While we are on the topic of clothing and appearance, this is a little pet peeve of mine.
Wearing white socks with black shoes is a style faux pas.
Why fuss over something trivial, you might ask. True, socks are less conspicuous than most other elements of your clothing. However, wearing an unaesthetic combination or, worse, the wrong kind of socks can attract attention. Remember that in matters of clothing and demeanor, the devil is in the details. When it comes to dressing for an important event, no element is trivial enough to overlook.
A few broad guidelines are in order.
- Generally, match the color of your socks to that of your shoes.
- Avoid light-colored socks with dark shoes. In particular, avoid wearing white socks with black shoes. Men should also avoid pastel and flesh-toned socks.
- Prefer darker socks. If you own an assortment of black, blue-black, and dark brown socks, be careful when matching socks into pairs. When you are indoors or under low light, you may inadvertently mismatch socks and wind up wearing one each of two different dark colors. (This happened to me when I was heading to an interview a few years ago. Luckily, I had enough time to stop at a store and buy a new pair of socks.)
- For dress wear, your best bet is to own a collection of plain, black, vertically ribbed socks. Dress socks should be thinner than athletic socks. If you want to try patterned socks, let the patterns be simple and subtle.
- Use white socks only with white athletic shoes, shorts, track pants and other active gear. Select darker socks with dark colored athletic shoes.
- For casual wear, say while wearing khakis or jeans, white socks are acceptable if you are wearing white athletic shoes. Black socks are just as acceptable.
You may wear striped socks, holiday-themed socks or socks with your favorite cartoon or Disney characters only for relaxed occasions or when indoors.- Buy socks that are long enough to cover a good portion of your calves. When you sit down or cross legs, you should not display any skin between your socks and pants.
- Wear ankle socks only with shorts.
- Choose socks made of wool or cotton. These materials breathe well and absorb moisture better.
- Do not wear socks with sandals or slippers.
- After each wash, make sure that your socks are in good condition. Avoid the embarrassment of having to remove your shoes in front of others only to find that your socks have holes in them.
You may wear striped socks, holiday-themed socks or socks with your favorite cartoon or Disney characters only for relaxed occasions or when indoors.More on Etiquette and Clothing
- Dress sharply and look neat to boost your self-confidence
- Protocol of introducing people to one another
- The art of remembering names
- Meal Manners: Pace yourself, start and finish with others
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Comments
- mockingjay torrent says
Keep working ,impressive job! %WEBSITE%
- Mihir says
Abt wearing White Socks ………read it
- K says
Um, Michael Jackson anyone?
- Antome says
White socks don’t really look bad with black shoes and a suit. That’s the only situation in which I’d consider them, personally.
- Antome says
I have to admit that matching socks with shoes is a more sure fire option if one day you don’t feel particularly creative, so I agree ;).
- No one cares says
Who the hell cares what someone else is wearing. For all I care, I can wear black shoes, white socks, green shorts and a red t-shirt as long as it’s comfy.
- Antome says
Hi no one cares, I’m not going to tell you the trite but quite annoying “you can wear whatever you want but people are gonna judge you for them all they want”. I also don’t care what anyone wear and I try to judge or at least assume as least as possible from that. Caring for me should be relative to the look you are going for, a given harmony of color and the spirit of stylistic advice should be, toward interested people who might not have a clue, to give some flexible guideline to start with and then eventually break free from.
I find this one about white socks, (i.e. against) particularly arbitrary, as you might agree and all about a trend, cause in from like the early 30’s to 60’s roughly white socks were considered elegant and classic. I think there are unfair stereotypes associated to them. - Don says
You can only wear white socks if you can moonwalk!!!!
- L.A. says
Have you ever seen seventeenth and eighteenth century clothing? Did they not know what they were doing?
I have never read of an instance where attention was drawn to Ben Franklin’s white stockings and black pumps as an aberration.
Also, to this day, I see parents dress little girls in Mary Janes with white leotards or over-the-calf white stockings.
