Socks with Mohawks? SoCal brands Stance and Libertine pair up to put their best feet forward

Senior Features Writer

Aug. 16, 2017 5 AM PT

A pair of SoCal brands — L.A.’s Libertine label and San Clemente sock juggernaut Stance — have joined forces for a colorful capsule collection that promises to pull focus with each step.

The collaboration, which we actually got a quick glimpse of at Libertine’s fall/winter 2017 runway show in New York, serves up an assortment of boldly patterned men’s and women’s socks that feature familiar Libertine motifs – English roses, animal prints and a “magic eye” emblem – along with design elements inspired by Romanian textiles and 17^th century operas.

Even though they’re all eye-candy for the feet (one pair spells out a Robert Burns poem in multicolored, all-cap letters, another a vicious cat with bloodied fangs juxtaposed with roses) there’s one standout style that brings out the best of both brands: the Magic Eye.

Offered in both men’s and women’s versions, the sock mixes animal prints (giraffe and leopard), vibrant colors (hot pink, magenta and pale yellow among them) and Libertine’s magic eye design — with a fringe-tastic back seam detail that makes each sock look like it’s sporting a multicolored Mohawk haircut. (Added bonus: The phrase “socks with Mohawks” sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.)

The Libertine X Stance collection ranges from $12 to $18 and is available now at a handful of retailers including Joan Shepp, Selfridges, Fred Segal, Stance’s flagship store in New York as well as online at stance.com.

And if you’re looking for a little extra levity, we highly recommend checking out the “Beyond the Design” video that Stance posted to its YouTube channel on Aug. 1 – the day the collection launched. In it, Libertine’s founder, CEO and creative director Johnson Hartig hilariously recaps the collaboration – and notices there are a couple of things missing.