Hmm, needs more flair.

Business casual startup attire can be so constricting. Beyond logo t-shirts or branded baseball caps, there's little room investors and entrepreneurs to really express themselves with individual flair.

According to the New York Times Style section, however, some Silicon Valley big wigs have found a way around that . . . by wearing colorful, flashy, patterned socks. Apparently everyone from Twitter's Dick Costolo to Accel Partners' Jim Breyer (he of the manifold Facebook shares) is doing it. In some West Coast equivalent of Warby Parker or Bonobos, there's even a brand of choice: a four-year-old Swedish brand called Happy Socks.

Sounds baller, if they do say so themselves:

“I have been in meetings where people look down and notice my socks, and there is this universal sign, almost like a gang sign, where they nod and pull up their pant leg a little to show off their socks,” said Hunter Walk, 38, a director of product management at YouTube, whose favorite pair is yellow, aqua and orange striped.

Betabeat was just looking for ways to make tech uncool again. Likening your Mutual Sock Appreciation Society to a street gang is the perfect way to start. But maybe let's let this one fashion trend that happened in Silicon Valley, stay in Silicon Valley, okay? New Yorkers know the emphasis should be on the sneakers, not the socks.