It took moving in with my husband-to-be, a sock aficionado who favours vivid colours in a fine gauge, for me to understand the extent to which some men obsess over socks. But then one day I discovered an entirely unworn stash, still with their labels on, hidden at the back of his overflowing drawer: pastel pink and yellow socks by Richard James; multi-coloured striped socks by Paul Smith; maroon wool and cotton mix socks by Falke; as well as pairs by loafer brand Fin’s and the fine cotton label Sunspel. Did he, I wondered, have some sort of ... issue he hadn’t told me about?
Apparently not – or at least not one that is unique to him. “To my wife’s annoyance, I have many different coloured socks, including pink and lime,” says Knightsbridge gallery owner Acoris Andipa.
“Socks are a real treat for oneself,” says the society magician Drummond Money-Coutts, who changes his socks according to his shoes, and favours thick cotton numbers, mostly from Hackett, in red, blue, pink and yellow. Balthazar Fabricius, who founded the Mayfair bookmakers Fitzdares with Zac and Ben Goldsmith, is partial to socks from Goodwood of all places. “The racecourse does its own in a fine gauge or thick cotton in bright colours,” he notes. “You can buy them online, but I prefer to buy them when I’m there.”