The conventional wisdom for sock color is that it should transition from your pants' color to your shoes' color. Thus, a light gray suit with black shoes should sport dark gray socks. You can't go wrong with that rule of thumb, but what if you're feeling a little playful?
The leg you see is that of one of my favorite suits, which is kind of...mocha color. It's hard to describe. It has a tight alternating pinstripe in light blue and a sort of goldenrod. I got the suit as part of my Jos. A. Bank Orphan Adoption Program, in which I wait like a vulture for an interesting suit to go on sale at the absolute end of its shelf life and then get it for about an 85% discount off list price. (Never pay more than 40% of the list price on a suit at JAB--but that's a topic for another post.)
I ordered these over-the-calf argyle-pattern socks on sale (~$7 per pair) from Paul Fredrick hoping that they would match the suit. It's hard to tell true color from looking at a promo picture on the Internet. Indeed, alas, the socks' brown proved too light! But after a few minutes' fretting, I noticed that their lighter color was almost identical to the goldenrod pinstripe, and their darker color was a nice transition from mocha to my favorite slip-ons' brown. I like the overall effect.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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Would you ever consider not wearing socks? In what circumstances is it acceptable to wear a suit without socks? What do you think of people who opt out of socks? What about brightly colored socks? What do you think about matching brightly colored socks to a brightly colored tie?
ReplyDeleteMy office is such that I could not get away with no socks, and my feet sweat such that I wouldn't want to try it anyway. However, I think the look is totally appropriate for, say, the weekend, especially with loafers, especially if the rest of your outfit says, "I am being stylish today."
ReplyDeleteI think matching brightly colored socks to a brightly colored tie is brilliant and am planning to do so in the near future.