You’ve got your suit chosen. But now comes the hard part: accessorizing.
Likely you’ve got your three go-to ties that you know for sure will keep up the luxury statement of your jacket and pants. And you know which of the 4 Finley and Co. pocket squares you feel like showing off.
Get all your pocket square questions answered here.
Now it’s time to pick the perfect pair of socks to wear with your suit.
Choosing Socks To Go With Your Suit
It may seem trivial to some, but choosing the right socks to wear with your suit can be time consuming.
Do you go with basic black? What about the ones with dogs that your aunt got you last year? Can you get away with no socks?
As with every fashion rule, you can pick and choose what you like to follow. But we must beg you to steer clear of bright colored socks with a black suit. That’s just a no-no all around.
Here are some basic guidelines for choosing socks to go with your ensemble.
Black Suits
If the event is a more formal one and you’re wearing a black suit, it’s best to wear black socks (plus black shoes and a black belt). A little less formal? Dark gray socks will do.
But a black suit-worthy event isn’t the place to show off your argyle or plaid socks. Be demure with your sock choice.
Get the rules about Black Tie here.
Navy Suits
A navy suit lends itself to a bit more fun in your sock selection. While you could choose a basic navy, other sock colors you could go with are in the red, gray or brown families.
Here is wear your patterned socks (read: argyles, plaid and more) can also come into play. But there are some things to keep in mind:
- Avoid black socks because in most cases, black and navy do not go together (unless the black socks have navy in them as well)
- Avoid overly bright colors that will detract from the navy of your suit (think yellows, greens, pinks and purples)
- Navy socks work just fine if you don’t want to be too adventurous
Gray Suits
Gray suits are a gold mine for sock selection. It’s almost as if anything goes…within reason of course!
You have choices of grays, all kinds of blues, reds, purples, browns and black. Just remember that the darker the gray, the likelier it is that socks with black in them will look better. The lighter the gray, the easier it will be to match the suit with socks in the brown family.
Bright-Colored Suits
With suit trends including soft textures and bright colors – hello purple velvet – you need to be judicious in your sock choices.
As a rule of thumb, don’t let your socks overpower your suit. If you’re wearing purple velvet, a gray sock, even in a patterned mix of grays, should be your go-to.
Pocket Squares and Socks
Your socks should always complement your choice of pocket square. Think of your pocket square as the rug in the movie The Big Lebowski, it just ties your look together.
The great thing about fine art pocket squares from Finley and Co. is that there are many color palettes of handmade products to choose from.
Find out why you don't need a tie with a pocket square.
More Sock Fashion Rules
While you do have many choices about sock selection, there are some rules that are not meant to be broken.
- Do not wear black socks with brown shoes.
- Do not wear brown socks with black shoes.
- Always match your belt to your shoes, ie. don't mix black and brown.
- Stay away from color combinations that make you think of holidays or animals like red/green, black/orange or black/yellow.
- In general, wear socks with your suit.
What socks rules are you going to follow from now on?
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