This fall’s trends dictate that socks are now stylish. How can I wear them? Ask The Kit

“I’m starting to plan my fall fashion mood board. The pics I’ve pulled all seem to have one thing in common: Socks! I haven’t bought socks — or thought about socks — in a long time. I started wearing tights again, but this feels like a much bigger step, to wear socks meant to be shown off. How do I figure out which socks to wear — and which shoes to ones to wear with them?” — Barefoot and shook

For many years, bare legs were the hard and fast rule both in fashion and in life. We all wore those little invisible sock liners under sneakers (you know, the ones that always end up scrunched up into a most inelegant ball inside your shoe). We went bare-legged with heels in every kind of weather. Socks were dorky. But then, naturally, the Bella Hadids and the Hailey Biebers of the world started pulling up in pulled up socks like it was the turn of the century again.　

So, of course, socks are now very much back in fashion. To break down when — and how — to wear them, I reached out to Georgia Groom, a British transplant who has carved out an impressive styling career in Toronto. I’ve admired Groom’s work for a long time: she infuses her wide-ranging editorial and advertising work with wit. In 2018, Groom and fellow creative Vanessa Magic launched Inclusive Stylist, an initiative to encourage more diversity in commercial stylists and promote mentorships of emerging BIPOC stylists.　　

Groom is unabashedly pro-socks. This is one of those rare modern trickle-down trend revivals that she says we can trace directly to designers: Balenciaga and Gucci have been using socks as standout accessories on the runway. “Prada and Dries [van Noten] have always loved that look,” says Groom. “They do it with a little more of a luxe vibe, think sheer sock stocking with a kitten heel.”

Groom says the revival makes sense, as a response to the years we’ve just been through. “I think people want to be seen again in their clothing,” she says. “We want to create a stir, to go out and look good and feel good.”　

As always in fashion math, the secret to acing the trend is all in the proportion. Skirts are getting shorter, says Groom, and there are lots of shorts on the market. Then there’s the return of the ‘90s slip dress and the slip skirt. “Socks work well to balance higher hemlines,” she says. “Think of a slip with a knee-high gym sock and sporty slides. That’s a great summer look right now.”　

Moving forward into fall, Groom is incorporating socks with chunkier shoes and boots. This is a way to avoid what I raise as my own fear of the sock look: the naughty schoolgirl. No grown-up woman wants to look like she is impersonating someone skipping math class. “If you’re nervous, keep it simple and start out with a basic black or navy sock,” says Groom. For her part, Groom says that come fall, she’ll be wearing “knee-high black socks with a black pleated skirt, probably with some brown mixed in.” This is also not a moment for the novelty sock, she adds. Sleek and sophisticated is the high road to take here.

“I also feel dressing is a little post-gender now,” Groom says. “I don’t want to say androgynous or unisex, as the words seem dated, but that’s why we’re seeing men in skirts right now. It’s the socks that help them to wear it well.” Groom says she didn’t love Brad Pitt’s recent red carpet skirt-and-socks look, but she points to Oscar Isaac in a Thom Browne skirt suit — and black socks with sporty white stripes — at the “Moon Knight” premiere as an example of successfully pulling off the trend. “It feels like a way for men to be a bit more adventurous but the socks keep them grounded and masculine. Isaac inhabited the look, it didn’t look like a costume.” You want your socks to act as punctuation for a look, but you don’t want to look like you’re recklessly playing dress-up.

The good news about this trend, says Groom, is that “you can try this look without spending a lot.” She specifically calls out the socks department at Simons for standing out among its department store rivals for selection and quality.　　

She adds that no matter how much you spend, you should make the effort to care for your socks or they’ll end up a schlumpy, lumpy mess. “Put socks into a little laundry bag, wash them, rinse them out,” says Groom. “As a rule, don’t put socks in the dryer, it will melt the elastic and the colours fade.” This look needs to be crisp to work. “If you buy a really nice pair, rinse them in the sink like your granny did. Use soft detergent and throw them over the towel rack to dry.”　

That care can extend to sharing a love of socks as a gesture of friendship. Groom says that she bought a pair of Gucci socks for a friend who was beginning a directing career: “Now they’re her lucky socks, they peep out from her outfits.” That’s the best friend gift idea I’ve heard of in awhile.　

Shop the advice

Simons classic knee socks, $14, simons.ca

Gucci lame GG logo socks, $385, gucci.com

Spanx sheer knee highs, $13, spanx.ca

Balenciaga tennis socks, $175, balenciaga.com

SHARE: