Feeling For … Ragg Wool

Hermès cashmere socks and boots on the fall 2008 runway.

Bruce Pask, T Magazine’s men’s fashion director, writes on style every two weeks.

I love the cold! The switch from transitional outerwear to full-fledged cold-bearing clothes allows me to wear my long underwear (I have the perfect pair of John Bartlett charcoal gray lightweight wool long johns made by Zimmerli) and my heavy ragg wool socks. Ragg wool is a marled yarn of two different colors speckled together in a salt-and-pepperish kind of way. It usually comes in cream and beige or cream and navy, but there are plenty of other color combinations. Wigwam is probably the best-known company producing ragg wool socks, but

Help Desk | Men’s Dress Shoes for Cold Weather

Paraboot’s Guitry boot.

In the Help Desk column, the editors of T: The New York Times Style Magazine answer questions from readers. Submit your queries on fashion, travel, design and entertaining to The Moment.

Question: My feet get freezing cold in the winter. I am looking for formal shoes or boots I can wear with a suit that will also keep my feet warm.

Answered by: Bruce Pask, men’s fashion director

You have a couple of options. Dress shoes are dress shoes and they aren’t like to keep you terribly insulated, so let’s start with dressy men’s boots. I emailed Mark Welden, an American sales rep for Paraboot, a quality shoe company in France. Its hand-made boots are beautiful and very sturdy; they should help protect you from the cold. Weldon said: