Holy hosiery: meet the Pope's sock maker
With world fame, world peace and a whole canon of other rather pressing demands in his in-tray, one can imagine that Pope Leo XIV will be grateful that there is at least one thing he never has to think about in his new role: where to buy his socks.
On Rome's Via di Santa Chiara, snugly tucked behind the Pantheon — two and a half kilometres due east of Vatican City and the clerical wardrobe it has furnished for more than two centuries — sits Sartoria Gammarelli, purveyors of ecclesiastical clothing. This is our Pope's predestined destination for sock shopping. It has been tailor to the head of the Catholic church, head to toe, since 1798.
If you have ever wondered where the holiest of hosiery is designed, look here. Gammarelli, a family-run outfit that has been in business for six generations, is something of a one-stop shop for the full, official papal look. Like everything else it makes, its socks are handmade for sitting popes from the finest materials. Upon completion, they are carefully packaged — not in multipacks but in individual pairs in fine tissue paper and delivered to the Apostolic Palace.
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Every day, for the rest of his days, Pope Leo will pull on the same iteration of knee-high red or white socks. This has less to do with personal preference than tradition: each pair is crafted bespoke for him, as his predecessors' were, by the head tailor at Gammarelli. In a life of dedicated piety, slipping them on is surely a plush perk. These socks are made of delicately woven silk.
Planning for Leo's personal collection will have begun well before the cardinals cast their final vote this month. During conclave, Gammarelli is as hotly watched as the colour of the smoke that plumes from the Sistine Chapel chimney. Prior to a papal election the store displays three freshly sewn papal robes — from cassock and mozzetta cape to skull cap — in its windows, in small, medium and large.
Its tailors are ready at any moment to transport one — or two, measurements pending — of these, and their operation, to Vatican City. There, they will fit and dress the pope-elect for his first public appearance. The Holy Father is the only client to receive such VIP treatment. Everyone else must make their own pilgrimage to Gammarelli's store.
And they do: in droves. Priests come from all over the world to visit Gammarelli. So do their fans — including the global editor at large for Vogue Hamish Bowles — to purchase their own £41 pairs of socks in colours for every date in the Catholic liturgical calendar: green for everyday, purple for Lent and Advent, and red for Pentecost. Online, scarlet, black and violet versions are stocked on meschaussettesrouges.com.
But it is only Il Papa who can wear the white styles. His uniform is sacred and unchanging. Like Steve Jobs with his black polonecks and Barack Obama with his blue or grey suits, the Pope knows that not wondering what to wear in the morning is a great luxury, enabling him to fully engage with higher matters.
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