How to Match Dress Socks with Suits: Classic Style Guidelines

Tailored suit, check. Pressed shirt, check. Polished shoes, silk tie, and pocket square, check, check, check. When you’re suiting up for a special occasion, it might be easy to overlook your socks. But just like the spread of your collar or the miter on your cuffs, it’s the details that make or break a fit.

Well-chosen socks can tie together the color, texture, and mood of your outfit, ensuring you look put-together from head to toe. The right pair also contributes to your overall comfort, helping you feel confident and at ease, day to night.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through classic style guidelines to learn what color dress socks to wear with suits of the most popular colors, ensuring you always make the right choice — whether you're dressing for a corporate meeting, a wedding, or any other formal occasion.

At Darn Tough, we knit a range of men’s dress socks from classic solids to stylish stripes for every outfit and occasion. Let’s get dressed!

The Basics of Matching Dress Socks with Suits

While socks may seem like an inconspicuous part of your wardrobe, they play an important role in shaping your overall appearance. The right pair of socks can seamlessly tie together your suit, contributing to a cohesive, sophisticated look. On the flip side, mismatched or poorly chosen socks can detract from even the most carefully crafted outfit.

Especially if your dress pants are hemmed without a break or if you prefer to cuff your pants, your sock choice will play as prominent a role in styling your suit as a tie or pocket square.

Why Dress Sock Height Matters for Matching Socks to Suits

When you sit down in a chair, pant hems will rise a few inches at minimum, meaning more of your sock will be exposed in seated settings, be it the boardroom or the dining room. If your socks are too short, they risk exposing a gap of bare leg between the top of the sock and the bottom of the pant hem.

Not only can this create discomfort, it’s also not the kind of skin one wishes to show off in a formal setting. Save the bare legs for the beach, and make sure you’re choosing a sock that will fully cover the space between your socks and hems, standing or sitting.

Mid-calf and crew height lifestyle socks, often referred to as dress socks, are the ideal choice, as they rise above the ankle and stay in place throughout the day, even when you cross your legs or sit for long periods.

Dress Sock Material

Socks come in a variety of materials and knits, each with their own texture, thickness, density, fit and feel. Dress socks are typically thinner, smoother, and tighter knit than conventional athletic or sportswear socks. This gives them a sleek and polished appearance and cuts down bulk in a fitted dress shoe.

Some dress socks can feature thin ribs, a pique weave, or raised accents, but even in these instances the texture is subtle, with the fabric fitting close to the skin.

Dress socks can be manufactured from cotton, wool, silk, synthetic fibers and even bamboo. At Darn Tough, we’re partial to Merino Wool, a finer, softer form of wool that’s lightweight, breathable, and exceptionally comfortable.

Merino Wool has all the benefits of regular wool, but is much softer and itch-free. It's breathable, moisture-wicking, and odor-resistant, making it an excellent all-around choice for dress socks.

Color Coordination: Choosing the Right Socks to Complement Your Suit

Color plays an outsized role in a sock’s characteristics and, along with pattern, will likely determine what sock one chooses to wear with a given suit. While contemporary menswear encourages risk taking with loud contrasts, bold pops of color, and even sans socks, traditional rules still apply to the classic connoisseur. Let’s start with the basics.

Matching Socks: A Seamless, Sophisticated Look

The most traditional and safe option when wearing a suit is matching your socks to your trousers. This creates a streamlined and cohesive appearance that is always professional and elegant.

Contrasting Socks: A Modern, Stylish Twist

For those who want to introduce a bit of contrast without straying too far from the formal tone of an occasion, opting for contrasting socks in subdued, complementary colors can add interest and sophistication to the outfit.

Patterned Socks: Subtle Personality and Interest

Patterned socks are a great way to inject personality into your outfit while still keeping things professional. It's important to choose patterns that complement the suit's color without overpowering the overall look. A safe choice is to match the sock’s base color to your suit, with the pattern providing the detail pop.

What Color Dress Socks to Wear With Your Suits

With the basics out of the way, let’s get styling. Whether you’re keeping it classic in blue or gray or going for a fresh summer tan, these are the socks to wear with every suit. We’ll start with the standard choice, then suggest a safe alternative, and end with something a little steezy.

What Color Dress Socks for Navy Suits?

If you have one suit, chances are it’s navy blue. Navy is a timeless color for business and formal occasions, projecting professionalism and authority and complementing a vast range of secondary colors.

Navy Blue Socks

Choose navy blue in a matching or slightly tonal shade for a seamless, sophisticated look. 

Grey Socks

A grey sock will offer a subtle contrast between one’s navy suit and black shoes. A darker shade will create less contrast, while lighter shades of grey will offer a more distinct difference. Be cautious to not go too light here or risk looking like you’ve just come from the gym. 

Burgundy Socks

For a bit of flair without falling outside of the traditional realm, a burgundy sock will provide an eye-catching pop of color while still staying within the boundaries of classic suiting style.

What Color Dress Socks for Grey Suits?

Grey, specifically charcoal grey, is another timelessly popular suiting color. Darker greys will lend themselves to colder months, fashioned from worsted wool or tweed, while summer gives way to lighter grey suits in cotton or linen blends.

Grey Socks

Like navy on navy, the standard choice for a grey suit is a grey sock, either color matched or slightly tonal.

Black Socks

Black socks complement the hues of a grey suit with a powerful contrast. Black is naturally slimming and may be an apt choice for slim suits and tapered pants. Add in the bonus of concealing discoloration and matching virtually any accent color, and black is the fool proof preference.

Green Socks

Grey suits play perfectly with earth tones like green and brown. For darker shades of grey, opt for a rich hunter green sock, while lighter grey suits can pair well in warmer temps with a lighter sage green or olive sock.

What Color Dress Socks for Black Suits?

A black suit is the epitome of formal attire, offering versatility for a wide range of occasions — from corporate events to weddings, galas, and evening affairs.

Black Socks

Black socks provide a classic monochromatic look. It’s an ideal choice for very formal events like black-tie affairs or important business meetings where understated elegance is key. 

Dark Color Socks

Since black is so versatile, several sock colors will work. However, to keep the ensemble classic, stick to darker colors like navy, burgundy, hunter green, or charcoal grey, as even the slightest introduction of color in your socks will pop drastically against bold black.

Patterned Socks

In lieu of brighter colors, it’s possible to create a bit of a style moment with a subtle pattern. Think polka dots, thin stripes or herringbone for a pop of intrigue that doesn’t appear out of place with the suit.

What Color Dress Socks for Tan Suits?

A tan suit is a perfect choice for lighter, more casual occasions like a summer wedding, a business casual meeting, or a daytime event. Since tan is a relatively neutral and light color, it provides flexibility when it comes to sock choices.

Tan Socks

Tan, beige, or light brown socks create a uniform, streamlined appearance that doesn’t distract from the overall outfit. With a light shade like tan, ensure the socks are an exact match or lighter than the shade of the suit, as darker colored socks can look heavy and dull.

Earth Tone Socks

Like grey, tan plays perfectly with earth tones like navy blue, deep burgundy, or forest green. Since tan is a warm color, contrast can come from the hue of your color choice more than the shade. For less contrast, choose burgundy, mustard, or burnt ochre. For more contrast, choose blues, greens, or purple.

Bright and Bold Socks

The levity of a tan suit allows for wide latitude when choosing a statement color. Brighter shades like turquoise, yellow, or even pink are surprisingly palatable with a tan suit, even in traditional circles of mens fashion. Consider the vibe of the event and go for whatever feels fun.

What Color Dress Socks for Blue Suits?

Outside of the traditional navy, blue suits come in a range of colors from bold mid-blue to delicate sky blue. Whatever the shade or style of blue suit, there’s a sock to style them up with.

Navy Blue Socks

The classic choice for a blue suit is a dark navy sock, creating an understated appearance that won’t detract from the rest of one’s outfit. Consider this the sibling of the effortless black sock.

Royal Blue Socks

When styling a lighter blue suit, a complementary shade of blue will provide cohesion while still offering a subtle pop of color. Royal blue makes a statement while not appearing out of place.

Cobalt Blue Socks

With the vibrance of a mid-blue blue suit compared to a navy suit, there’s more license to push your pop color further. Consider a bold accent like cobalt to advance the envelope of tonal style.

Special Considerations

With the standard suiting options out of the way, let’s dive into FAQs for some fashionably appropriate quirks.

Sock Colors for Suits and Brown Shoes

Traditionalists may rebuff the idea of brown shoes with business or formal suits, but as tastes and fashion trend more casual in the contemporary era, brown shoes have become more acceptable with suiting. How does this change one’s sock choice?

When dressing down a suit with brown shoes, you get a little more freedom with sock choice. The warmer hues of brown pair well with navy, green, beige and burgundy socks. Given the less formal nature of brown shoes, patterns like argyle, polka dots, and stripes are all perfectly acceptable.

Tuxedos – What’s the Rule? 

When it comes to tuxedo socks, play by the rules and always match your socks to your pants, which in almost all cases – whether black, white, or blue tuxedo – are black. Solid black socks in a sleek knit will do the trick. No need to improvise.

Wrapping Up

So there you go. A sock for every suit. A shade for every style.

Remember, the best suit dress sock is the sock you feel most comfortable in, aesthetically and functionally. A high quality Merino Wool sock, accompanied by a lifetime guarantee, and offered in a range of colors and patterns will suit even the most discerning sartorialists and allow you to look, feel, and perform your best.

Shop our full collection of men’s dress socks for the final touch for any formal occasion.

About the Author

Ted is a fashion industry veteran having worked with some of the most influential menswear designers and retailers of the last two decades. Ted’s passion for apparel is rooted in its relationship with the user, to support one’s work and hobbies and communicate one’s self-expression, whatever that may be.