I always thought that the no-socks look (and its cousin the too-short Thom Browne cuff) was supposed to evoke a kind of youthful insouciance, a springy physical confidence coupled with a lack of respect for (or knowledge of) the rules. We are supposed to think that the wearer either has such  an excellent sartorial instinct or is so constantly doing interesting things that he just knew that no-socks would look great, or that he forgot to put them on.

I think it's a desperate attempt to create the visual impression that the wearer isn't boring, and somehow to mitigate the seriousness of the suit. The idea is that the wearer isn't wearing the suit "seriously" because he's far too cool to conform. Of course this expresses many different weird anxieties, the worst of which is the idea that the wearer is not sufficiently serious to wear serious clothing.

It's kind of equivalent to the excesses of formal postmodernism in fiction, in which writers who have nothing to say find the most baroque possible ways of saying it. Instead of telling a good story using simple tools they (and I'm talking about people like the severely overrated David Foster Wallace) tell idiotic stories with all kinds of frantic digressions and weird footnotes and disjointed structures.

With both sockless shoes and the bad kind of metafiction the pretense that one is doing something new struggles to conceal the fact that one doesn't really have a mastery of the old forms. So there's an effort to take a shortcut - to achieve elegance or sartorial magnetism (and hence charisma) by omitting socks instead of simply dressing well.

FNB said:
"In defense of the Rubinaccis, it is a given that people in the clothing industry are going to push the bounds of what is possible."

Indeed, and in their execution of what is possible they manifest artistry, buffoonery, or ineptitude, or whatever else may be "signified" by their choices.
Aside from all the pretentious, or double meaning "elegant yet insouciant" claptrap there are the very real issues of smell and chafing.

As far as smell, the sock less man, after a few hours of insouciant elegance about town finds himself in a dilemma when indoors and in the company of human beings. Should he give in to his insouciance and kick off his shoes amongst his friends, he offends by his smell. The shoes themselves will be worse off for the wear as sweat salts will degrade the leather. The decomposing sweat oils will impart a rancid aroma after a few sock less adventures, so that even when wearing socks, if there was the most minimal amount of perspiration, the foul smell will permeate the socks and render the same predicament. Smelly feet, like dried urine in the pants or flatulence is never elegant, apt, or desirable in most company.
Of course, I may be totally off base and the look is meant to be carried off in a frigid environment where there is little risk of perspiration, but then you bring in a new set of variables like discomfort or frostbite.
As far as chafing, don't try your sock less panache with new shoes of hard leather shoes unless you just love and adore painful blisters.

The whole conceit is absurd, not in a sophisticated ironic way as surely intended, but in a "major FAIL" way, as kids nowadays say.

The danger with the whole "I'm such a master of the universe I can bend the rules and still be cool" attitude is that everybody can play it but very few succeed. Such a basic pratfall, coming from a "leader" in the industry makes me view their entire oeuvre in a different light. Their choices are not inspired or informed by thought, just a mindlessly repetitive attempt to shock.

Last edited by Chévere (2012-03-04 06:23:29)

"I'm with g- that men should mostly wear socks (except down by the seaside) and that brightly colored socks serve where brightly colored feathers used to."

Well, yes.
At the seaside, the opposite argument holds. Socks there are downright impractical, if not outright ridiculous.  Being from a caribbean island and spent more time than I care to admit in boats I am intimately aware of the issues. Socks get wet, and that has its own set of complications. Sand + wet socks has a way of shutting off all other sensory input until the conundrum is solved. The abundance of water and the specialized footwear (sandals on the boardwalk or pavement, boat shoes on the boat) readily dispose of the smelly foot issue.

As for the brightly colored socks, I wish I had the courage. And then there is the issue of clowns...

Last edited by Fit (2012-03-06 07:43:39)

How one can wear shoes without socks that are really comfortable.