MEMORIES:

During World War II, silk and nylon were rationed, and that kept women from being able to wear traditional stockings. To replace them, the British made a short ankle sock. American women chose instead to either go barelegged or paint their legs with “suntan” colored makeup to look like stockings – complete with a back seam painted right on. Young girls picked up the British style ankle socks instead, calling it the bobby sock after the British slang word for police officers. A style and cultural movement was thus born.

 

Bobby socks started out as a rebellious statement, but ended up as mainstream teen fashion of the ‘50’s. Girls either wore the short socks, or folded down their white calf socks to ankle height. When worn with pants, girls cuffed the legs high enough to show off the socks underneath. The “bobby soxer” look soon spread to high schools across the nation.

 

Bobby socks were the featured clothing item during “sock hops”, dance parties where kids would take off their shoes and dance in their socks. Rather than a rebellious act, the kids actually did this because the black soles of their saddle shoes would scuff the polished gym floors where these dances were often held.

 

While not intrinsically rebellious, bobby socks were a fashion statement that set teenagers apart from their parents – and inherently, that’s where teenagers want to be.