I’ve seen men Hasidic men wearing shorts (formerly called knickerbockers when they were fashionable among the goyim, and still worn by many baseball and American football players), along with over the calf socks. Prior to long pants becoming fashionable in Europe and America (200 years ago), most men wore such pants, often along with long coats and high boots (guess what people dumped into the streets back then).
So it is clear that shorts are mutar (allowed by halacha), but are incredibly unfashionable unless worn with high socks, and a long coat, and outside of a few limited circumstances you might be confused with a reinactor wearing clothings from centuries past.
This is not to be confused with the types of shorts popular among many American goyim, who appear to be challenged to distinguish underwear from outerwear.