The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-24
YES, SOCKS WILL. BE VERY STYLISH. DURING THE FALL
Gentlemen Won't Be Harried By Difficult Fashions,
 Is Indication
By WESTBROOK PEGLER Leased Wire to The Age-HeraId)

NEW YORK, Sept. 23.- At the moment of hauling on ones socks or other intimate foibles, fads or fancies dear to the vain little hearts of the gentlemen-bless 'em-these chill September mornings. one is likely to pause and ask ones self solemnly; Now Angus" or "Mendel" or Joe" really de rigeur this season? Am l truly au fait? or am I not, in fact, becoming slightly el hobo?"
 This Is q crisis in ones life which, like the hangover and the proposal must be endured alone. Styles change; derbies turn from burnt orange to gray to green to black overcoats quicker at the back or dangle in exhausted lines from the shoulders; collars climb till they rasp the ears, then dwindle to the width of an imaginary line. One must be correctly dressed or stand aside while young Smithers, who studies the fashions at night, steps into the $5,000 job.
 And yet, although each man must decide for himself what he Is to wear, he can be assisted by counsel from others. No man can assume another's hangover, but a friendly
 
 monia has palliated many such crises. No man may propose for an- other, but inexperienced youth may peruse' Nat Goodwins memoirs as a preparatory course of study.
 At this time, when it may be a real service to gentlemen to say: Yes, socks are de rigeur this season" They are being shown in all the better shops and scarcely a prom Cl II is tn ha n from club to club about New York without these cozy little garments encasing his extremisties, sometime es known by the technical name of dogs or beagles.
 No Radical Changes.
 In fact, one notes no radical change in the styles this season, and the trend is toward liberality; a cheering symptom, indeed, in a time when other phases of daily life are becoming more and more closely re- stricted by enactment or prejudice.
 The principle concession is to te found in the sporty motif which per vades the most popular sartorial harmonies in the better shops. One may wear one's be1ted packet to business this winter, and get away with it, provided one takes occasion to speak casually during the day about "nine holes of red ball golf this morning before breakfast" If 1t be a well-known fact that the speaker doesn't know niblick from a divot, another subterfuge is just as good.
 These golf jackets are just the thing for riding int a car" one may say. They give plenty of play for the arms"
 One need not say street car" or mention that the play for the arms" refers to reaching for strap.
 Golf stockings may even be worn to business if the same general inn pression is given that business is only a diverting incident in a life generally devoted to motoring or golf.
 There has been some talk of the suspender renaissance, but this may be set down, in the words of a great mayor, as propaganda inspired by the interests. Babe Ruth, it may be remembered, began the suspender publicity last spring when he an nounced that never pore would he wear belt. Rudolph Valentino when asked how he liked married life significantly Tipped back his coat and Tapped a set of galuses, indicat- ing that he was the high authority in his house. And still more recently the Prince of Wales intimated that he wears them.
 All three of these celebrities are now believed to be in the pay of the sinister suspender trust and inde- pendent men are counseled to do just as they like about the matter Suspenders are fashionable, it is true but they are not mandatory and any other device for keeping up the trousers will be considered proper, as long as It does its work.
 This leads to the matter of trousers. Of all the garments af- fected by gentlemen worth the name trousers continue to be the most popular. Last year a bold effort was made to change the blueprint which has been on file in the United States bureau of ~tandards for many years Bell Bottoms Tol'ed Ont.
 Certain designers created bell-bot- tom garments for high school boys and Broadway song pluGgers, who really weren't quite ready for trousers but wanted the next best thing. This bell has now toIled its own knell and trousers are once again their old simple, dependable chummy sleeves cuffs and equipptl with two Hi pockets, each of one quart capacity
 Altogether, the requirements oi fashion are quite leninent in the fal of 1923. Of course the sporting motif can be rendered off key. It is not considered smart. for instance to wear a bathing jersey with evening dress. even among ones friends. Or the other hand, some people will gc ahead and wear what they happen to have and it is just some peoples luck to get away with it in these days of lenient juries.