Two of our editors tackle the age-old sartorial conundrum.

There comes a point in every man’s life when he must stop to consider the really important things. If the universe is constantly expanding, will there come a point where we all dissapear into nothingness? Is humanity doomed to an eternal future of conflict and violence or will we ever discover world peace? Also, crucially, if you have a pair of sandals, are you allowed to wear socks with them? We’re not exactly sure that MR PORTER is the right media outlet to provide you with the answers to the first two points. But footwear we can deal with. Well, sort of – in the current cultural climate even this feels like something of a sensitive issue. To give you a rounded view of the controversy, we indulged in an age-old broadsheet tradition and asked two of our team members to put together a case for and against the wearing of socks and sandals, inspired in part by developments on the SS17 men’s runways, but also by the volume of enquiries we’ve received about this hot topic. It’s really up to you to decide who is the most convincing. See how we dodged that one?

Anathemas are common in men’s style. You should never wear brown shoes with a black suit. Only opt for a white dinner jacket in summer. And so on and so on. Of course, these rules are helpful, and largely to be abided by; but when it comes to moving things forward, you sometimes have to break them. Take Mr Thom Browne for example, who in the early 2000s decreed not only that suit trousers should be cut to finish above the ankle (gasp), but that shoes should be worn without socks (shudder), and shirts preferably worn un-ironed (no, really?). All three stylistic touches (well, not so much the shirt thing) are now thoroughly commonplace – particularly within the MR PORTER office (where I don’t think I’ve seen a pair of socks anywhere near an ankle since about February).

But let’s not beat around the bush: we’re talking about socks and sandals here. Certainly, it’s a look that brings to mind sunburnt holiday-makers, bum bags and lots of Velcro straps. But, if we’re to judge by the SS17 runway shows, this kind of thing is very much in the ascendant. In fact, a utilitarian, performance-inspired approach to travel was a thread that ran through many of the new collections this June/July, from Gucci’s backpacks, loaded with rolled-up towels and other nick-nacks to Mr Thom Browne’s scout-inspired collection for Moncler Gamme Bleu.

Prada, however, was the show that took all this to its logical sartorial conclusion: socks and sandals. To be specific, these were thick, mottled hiking socks, embellished with bright coloured stripes and zigzags and paired with the kind of strappy Velcro sports sandals you might expect to find in the outdoors section of your local department store. As it is often wont to do, the Italian brand took something inherently rather tasteless and turned up the volume on it until, on the runway, it looked surprisingly brilliant, and defiantly dorky. With socks like these, it suggested, why wouldn’t you want to show them off, sandals or not?

Of course, this is not the kind of thing you’d wear to the office – there’s something about a boardroom that makes sartorial irony that little bit more difficult to pull off. But at the weekend, with a pair of ripstop shorts and a neat cotton bomber, why not? Just make sure the socks are thick and textured (like the below from Mr Gray), and the sandals definitively of the sporty variety (such as accompanying pair from Teva). And be prepared for a few raised eyebrows – unfortunately we can only assume that not everyone you meet in your stylish peregrinations will tune into each Prada show as religiously as the MR PORTER team.

Let’s play a game of word association. You say, “socks and sandals”. I say, “university librarian on holiday”. It’s the Pictionary definition of normcore. Which is of course fashionable in a knowingly ironic way for kids in certain hipster-dense parts of east London and Brooklyn. But everywhere else? I just can’t see it catching on, no matter how often fashion designers try to hoodwink us into it.

Sneering detractors argue that the look makes no practical sense. The idea behind sandals is that you expose your feet. So to then cover them up with socks looks confused and defeats the purpose.

There is a valid counter argument here. If you have to wear uncomfortable footwear – for example, if you are an athlete who wears tight-fitting boots or cleats or running shoes, or a skier or a mountaineer who wears stiff protective boots – then wearing socks and sandals allows your feet to relax, recover and breathe without exposing your sport-ravaged blackened toenails to the world.

NFL and NBA players have helped to popularise the recent resurgence in the wearing of classic blue-and-white striped Adidas Originals Adilette slides with white sports socks. One can see the elevated activewear influence on US brands such as Public School and John Elliott – at New York Fashion Week: Men’s last month, the latter sent several models down the runway in socks and pool slides. For the first time I found myself thinking, “OK, maybe.”

But Birkenstocks or Teva sandals and socks? It feels like a step too far – especially if you’re over 30. That said, a couple of years ago I’d have thought the same about people walking around town in sweatpants with tailoring or wearing full-on pyjamas when out and about – and now both styles are considered pretty mainstream. So maybe by next summer everyone will be doing the socks and sandals thing. Everyone, that is, apart from me.