Please, dear God, no! Say it ain't so!
Just one year ago, Irish women were asked what they figured the worst fashion mistake men can make is?
In at No.2 and No.3 were man-buns and "too tight t-shirts", but the top of the list surprised nobody: the dreaded Socks And Sandals combo.
What is a surprise is that cut to one year later, and this horrific double-down of foot-based mistakes has suddenly become... fashionable? Decades of people correctly looking at the S&S fashion-crime with nothing but disdain and/or horror, and then BAM! Socks and sandals are suddenly the trendy duo we've all been waiting for?
We genuinely hoped it wasn't the case, but we may be fighting against the tides of change here, people.
Exhibit A: One of the coolest people on the planet - Tyler, The Creator - rocking the look for a recent photo-shoot:
Exhibit B: In the last while, everyone from
David Beckham to Justin Bieber to pretty much
every member of the New York Giants have donned them ankle-to-toe travesty.
Exhibit C: Some of the most trendy fashion stores are now promoting the trend with ever more "out-there" combinations. For example, this one, which features socks changing colour half-way through, and sandals equipped with the biggest buckles known to mankind.
Exhibits D through Y: Fashion bible
Vogue reported that the look was made a strong appearance during the Fall 2018 men's fashion runways:
"Lucien Pellat Finet showed off pool slides and shin-length tube socks. Maison Kitsuné featured Teva-style sandals and gray socks, as did Kolor—its strappy sandals had fur! The most gag-worthy example unsurprisingly appeared at Vetements. The label showed burgundy slides with white socks so thin they defined each wiggling toe."
Not hugely sure what the majority of those words mean, but it doesn't sound good.
Exhibit Z: Just like the cronut, or competitive vaping, or any other suddenly-trendy-thing, it doesn't feel like a reality until you see it for the first time in real life. They sound like things that have only managed to infest the truly fashionable cities, with everyone in Paris or London or New York eating their cronuts, and vaping perfect circles, while wearing socks and sandals.
However, on this very day, there was a man in Dublin wearing socks and sandals while walking down one of the the capitals' trendier streets.
Forward-thinking trend-setter? Or just some shin-exposed fool bending to the latest "must-have"? Only time will tell.
Main image via Wikipedia
