But some girls are taking advantage of a loophole in the regulations, which do not set out what kind of ankle socks should be worn.

CNN: A SOCK TO THE SYSTEM

Then, in some trick of the light, or because she sagged her chin into her wrinkling neck, or her too short trousers rode up above her ankle socks as she was sitting cross-legged, Ally saw for a moment the old woman she would become, vulnerable and stubborn, cut adrift.

NEWYORKER: She��s the One

Presto -- the heavy socks defy gravity by clinging to her legs midway between ankle and knee.

CNN: A SOCK TO THE SYSTEM