Sock & awe
How the sock boot went from out there to everywhere
SOMETIMES, it’s the least-likely trend that sticks. Like bubblegum on the sole of your shoe. Case in point: the sock boot. Who would have thought that a Spandex legging – a virulent flower-power printed one at that – attached to a lethally pointed and heeled shoe would become this season’s ‘It-est’ of footwear, sparking copies in every permutation – long, short, fancy, plain…
It’s one thing to see a bilious pink or purple second-skin, thigh-high sock boot on the runway – and note down ‘Shoe of the season?’ – but for it to have actually taken root in real life? You couldn’t have predicted it.
Or could you? Let’s track the trend: a) The Credibility Factor – in order for the sock boot to ignite, it first had to be rubber-stamped by the fashion community. That happened almost two years ago, in the midst of the by-nowclassic trend known as athleisure. On the Vetements catwalk in Paris at the height of ‘Vetemania’, designer and chief rebelrouser Demna Gvasalia issued a cigaretteheeled black sock boot branded with the Vetements logo. b) The Fashion Facsimile Phase – the next step in the life of a trend is when other brands develop the idea and make it their own. So, six months after its first outing, we saw Céline’s metallic-knit ankle boot and Kanye West’s Yeezy black thigh-highs, followed swiftly by Fendi’s Edwardian-heeled-football-sock-bootie. But the trend really went stratospheric when Gvasalia, now well into his Balenciaga job, honed his originals into the garishly patterned Spandex Knife stiletto boot. c) The Mainstream Influencer – another crucial aspect to the trend curve came in the form of sports giant Nike, when it put out its technically advanced Lunar Epic Flyknit running shoe with an in-built sock, taking the concept mainstream, making
it accessible to all, and convincingly removing the fear factor from a style of footwear that is actually rather weird. d) Celebrity Endorsement – because these days a brand, trend or piece is nothing if not validated by a celebrity, cue the Met Gala and both Salma Hayek and Lily Aldridge posing, just so, in predictable red-carpet fare to reveal a slice of skintight superboot. Not to mention a whole host of superbods wearing theirs with ripped-up denim. And e) Street Style Commitment – inevitably, bloggers ‘nonchalantly’ decked out to the nines demonstrated how to wear all manner of sock boots all over social media, from the Paris couture to Oslo Fashion Week. Which leaves us with the question of Staying Power – how much longer can it possibly last? With the high street’s capacity to propel this trend into your closet, it shows no sign of fizzling out. Might it even become a new classic? The sock boot trend curve is in your hands – or, potentially, on your feet. And by the way, they look good with a cropped jean.