With winter creeping up ever so slowly and the need for socks to again become the norm in foot fashion, an interesting mix of coffee culture meets the sodden cotton shrouds we wrap around our feet every day has come to light. Enter Longblack, New Zealand’s take on sleek, sophisticated and sexy apparel to jazz up what some consider the body’s sexiest asset: the feet.
Sleek, sophisticated and sexy are a far cry from what most in the western world would consider socks. Gone were the days of naming inanimate and the most physically unattractive of clothing or electronic products an enticing and sensually arousing entitlement.
Apparently not. That aside, however, the socks and their dub do make sense; they’re socks, they’re long and they’re black. Enlightened? Good.
Why exactly they have taken it upon themselves to cast into the minds of every long black coffee lover the stinking, wretched cotton sausages that absorb the most vile of foot sin is a mystery. But hey, it works for them and truth be known, it’s quite creative. As long as one is not considering the name of the sexy new foot pieces while sucking back coffee at a favourite cafe, one’s gag reflex shouldn’t kick in too immediately.
Long Black has too, been quite conniving in its packaging of the footwear to address the requirements of those podophobes among us. Should one detest the look, feel, smell or notion of socks, feet and all their encompassing foulness, the packaging is as deceptive as Jocelyn Wildenstein’s face, assuring one’s look is not tarnished by the stigma of sock shopping, while ensuring passers-by associate you with a visit to the local espresso joint rather than the truth of your actions.
The socks are a nice little addition to every sock-lover’s drawer, as well. Their softness-to-stretchiness ratio is impressive, as is the quaint design on shaft of each of the appendages. Even if you’re not such a sock fan, the packaging makes for a deceptive décor addition to appeal to the ‘I’m so eclectic and decorate my home with mixed media and found objects’ artist in us all.
Published on 4 February 2012 by James Banham