From Fashion Faux pas to Fashion Forward!

You may have once cringed at the sight of your dad wearing his socks under his sandals on holidays…you may still actually! But little did we know that dear daddy would become a muse for many of the top fashion houses for 2009 and 2010. Top labels like Galliano, Burberry, Dior, Chloe and Alexander Wang featured the sock and sandal look in their catwalk collections. However, for a look considered typically preppy, Wang was the only one in my opinion, who managed to keep his cool edgy stamp on it with patent black leather shoes or animal prints and chunky knee highs with an almost mens gater-like effect on the back!

So what celebrities have already caught onto this craze??? Well, fictional fashion darling Blair Waldorf has been known to channel this preppy look, while her alter ego Leighton Meester also has been known to take a few fashion risks on the red carpet and was seen at an event rocking the new style statement!

Then we have your typical quirky dressers like Fearne Cotton, Chloe Sevigny, Agyness Deyn and of course Kate Moss who have all been attempting this look over the past year! Some even before the designers brought out their collections, so perhaps it was them that inspired the design houses and not our dad's bad taste?

So how can you attempt this look without looking like a 6-year old girl? Team with bare legs and short little dresses for a sexy evening look. Be selective in your style, not any old pair of socks will do (leave the grubby, old ones in the bottom of your sock drawer)… try Topshop, Oasis and Falke for the best selections. Topshop have great little gold and silver glittery socks, which are perfect for this type of look!

If you don’t like the look of the peep toes with socks, why not try pop socks (although this is a look best left to when the weather warms up a bit!) Or try the Wang look and toughen simple sandals with ribbed men's army socks.. you might want to buy a new pair and not borrow your dads old ones…yuck!.

So get socky…there are so many different choices… go hard with chunky socks, sweet and innocent with ankle socks, quirky and stylish with knee highs or sassy and sexy with thigh highs...the sock world is your oyster!