Serious question: can you pretend to know anything
about fashion if you’re not wearing a pair of socks with
your sandals? The evidence suggests not. The phenom-
enon once preserved for Eurocamp dads and those
healing from varicose vein surgery is now as ubiquitous
as navy cashmere among those who know their Chanel
from their Chalayan.
An audit of social media confirms socks and sandals
as this season’s fashion power pairing, with everyone
from those attending swanky dos in Prada’s padded
nappa leather sandals to those doing the school run in
their Birkenstocks adding a pair of socks to the mix.
And the combo is a hit on the catwalk too, with the likes
of Simone Rocha and Dior Homme joining the party.
As indeed are high street fashion brands, keen to
appear firmly in step with the zeitgeist — retailers such
as Arket and John Lewis have showcased some of their
key sandals for the season with socks firmly in place.
It was in 2014, around the time we became au fait
with the term “normcore” — the trend for looking
achingly ordinary; the coining of which is widely attrib-
uted to the trend-forecasting group K-Hole — that the
combo initially emerged as reputable fashion attire. Oh,
how we laughed when fashion’s hardcore followers
wore sports socks with their Teva hiking sandals and
dared to look chuffed about it. But now the entire
country wants in on the act. Of course we have lock-
down to thank for its journey to ubiquity: socks and
Sock it to ’em
Wearing socks with
Birkenstocks was once the
preserve of middle-aged dads.
Now it’s the most fashionable
way to wear your sandals.
Karen Dacre on how to master
fashion’s power pairing
This picture
Chanel padded
sandals at Paris
fashion week.
Left Simone
Rocha street
style at London
fashion week34 • The Sunday Times Style