The author confirms that these boat shoes have indeed been worn on a ship’s open deck. Sockless.
I was catching up with a friend over overpriced coffee last night when the topic of trends and style came up.
Being an ardent fan of 1920’s Prohibition era fashions, which he describes as “the beginning of everything”, he was lamenting about the seemingly downward spiral that fashion has been on since then: More skin, less class.
A particular pet peeve that was gnawing at him was the whole sockless movement that made its way to our island’s shores quite a few years ago and never left. “It’s repulsive. Let the Europeans keep their ankle porn,” says he.
It was at that moment that I stole a glance at my own near-sockless getup, wondering if my ankles ever made anyone hard.
“Our climate isn’t meant for going sockless in,” he said, before going into vivid detail about what happens to feet stuffed in shoes in a humid climate. The mental image and smell is something I cannot forget. But he had a point about how our sweat damages our shoes, and doing that willingly is just silly.
I then pointed out that many guys do wear tiny socks that are invisible when the shoe is on, and that does help keep the world turning, but I personally agree that your dress shoes should not be worn sockless, even if you had Michael Kors’ ankles.
In fact, every ‘sockless’ attempt should be made with low cut socks. Let’s not shy away from uncomfortable territory now, people, this is a matter of olfactory life and death! I’m sure you know of that one person who has the misfortune of getting smelly feet but still insists on going foot au naturel. And when you invite him into your home or find yourself to be in an enclosed space with him sans shoes… hell hath no fury like damp podiatric musk.
Similar (in some ways) to the Satorialist, I’ve gone sockless in the middle of a Buffalo Winter, and my ankles still work fine, but back here in Singapore… um, no. The Shoe Snob has a great guide to solving the sockless equation, but keep in mind that none of the gents in those photos have had the misfortune to be stuck on our humid shores.
I mean, if you are going to follow styles and trends, at least do it intelligently, and not follow the herd like brainless sheep. I don’t believe you’re brainless sheep, unless you were the boy who beat me up for my lunch money when I was 7. So adapt, not imitate, the styles you love, please.
Black Coffee and Blue Skies, everyone.
Cliff N.
Cliff is the resident wordsmith and kingmaker at Basis. He sometimes cheats on his “No-Sockless” rule; Tweet him for further olfactorily stimulating discussions on podiatric sartorialism.
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