Socks are the best Christmas gift – but there’s one type you should never give
When the Baby Jesus was lying in a manger, the last thing he really needed was gold, frankincense and myrrh. What he really needed was socks. Perhaps that’s why the shepherds were so assiduously washing theirs?
I’m being silly. But on the subject of Christmas present giving I am entirely serious. Socks are the best present. Feet down. If you are still struggling to find something for the ones you love, let them have socks this Christmas Day.
They are the present that everyone needs. No one ever says, “Thanks, but I’ve already got too many of those.” We always need more. And unlike a mum who feels they have to buy their large adult son a multi pack of underpants from M&S every year, giving socks is a positively joyful thing to do.
Novelty socks; fair isle woolly numbers to wear with welly boots; glittery ones that look fab with flats or granny style with heels; the humble sock is the ultimate fun and financially fiscal Christmas present.
I’m not alone in thinking so. At John Lewis, they’ve seen searches for “Christmas socks” increase by 57 per cent – and 51 per cent for “cashmere socks”.
It is a universally accepted truth that when someone buys you socks, they are almost always better socks than you would buy for yourself.
Ordinarily spending anything over ten pounds for a single pair would seem the height of decadence. Not so at Christmas, where that sort of money is redefined as a trivial stocking filler budget.
While I would worry greatly about my husband if he came home having replenished his sock drawer by visiting Paul Smith, they are a present that I love to give him; a token of how much I treasure him. Although I did recently see him pairing them with exercise trainers, so I think he’s started taking them a bit for granted.
There’s some kidology at play when we treat ourselves to fancy socks, not unlike the red lipstick effect famously coined by Leonard Lauder, of Estée Lauder. Socks play into that same idea of small luxuries that boost spirits during difficult times.
Take my editor, who recently hiked the Inca Trail to mark turning 60. At the end of each day she would slide into her small tent, feet throbbing, and put on a pair of White Company cashmere socks. “It was the one luxury in my tiny backpack,” she explains. “It felt like heaven putting them on.”
They are also one of life’s great sartorial pleasures. John Lewis personal stylist Lucy Hope is a self-confessed sock-a-holic. “I’ve got to the point now where I’ve had to buy those little dividers so I can see them at a glance when I open my drawer. It’s actually really fun because you can match your outfit to your socks. Today I’ve got a green tie on and I’ve matched it with green socks, so when you sit down you can see that little pop of colour. It’s just fun.”
She agrees that socks are a lovely gift to give. “I know they have always been a bit of a cliché, but I think socks are different to how they used to be. There’s such a variety now, so many textures and luxury socks, like cashmere and merino wool. You can actually show you know someone’s personality in their socks. I think someone would probably give me quite autumnal-toned socks because that’s the sort of colour I tend to wear. So you can really personalise it. And of course there’s the fun novelty socks as well. You’ve got to have those on Christmas Day.”
The point about personality is a good one. Socks might seem like the present you give to someone you don’t know very well, but that simply isn’t the case.
You have to know someone very well in order to get it right. Over the years I’ve given my sister-in-law a range of funky colourful socks, from her gig-going childfree days, to now a mum of two boisterous boys. When I give her a pair of lime green socks it’s an acknowledgement that I still see her as the cool girl who can carry anything off.
I am yet to meet a woman who doesn’t covet Uniqlo’s Anya Hindmarch googly eye socks. While sold out online, they’re available in store, and, of course, on second hand websites.
For every person who wants enormous fluffy socks, there is someone craving a multi-pack, because they know it will make their life in the New Year just that little bit easier.
However, there is one cardinal rule of Christmas sock giving. Never buy a person black socks. Not only are they boring and the complete opposite of what Christmas should make you feel, doing so is only storing up sockaggedon. Who hasn’t wish-matched black socks that clearly don’t belong together? By now we’ve all seen the episode of Rivals where Declan O’ Hara, fed up of his womenfolk stealing his black socks, buys mustard coloured ones to put them off, and inadvertently cuts an absolute dash. There are plenty of Colman’s coloured socks about and John Lewis do marvellous multi-packs for men that are entirely work appropriate without being black.
Right, I’ve said my bit, so now I’ll put a sock in it.
