Dutch declare war

On white socks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3397043.stm

There are some fashions that I think no one should participate in. One of them is white socks with sandels, of any kind. But No white socks at all, even between April and September? That is a bit much.

I must admit, I am a fashion nightmare when it comes to footware. I am fine when I wear my chucks, a bit excentric, but ok. Other than that I wear white socks and sambas to almost everything. The problem is that my feet are short and narrow and I have trouble finding reasonably priced dress shoes.

They say you can tell if a man is well dressed by his footwear, I am poorly dressed by this rule of style.

NPR reported on the story saying,

Morning Edition, October 15, 2007 · The Netherlands may tolerate prostitutes and marijuana, but one Dutch official drew a line. He's against white socks. The finance ministry official sparked a media frenzy. He said white socks cross "the limits of decent dress behavior." That went around the world as a news story claiming the Dutch government was making war on white socks. Now a spokeswoman says the official did not speak for the government, only for himself.
Though the Dutch deny the ban a report came out suggesting,"that white socks were banned after being labelled as "transgressing the limits of decent dress behaviour."

According to a spokesperson, "Our opinion is that everyone has to dress according to occasion, and the employees at the Dutch Finance Ministry have a good dress sense."

And I guess many agree, the BBC points out that, "White socks, particularly under suits, would be seen as a style crime in many parts of the world."

While this is all true, white socks are often more comfortable, especially gym style socks, and slightly thicker which I would assume is a draw for many to wear the contested socks.

My only beef is that people should be free to wear what they want. The fact that someone wears white socks, in my opinion, does not point to their lack of style or fashion. It is how you wear the socks not what colour or shade they are.

Images from: http://great-hikes.com/blog/images/Socks1.jpg and http://www.whitesocks.com
Find many white socks at: http://www.whitesocks.com