buy them sunglasses - Hah! as if anyone is that poor. Whingers.

We used to have very harsh penalties if we were seen outside the school grounds without our blazer on over our jumper - the jumper was never allowed to be your top layer of clothing - or without our tracksuit top on over out sports t-shirt. It wasn't until the temperature was above something - maybe 28C - that we were allowed to not have a blazer on and just have our shirt or dress as the top layer.

We weren't allowed to wear our winter uniform until Easter each year which used to suck because it used to get really cold about a month before Easter and then we'd be stuck in our winter uniform (which had woollen stockings instead of socks) right through to some time in October and it used to get really hot before then.

One of the schools I went to had beige socks and another had grey socks but the prefects wore white socks. They wore white shirts too whilst everyone else wore pale blue. It was good because you could see them coming from a mile off and stop doing mischeif before they caught you.

― toraneko, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Argyle socks are the new white.

― turner, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i wear argyle socks and only argyle socks

― anthony, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not sure about any pale socks - oatmeal, light grey... white is worst though. White socks are for sport only. In Italy, men wear knee socks under their trousers so there's no glimpse of hairy leg under their trousers when they sit down. This is nice attention to detail, I feel.

― Madchen, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i used to have some argyll socks, i kept the box.

― duane, Friday, 19 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wondr if anyone elses primary school have the repulive fashion of rolling their socks down into sausage like appendages round one's ankles? That was bad, but at least there were no ompoms involved

― Menelaus Darcy, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I still do that with my socks. Especially white socks over black docs with bare legs. I think it's cool.

― toraneko, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think one wold have to present a certain attitude to carry it off, and be wearing the appropriate style of clothing. Do you agree? or give that particular fashion statment blanket approval?

― Menelaus Darcy, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tracer is right. Trousse HAS to make a comeback.

White only acceptable with shorts, I feel.

― Ally C, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I look fantastic whatever colour socks I wear.

― Ronan, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's cool on me, but then I rock. It probably sucks on others - I haven't seen it on anyone over the age of seven though.

― toraneko, Sunday, 21 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like to see women wearing white socks, particularly if they're wearing nothing else.

― Deano, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

five months pass...

what the hell are argyll socks?

― ambrose, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

got some on right now with black shoes. i didn't give a shit this morning when i got up terribly hungover, unshaven, smelling of booze and cheese. Therefore I wasn't going to look attractive to someone of the opposite sex anyways, so i put the whiteys on. what would be better is if my pants were floods.

― Chris, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Smelling of booze is one thing, but cheese?? You were right to wear the white socks.

― Sean, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What kind of cheese did you smell like?

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

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― Mr wajid, Thursday, 20 April 2006 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

But do you carry white socks, Mr. Wajid?

― Holy makkara, Toivo! (OutDatWay), Thursday, 20 April 2006 00:41 (nineteen years ago)

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