Loafers without socks

[Styleforum Ari]

 

[Blake Stitched Blues]

Comfortable, but only for casual wear. They need to be the right kind of loafer too - think blake-stitched Italian loafers on gossamer thin leather soles or moccasin construction Rancourts and what not. Heavy English GYW loafers are basically lace-ups without laces and I've found that even them most broken-in pairs turn into monstrous ankle-eaters worn without socks.

 

[GBR]

Not sure why you added "stylish", comfortable is the test.

 

[Caustic Man]

Wearing loafers without socks is great under one circumstance: The wearers like it.

Wearing loafers without socks is totally unacceptable under the following circumstance: The wearer doesn't like it.

 

[emptym]

Any time w/ shorts, jeans, or chinos (weather permitting).
Rarely w/ a jacket and never w/ a tie.
Unless you're a dandy.

 

[suitntieguy]

Any time w/ shorts, jeans, or chinos (weather permitting).
Rarely w/ a jacket and never w/ a tie.
Unless you're a dandy.

I agree. Never with a tie and rearely with a jacket. I work in a very conservative office and will wear chinos with loafers sans socks on casual days as does the firm president.

TBS, I consider no socks to also mean no show socks. More so, I really don’t like many loafers with shorts. Sometimes it can look like the mullet of preppy.

 

[everyday]

Not sure why “cool, but hurt my dainty soft feet” didn't make the list.

 

[JJ Katz]

Agree with Caustic that it's a matter of preference (obvs) but I do think that it tends to look better if;
- the overall look is more casual/preppy
- the loafers in question are not too shiny or hefty
- one isn't going to walk long distances

 

[erakettu]

Occasionally rock sockless monks too.

 

[Caustic Man]

 

[Clouseau]

Would look much better if you had a sun tan. Your ankles are too white. But i have seen much worse than that on this forum.
Still, as you are (relatively) young, and because your outfit is nice, you can get away with it.

I think this look, as a fashion/style/practical statement, originated in Italy and South of France, and then was adopted by Ivy Style adepts. Just my two cents though. (No need to speak about fishermen or peasants going sockless, it's a worldwide Phenomenon).

Everybody on the Riviera was/is wearing loafers like that. I've seen it from the late sixties to this day. Wasn't there Before but it lasts for a long time for sure. My father (who was born in 1914 and was a very smart dresser) seemed to have always wear his Italian loafers like that during summer, but only on the Riviera of course.

 

[JJ Katz]

For many years I've heard the habit of wearing shoes without socks as somehow particularly "Italian" (and Clouseau adds "French" to that). As someone who grew up in Italy and always went to the Riviera in summer, I have strong doubts. Besides strictly *beach* shoes like espadrilles and sandals, I do not recall anyone wearing sockless loafers (let alone other 'town' shoes) before the late 1980s. In my observation, it's something that was imported from the US as a preppy fashion with 'boat shoes', casual loafers and then transferred to driving shoes. I do agree that once the fashion began, younger Italians adopted it enthusiastically.

 

[Caustic Man]

Here is a picture from the 1969 yearbook from the University of the South in Tennessee.

 

[Caustic Man]

Here is another from ten years earlier in 1959 in the Hamptons.

 

[Clouseau]

For many years I've heard the habit of wearing shoes without socks as somehow particularly "Italian" (and Clouseau adds "French" to that). As someone who grew up in Italy and always went to the Riviera in summer, I have strong doubts. Besides strictly *beach* shoes like espadrilles and sandals, I do not recall anyone wearing sockless loafers (let alone other 'town' shoes) before the late 1980s. In my observation, it's something that was imported from the US as a preppy fashion with 'boat shoes', casual loafers and then transferred to driving shoes. I do agree that once the fashion began, younger Italians adopted it enthusiastically.

I have to disagree, first because i went every year from childhood (born in'65) to my 30s in the Saint Tropez area and sockless loafer ( not exclusively pennies but tassel, Italian, mainly light 'summer' loafers, etc) was very common there. And as i think i wrote Before the sockless Weston (penny loafers) was a 'Minet' favorite since the early 60s and even their trademark.
Now i have to say that i was going on the french side of the Côte d'Azur, not on the Italian side. So it is true i can't speak for Italy.

I tend to think, but it is just a supposition, that this look could have been imported to the States just after the war by GIs who were in France and Italy.