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“Socking” is essential to fashion
W.C. Hoag
Allow me to present the humble sock. To most, they are pieces of cloth that cover your precious footsies before they enter your shoe of choice. To me, socks are the most important clothing accessory in my dresser, and I implore you to consider them with the same gravitas—socks are unjustly, uniquely underrated.
According to the website SocksAddict, you should be wearing socks if you are wearing closed toe shoes—no exceptions. Footwear is pretty nasty, and without your sock friend to protect you from those festering kicks, your walking extremities could be in for some not so good times. Shoes sans the precious sock invite blisters, germs, and even sweat stains into their soles—have fun dealing with that nastiness, my socks and I will be enjoying life away from your foot stench. Also, socklessness can cause a rise in athlete’s foot and a variety of other pedial problems such as hammertoe or plantar fasciitis.
Do you know how many sweat glands there are on each foot? The number isn’t fun—about 225,000, according to Everyday Health. Nobody likes to think about their feet sweating that much, but you know what can help with that? That’s right! The most important articles of clothing you own just keep getting better; a solid pair of socks can help to manage all that sweat and keep your foot dry—which further protects from blisters and injury.
Okay, okay. The gross stuff is out of the way I promise—wear socks to be hygienic of course, but also wear them simply because socks are dope as hell. I think that when people refer to parties in their pants, they actually mean a pair of fun socks hidden underneath their pant legs. It’s possible I don’t understand that idiom, but the fact of the matter is that a fun, colorful, perhaps even novelty pair of socks can serve as a secret conversation starter—an exciting fashion pop that no one even knew you had hidden underneath your outfit.
It’s easy to think that a dashing necktie could compete with a funky sock, but that simply is not the case. From a fashion standpoint, ties are too limited and too situational to really hold a candle to the true most important fashion accessory available to you. Even when an aspiring fashion icon has the occasion to wear a tie, their choice is limited by the other aspects of their outfit. The color of a dress shirt or suit is what dictates the color and pattern of a tie—which limits its potential as an accessory.
On the other hand, you could really wear whatever kind of sock you want—regardless of your outfit. Personally, I have a pair of socks that feature Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction, which are great for a variety of occasions. I have socks featuring Abraham Lincoln in a Batman mask, SpongeBob and Patrick socks and on days I don’t feel like wearing a character I have various colors and patterns as well. Socking—the art of wearing fun socks—is one of the most original forms of self-expression.
Socks are appealing no matter who you are. Spoken word musician Hobo Johnson, for example, recently posted on Instagram about how he put on “FRESH SOCKS to go VOTE in the California primary.” In high school I won the best dressed superlative purely because my sock game was so strong. People love a good sock. Democracy loves a good sock. Hell, who needs a tie anyways—just clip a sock to your neck, they are clearly the superior clothing accessory.
Neck ties really “tie” any outfit together
Alexandros Anton
In our time of social assimilation and the resulting compliance to society’s standards, neckties are an accessory that allow wearers to adhere to these standards while expressing their individuality. Many articles of clothing are important in 2020, but very few have remained prominent for more than 150 years like the tie has. By weathering the storm of change in the fashion industry and constantly evolving, ties have solidified themselves as the accessory that, well, ties everything together.
According to a Washington Post article from 1999, neckties first came about in the 17th century when French King Louis XIV hired Croatian mercenaries to fight his wars. These soldiers wore cloth strips tied around their necks to defend against nature and enemy sword slashes. When Parisian fashionistas saw this early example of neckwear, they adopted it into a more fashionable accessory.
Now, I personally love everything about the concept of ties. It may sound lame, but I could spend hours looking through the various styles and fabrics presented in clothing stores. There’s something about the formality, the expressionist nature and the feeling of professionalism ties give me that I could never give up.
This certainly isn’t true for everyone, as some people detest wearing ties; they can be constricting, uncomfortable, conformist, difficult to tie correctly on the first try and more. I get it, I really do, but that doesn’t mean that the tie still isn’t more important than other clothing items—such as socks.
I will admit that socks are something most people wear every day, unlike ties. Socks are important yes, but why would you wear something expressive that you’re just going to mostly cover up anyway? Socks are also a unisex accessory that everybody wears in all situations. The year is now 2020, however, and women could absolutely pull off ties just the same as men.
There’s no need for gendered clothing accessories when you really think about it; society has gotten to the point where a woman wearing a tie would draw a double-take, but in the end, that’s just a social construct. Ties could and should be worn by all genders. Who cares what people think as long as you’re happy, right?
Getting back on topic, ties are the subject of an interesting strategy used by public figures called color psychology, as pointed out in a 2012 article from The Lamp. As humans, we innately give colors emotional traits, and politicians use this to their advantage. A red tie symbolizes authority, assertiveness and decisiveness; something a candidate accused of flip-flopping might want to consider trying out next time they’re in the public’s eye. Blue ties can be interpreted as a more calm, approachable and social choice. Blue is a democratic color in the first place, so someone looking to improve the peoples’ trust in them can sport a blue tie.
Socks simply can’t do this. People aren’t craning their necks to see a speaker’s socks and don’t think to ask their acquaintance to pull their pant leg up so they can see their socks. A lot of the time socks are either just plain white or black—in other words, boring. Solid color ties, on the other hand, are sometimes more impactful than a patterned one and draw the eye.
I have a growing collection of ties, but I couldn’t say the same for my socks. Many of the ties that I own have been passed down from my grandfather who passed away in 2018. The reassuring confidence I get when I look down and see one of his ties is indescribable. I plan to wear them all at least once and pass them onto my children and their children one day when I no longer need them. Socks can’t be passed down because that would be pretty gross. Ties, however, can bring together distant generations and generate valuable stories that can be told for years.
Although socks play a critical role in all of our clothing lives, neckties have been and will always be the thing that you can straighten, flatten out, look in the mirror and say, “You can do this.”