As the leaves turn brown and the countdown to winter begins, many American office workers have been digging out a long-forgotten item from their closets: the humble sock. Going sockless in the summer months has long been de rigueur for smartly dressed men on the French and Italian Rivieras. However, in recent years, the look has also taken American cities by storm. "Embrace the no-socks lifestyle and you'll never look back," Esquire magazine urged its readers in June. "Why it's okay for dudes to flash some skin," reassured Elle in August.
While clearly good news for foot antiperspirant makers, the trend is ostensibly very bad news for sock makers, apart from the more forward-thinking players manufacturing so-called "invisible" socks, which don't show when worn with shoes.
The debate about the wearing (or not) of socks might sound trivial, but it taps into one of the fastest-growing consumer segments of all: male grooming. As Esquire notes, there's "nothing worse" than the sight of a white, hairy ankle: trend followers are advised to exfoliate, trim any excess foliage, and "drip a bit of subtle fake tan into their regular body moisturiser". The question is: is this a look that's here to stay?
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The new male cleavage?
Appropriately enough, the pioneer of exposed male ankles – or "mankles" – is an American: New York-based designer Thom Browne. "It's the new male cleavage," Browne told The New York Times almost exactly a decade ago. Initially, he was hammered for it. "You can't believe the snickers and comments I get because I'm not wearing socks. It sends people into a tailspin." However, after a few years of appearing on the catwalk, the look eventually made it to the office and the streets. And for the past four or five summers, American fashion writers have been debating the pros and cons of going sock-free. Increasingly, they're concluding that hosiery is out.
What are the rules? As ever in fashion, they're fairly fluid. Most sockless adherents simply adapt the summer holiday look of chinos with loafers or boat shoes. However, extremists prefer a more pronounced sartorial juxtaposition: an immaculate suit and smart brogues, with an almost indecent flash of skin between the two. Some endorse the fold-up look; others insist that the trousers must be hemmed properly. How much skin to show? "A good rule of thumb," says Bloomberg's fashion writer Moti Ankari is, "two to two-and-a-half inches." In general, too much is preferable to too little: if the absence of socks isn't accentuated enough, it risks looking like a mistake. Of course, the sockless look doesn't work for everyone – or every situation. Anyone working in a conservative office that requires a suit and tie every day would probably be advised to keep their socks on, warns Ankari. Wedding etiquette varies; "black-tie events are off limits".
Maintaining the mankle
Eschewing a tried and tested garment creates challenges aplenty. First among them is that walking around all day with skin on leather tends to be both uncomfortable and smelly. That's where the invisible sock comes in. Essentially low-cut cotton slippers, "peds" keep your feet from chafing and sweating, but your ankles suitably exposed. Is that cheating? Perhaps, but it's the look, not the hidden reality, that counts.
Another challenge is keeping your feet – and those all-important mankles – in good order. Foot powder, softening cream and deodorant all come heartily recommended. Ankle hair needs to be trimmed – along with the rest of the leg, presumably, to avoid layering – and, if possible, the skin tanned. Those who think that this sounds too much like hard work probably aren't the type of people interested in flashing their ankles in the first place. And certainly, the creation of another area of the body requiring pampering is grist to the mill of a male cosmetics industry, which, according to Euromonitor, is growing at a rate of about 20% a year.
Hosiery traditionalists
Not everyone is being swept up in the anti-hosiery revolution. While the look has undoubtedly become significantly more common – especially in Brooklyn and other ever-trendy areas – sock wearers are still very much in the majority. Even if the trend does catch on further in the US, it's unlikely to make too many waves in colder Britain – goose-pimpled ankles wouldn't have the same effect. Besides, by no means all the experts are convinced about going sockless. "I find the flaunting of ankles to be mostly a mistake, and almost always gauche," declared The New York Times writer Jon Caramanica in August. "It's brittle magic, tough to get right."
New York-based designer Todd Snyder opposes the look for more practical reasons. "If you want to keep a shoe for a long period of time, this is the wrong way to do it," he told The Wall Street Journal last year. "There's no way to get the stink out." Some consider such views Luddite; others as the voice of reason. With the onset of autumn, debate on this issue has ceased...for the time being. But come next summer, you can bet the question will be back: to mankle, or not to mankle?
Get views from across the pond, updated daily at: www.theweek.co.uk/transatlantic-report
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