I Like Socks

I was stuck at home sick, missing over half a day of work, which I’m crazy guilty about.  So, here is a work-related fluff piece about arm and leg warmers.  Which—PS—are not just an “80′s thing” but a snappy and smart way to layer during the unpredictable weather of fall and spring.

It’s been interesting watching how the fashion world is dealing with the shifts in economy and social opinion.  Last year we saw an increase of focus on legwear (to my delight), this year I am noticing more and more attention paid to nails.  It’s these little, changeable things that can bulk out a wardrobe without shattering a budget.  Or, if you couldn’t give two shits about your seasonal attire, they’re things that extend your clothing’s ability to cover you in weather.  Fun to play with and cheap enough not to prevent you from playing.

Back to the subject at hand/foot: arm and leg warmers are one of those things.  Not quite legwear, equally hated and loved and surprisingly interchangeable.  Like, really surprisingly.

At work we’re often reminding people that leg warmers, being simple tubes, can go on the arms as well.  This is great for the monkey-armed (like me) and for those days when it is 45º in the morning and 94º at the height of the day.

They’re long enough that the look is more layered, so you don’t invoke the wrath of folks who roll eyes at the pairing of t-shirt and arm warmers.

But the point of this exercise, really, is to show the fab idea my boss has been rocking, which is arm warmers as toeless tabi leg warmers.  It probably breaks like, so many laws.  I see so many people shivering sockless in flats and sandals no matter the weather that I feel it is for the greater good (and the greater good’s amusement) that I give an example.

It all comes back to the same thing I am always saying.  Play, experiment.  It’s just clothes.

I’m going to be a dick and say we all remember those laddered, loose-knit leggings from Rodarte’s F2008 line.

Anyhow,  unlike other much-loved legwear, this stuff never grew up to be a department store knock-off—though some industrious folks are filling that niche and others are building their own.  I’m a huge fan of altering clothing and legwear to extend an item’s life and generally get more out of the damn thing.  The beauty is the ability to fit something to your needs.  So my stubby legs?  I can cut up stockings in a way that the snags will show, instead of them ending up somewhere under my skirt.

Why exert effort doing something most try to avoid?   Beyond “because I can”, there is always something beautiful about looks that take far more dedication than you’d realised.  From the standpoint of someone who makes things:  objects like artfully torn stockings and perfectly balanced loose knits can look like such ass if you think you can just slop that shit together any-which-way.  Asymmetry is the most difficult to balance, natch.

So? Wanna try?