October 27, 2015

Socks + Clogs| With Ace & Jig

This will come as no surprise: when it comes to socks and clogs, I’m all in. All the way in. For me, this trend is a natural extension of my personal style. Maybe you see certain garments or trends as slightly out of reach, and I’m here to say: They don’t have to be. Personal style is supposed to be fun and effortless!

But if there’s one thing I’ve noticed since running this little space on the web it’s that sometimes people need a tiny extra nudge. A bonus opinion, perhaps. So to create this post, I called Cary Vaughn and Jenna Wilson, the best friends behind Ace & Jig. The duo have four children combined, juggle a booming line (while living bi-coastal), and have their socks and clogs game down to a unique science.

Today, they’re here to share more about all of it.

When it comes to socks and clogs, do you have any rules?

(Cary) I think the way I dress has a lot to do with mood. Wearing beautiful colors and mixing favorite items usually does the trick for me if I want to elevate my mood. It’s obviously a way of personal expression, but clothes I love just make me feel better! There are some days I just want to wrap myself up in my grandmother’s favorite old quilt and create this physical barrier, this cozy familiar retreat. While other days are like BAM! Loud and proud in all black or stripes on stripes of color. So no, I would say no rules on dressing and same philosophy when it comes to socks, shoes, accessories. Just do what feels good.

(Jenna) No rules, pretty much ever! I’m a soaring romantic and in everything I do I look for joy. If it makes me feel good, makes me smile—then yes! That little spark when you are getting dressed and something clicks and makes you just feel good—I’m kind of a junkie for that feeling.

How does this look incorporate into your roles as mothers?

(Cary) I think this philosophy of just dressing in what makes you feel comfortable is something I try to model to my kids. My daughter is 7 and is at a vulnerable age where she is conscious of seeing clothes as a way to create part of her identity. She started dressing herself when she was 4 and I just go with it. Do I have an opinion, um YES! (ha!); but I never share unless she asks me. She went through a phase where she altered quite a few of her garments with scissors. Looking forward to the teenage years…

(Jenna) I am on my feet constantly and pretty much run from moment to moment. Thus my feet don’t see a ton of stilettos anymore! Socks with everything lately—sneakers, clogs, men’s boots, oxfords, chunky sandals. I take my shoes off in the studio and sit cross-legged at my drafting table. At home, I’m constantly sitting on the floor with the kids. So now that fall is here, I’m all about fun socks. And any footwear that you can slip on—that is a big plus for me. All of my favorite clogs have that going for them.

As far as personal style goes, how are you ladies similar and different?
(Both) There are days where we are Skyping and we are wearing the exactly same thing. If we had to find a difference we would say Jenna is more drawn to nudes, chambrays and lighter shades, while I am more drawn to darker hues of blues and blacks. We have been friends for so damn long, we are lucky as it’s a really nice balance. When we are working on ace&jig, researching, gathering inspiration, we really respect and appreciate each other’s vision and join forces to create a unified image. Its interesting too, since we do a lot of our communication via the written word. We send pics to each other and just write one word and the other person totally gets it. That visual will then get put into our little file bank where we also have these hilarious names for things that no one else would understand. It’s like our secret language.

On their favorites:
Clogs: Bryr, No.6, and vintage
Socks: Fancy ones from Antipast (my personal favorite) to Hansel from Bansel, Kapital, J.Crew or Muji basics, Kooky socks found in Japan
On whats next:
We are having a party at Bird in Williamsburg to celebrate and showcase our collaborative pieces from our current fall collection with Caroline Rose Kaufman. We are creating some fun limited edition pieces for that. Collaborations are such a great way for us to explore a different medium and connect with other favorite artists. We are headed to London next week and looking forward to seeing lots of amazing vintage at Portobello. And of course, onto the next season – FALL ’16!

Thank you so much, Cary and Jenna. I love you both!  You can catch more of their personal here and here. And shop some of their most desired pieces here and here.
Photography by Nicki Sebastian  for LaTonya Yvette.

3 thoughts on “Socks + Clogs| With Ace & Jig”

  • Reply sadie October 27, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    I love these looks and would love to wear socks with clogs, but how do you deal with the slipping?? When I'm wearing slip-on clogs with wood insoles, they just slip right off my socked feet!

  • Reply LaTonya Yvette October 27, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    I prefer the think men/cotton socks for slip ons. They're the only ones that I noticed don't slip. But I think you can find any thicker women's sock and have that work as well.

    xo

  • Reply Unknown October 28, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    When is the event at Bird?? I'll be in Brooklyn the first week of November! xx Amber

    http://www.amberchristopher.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *