You know all those great socks you always see guys wearing in menswear magazines or on fashion websites? The ones in pictures of impossibly cool and sharply dressed guys at Pitti Uomo or captured on the streets of New York, Paris, or Milan? Rich solids, whimsical dots, or check-me-out stripes. We love those socks.
Socks like those always look just right. Often, they are counterintuitively clever yet still elegant. Great socks are like any other element of personal style, whether peeking out between handmade brogues and a bespoke suit or Cone denim jeans and beat up Chuck Taylors.
Dapper Classics sells those kinds of socks. They are very much witty and whimsical, but also crafted to exceptionally high standards. Made in America at a third-generation mill in North Carolina, the Dapper Classics collection includes styles made with a soft mercerized cotton and nylon blend, and with fine merino wool that is wearable year-round.
After wearing several pair on and off for the past few weeks, we agree with the company’s claim that Dapper Classics socks are equal to if not better than many of the best hosery imported from Europe.
With a great selection of designs, they have socks to complement a wide range of menswear—from casual attire to business suits and formal wear. One of the things we love about these socks is that, while they have a real substantive density to them, when worn, they are soft, comfortable, and stay in place.
Socks in general are having a bit of a menswear resurgence at the moment, perhaps we are finally coming to appreciate the time-honored English tradition of injecting a little life into the wardrobe around the ankles.
As noted back in 1923, by the deeply revered P. G. Wodehouse, in The Inimitable Jeeves, Bertie Wooster stood up for socks with a little spring to them:
He started to put out my things, and there was an awkward sort of silence.
“‘Not those socks, Jeeves,’ I said, gulping a bit but having a dash at the careless, off-hand tone. ‘Give me the purple ones.'”
“I beg your pardon, sir?”
“Those jolly purple ones.”
“Very good sir.”
He lugged them out of the drawer as if he were a vegetarian fishing a caterpillar out of the salad. You could see that he was feeling it deeply.
