While I tried to make the title as click-baity as possible, my question isn't limited only to striped socks.
Some background information: One is not supposed to stare at the Kohanim when they do Birkas Kohanim, as this distracts them from paying attention to the blessing (S"A O"C 128:23, see Mishnah Berurah 89). For that reason, the Shulchan Aruch writes (128:30) that one who has some disfigurement on his hands or face cannot do Birkas Kohanim as it causes the people to stare at him, although if he is a regular in the town, he can say the blessing since people are used to him and won't stare.
In the next Sif, the Shulchan Aruch writes that in locales where the disfigurements would be covered by a Tallis and the custom of the Kohanim in that community is to drape the tallis over their heads/hands, the Kohanim can go up for Birkas Kohanim. However, if the custom of the community is for the Kohanim to not drape their tallis over their hands/face, they can not start doing so in order to cover a disfigurement (Chayei Adam 32:4).
Based on the above, my question is two-fold:
- Is there a problem with a Kohen wearing 'distracting' clothing? This could be anything that is considered 'weird' (and I'm aware that what is considered weird is quite subjective, but that's beyond the scope of this question. This question is assuming that what the Kohen is wearing at the time is considered weird by the standards of that community), for example a Tallis with pictures on it, sparkly pants, or even something as simple as socks with holes.
- If the answer to 1 is that it is a problem, is there some timeframe where if one regularly wore 'weird' clothing that it would be considered no longer 'weird' in that locale and the Kohen can now wear it during Birkas Kohanim?
Please note that I'm specifically looking for sources that speak out about distracting clothes. Logically, I would assume that it would be a problem as a distraction is a distraction, but I'm curious if any of the authorities explicitly speak about this.