Hose and Shoes

[CMcG]

I usually wear hose, pulled up, with flashes or garters, even when I'm wearing Doc Marten steel toe shoes with flames on them:




The only real exception is if I'm wearing Canadian army parade boots, which I have worn with hose that are folded once, then scrunched the rest of the way:




If you're just wearing sneakers, I don't think you would need hose and could just go with regular socks, but it's not a look I've ever tried. If you're wearing boots, I think scrunched or folded hose balance the visual weight of the boots against bare leg. Both of these are very informal, streetwear approaches.

If you're wearing leather shoes, even casual ones like Docs, then pulled up hose compliment them nicely, IMHO. You can wear the hose without flashes or garters by just using elastics to hold them up and this gives a bit more contemporary look.

Wearing pulled up hose is a bit more polished and, for lack of a better word, "kilty." I think the OP (Alan) mentioned he wanted to wear the kilt to the university and is a grad student, so I think hose and leather shoes would be smarter for that. Perhaps something like this, with funky Fluevog brogues: