Can you help me settle an office arguement - do brown shoes match a navy suit or not?
How to choose sock colors
How to choose sock colors
21-05-2010 asked by Gaston O Lacayo III
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- Colour
Should the socks be an extension of the pants? Same color tone as belt? shoes? or can you highlight a certain color on your tie?
Also solid colors vs patterns and when they are appropriate.
John Francomb
There are plenty of rules about socks and sock colour, many of which actually contradict each other.
The colour of the socks you decide on should definitely depend on how much of a traditionalist you are and also the formality of your surroundings. The traditional way of approaching sock colour is to keep the socks the same colour as either the trousers or the shoes. However, some people prefer to pick out a colour in their tie or match it to their blazer. It is also perfectly acceptable to wear a grey sock with a navy suit and vice versa.
As a company we carry bright red socks, multi-stripe socks and socks that graduate from pink to blue, there are no hard and fast rules when to wear or not wear socks like this. If you were at a formal event, a funeral or and important meeting perhaps, you may choose not to wear socks like this – but there is also scope to let your socks be an expression in the same way that your tie and pocket handkerchief are.
Comments
Hi Nicos,
Although it's incredibly difficult to tell, I think the socks in question are actually a very dark navy. Whether or not the rules over sock colour are still so ‘black and white’ is an interesting topic of discussion, a lot of people would certainly agree with you, but then again that would leave little scope for the wide spectrum of sock colours we see today in gentleman’s shops, and I think that would be a shame.
And John and Anthony both are both in agreement that it is perfectly acceptable to wear a nevy sock with a grey suit (and vice versa), which rather than being quirky is quite conventional.
You should really match socks with pants.
When people will look at you from top to bottom, they will stop at your your shoes instead of your socks, because there is a "color break". This is what your normally want (emphasize the shoes, not the ankles).
As usual, it's always possible to break the rule (I think Cary Grant has worn white socks with dark suits, too). Especially if you want to wear e.g. orange socks, it might be difficult to match them with pants. :)
Sorry if this is badly written, English isn't my native language.
Dear Bastien,
That's the most common fashion mistake many people do. They match the colour of the socks to the pants and not the shoes. But this completely wrong. When you stand up the color of your socks doesn't really matter because no one can actually see them. So you can mix different pants with different color of shoes. But when you sit down the first thing that strikes the eye is the socks. And their color should always be a continuation of the shoe color. Brown shoes .. brown socks, black shoes.. black socks. The sock color should never be in contrast with shoe color.
I have read to always match the socks to the pants. That's what I always try to do. Most of the time though if your pants are of the right length you will not see the socks anyway.
Personally I prefer to squize my mind and to use socks that are complementary with shirt and ties. Just in this case, for example, you can use stripes socks.
If you want rules, coupling socks with pants is a better one. But It is more stilysh to be original, this is Italian style.