Millennial or Gen Z: What your sock choice reveals about your age

According to Gen Z, if you're not wearing socks pulled up, you're doing it wrong. Photo / Getty Images

First they came for our skinny jeans, our dance moves and our Instagram aesthetic.

Now Gen Z have come for our beloved ankle socks, declaring that the quickest way to judge what generation someone belongs to is simply to glance down at their feet.

FIT (ish) podcast host Phoebe Parsons, herself a millennial, declared in a TikTok video, “Gen Z exclusively wears their socks up and millennial still wear ankle socks,” reports the New York Post.

@phoebeacp

This is exactly how to tell the difference between a millennial and gen z just by looking at their feet #millennial #genz

♬ original sound - Phoebe Parsons

Parsons, who is also a pilates and barre instructor, revealed that she herself was wearing ankle socks while recording the clip.

Wearing ankle or even no-show socks with your kicks, especially if they were low-cut sneakers or flats, was the standard fashion choice a few years ago. But 2020 saw the return of the long-avoided crew sock.

White tube socks even made it back on to the runway that year, but the trend really started to take off as people began staying home during Covid-19 lockdowns and all dress codes went out the window.

Now as you walk down the street, you’ll soon spot the Gen Zs by their long socks - unless, of course, they’re hidden by their baggy jeans.

But countless millennials are still clinging to their “secret socks”, as the comments on Parsons’ video reveal.

Ankle socks have gone the way of skinny jeans in Gen Z's eyes. Photo / 123rf

One person pointed out, “As someone with short legs, hidden socks are best for elongating the legs”, while another admitted that “Socks up remind me of when my mum would dress me as a child. It makes me feel like a small child.”

Others recalled that the trend was born from necessity back when slip-on sneakers or tennis shoes and ballet flats were our footwear staples.

“If they’d been as aggressively bullied over the smallest hint of sock as we were, they’d never dare,” one wistful millennial wrote.

Another admitted they’d tried out the trend at the gym, writing, “I wore the socks up to the gym one day and I felt like they looked soooo bad every time I saw myself in the mirror all I could see were the socks.”

Another declared firmly, “I will NEVER let my socks show *shudders in millennial*.”

But despite Gen Z’s eagerness to declare all things millennial “uncool”, it’s important to remember that what goes around comes around - and just like countless other trends of the 90s and 2000s, ankle socks might just come back in a few years.

Our beloved secret socks might just join the ranks of the ballet flat, the unbuttoned pant, jorts, and dresses over jeans - so watch this space.