Outfit tribute
Not just a fashion statement: Bush’s socks spoke volumes. >32
HOUSTON: President George H.W. Bush said a lot with socks.
A visit from friend and former president, Bill Clinton, inspired him to wear a pair emblazoned with Clinton’s face.
He wore Houston Texans’ socks when meeting with the head coach.
At the funeral for his wife Barbara Bush, he wore socks featuring books as a tribute to her work promoting literacy.
Bush, who was a naval aviator in World War II, will be buried this week wearing socks featuring jets flying in formation – a tribute, his spokesman says, to the former president’s lifetime of service.
The mayor of Houston urged people attending a City Hall tribute to Bush on Monday to wear colourful socks in memory of the former president, who died on Friday at age 94.
Michael Meaux, who worked in the US State Department under Bush’s son, former President George W. Bush, sported a pair of hot-pink socks as he waited for Monday evening’s tribute to begin.
“I’ve had them for a while, but I’ve never worn them before,” Meaux said, laughing.
Bush was one of several a high-profile figures to adopt a menswear trend of using socks to add a bit of flash to an outfit.
Others include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The trend hit a peak in the men’s market four years ago, said Marshal Cohen, a chief industry adviser of the market research firm NPD Group.
It has endured, with colour and novelty driving growth in the market, he said. And as menswear became more casual, socks replaced the tie as a conversation piece.
“Year after year we got more and more casual and the fun novelty sock became an opportunity of expression,” Cohen said. —