Yes, I'm Gen X and no, I won't be changing my socks
Or the way I part my hair, my jeans or the emojis I use.
If your social media feed is anything like mine it’s been flooded over the past week or so with posts about the new ‘rules’ for sock-wearing.
Yes, you read that right - there are now rules about which socks are acceptable to wear and which are not, according to everyone’s favourite style arbiters - Generation Z.
In case you haven’t been fortunate enough to be exposed to said posts from the same people who think Tik Tok dances, wet mop hairstyles and bucket hats are cool 🙄 let me enlighten you…. ankle socks and sockettes are officially cancelled and crew socks are the new must-have foot covering of choice. Lord help us.
The no-show sock or sockette - coincidentally my sock of choice - is apparently so offensive to Gen Z (those born between 1997-2012) that they have decreed anyone who “raw dogs it with trainers” (as they call it) to be officially old.
Ooh, I’m quaking in my boots (worn with ankle socks just so we’re clear) over here.
As someone who is knocking on the door of 47, it’s not the “old” part that grates on me the most - it’s the audacity with which this generation lays down their ridiculous style commandments with such conviction.
First they came for skinny jeans, then it was side parts and the crying laughing emoji. Now it’s socks.
Let’s just remember for a minute that these are the same people who won’t speak on the phone to an actual person but prefer voice notes over text messages. 🤷🏼♀️
They’re also the ones who say socks with sandals, Birkenstocks, CROCS and heels… are apparently more than fine and "cool".
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Look, wear whatever socks you want to wear I say but I’ll also say these youngens might want to pipe down just a little bit or risk an embarrassment far greater than wearing no-show socks when the next generation comes of age and blacklists everything Gen Z thought was cool.
I’m sure we were all full of embarrassing opinions in our late teens and early 20s too but the difference is we didn’t have a platform and our proclamations about what was and wasn’t cool didn’t come complete with their own digital footprint.
So to all the Gen Z fashionistas out there, keep doing you. Just remember, one day you'll be the ones cringing at your old TikTok videos while the next generation invents a whole new set of fashion rules. 🧦✨