27
Mar

Right Sock, Left Sock

I received a number of assorted socks during the last holiday season. One of these sets included some beautiful white socks. They are thick and well padded in the soles. I really like them. Each pair is marked with a small letter R or a small letter L. I ignored these small black letters when I first noticed them. I washed my new socks then chucked them into my dresser without a second thought.

The feeling wasn’t the same when I wore two right socks together (or two left, for that matter). I had to match my right foot with the R sock and my left foot with the L sock in order to achieve maximum comfort. It wasn’t long before I wondered, is it really necessary to wear socks on specific feet?

Most clothes we don are specific to parts of the body; pants over legs, shirt over chest, hat over head; furthermore, there are very few articles of clothing that come in pairs. We know it’s important to put gloves and shoes on the right hands and feet because, frankly, there is no other way. But socks remain a mystery in this regard because they can be worn without thought to the proper foot.

There are many types of socks in the world. The idea that they are interchangeable holds a special place in my dresser because it means that I can keep white socks in a giant tangle, in one drawer, and not worry over pairings. I reach in, pull out two, and I’m ready to go. Most of my dark socks are paired because they are patterned, but I still don’t worry about the correct foot they need be over.

In a world where individuals are becoming more fashion conscious, the sock may be the last bastion against the encroaching forces of properness. I may be wrong in this regard. I may be missing some vital information that either my parents forgot to impart on me as a child, or socialization never steered me past the knowledge of.

If a sock is a sock . . . is a sock, and where it’s worn matters not, then perhaps we still have one area of fashion where we are all on equal footing. Then again, I think about those beautiful white socks. They are more comfortable when I pay proper attention to those small letters.

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