The best socks to wear in lockdown

Several things have sustained me throughout isolation, and they are not the things I thought they would be. Instead of fancy takeaways and baking my own sourdough, it was good old frozen peas, mashed potatoes and fried eggs that were my saviours. My diet is pretty much that of The Commonsense Cookery Book, first published in Australia in 1914.

Instead of inspirational books and online classes, it has been work and sleep that have measured my days and given me a sense of achievement. Never mind that I have only a life now, rather than a lifestyle. It’s enough.

The world needs warm and cosy socks right now, perhaps even more than it needs $4000 handbags in which to stash one’s face mask.

But I could not have done any of it without my socks. I owe them my sanity, my security, and my warm tootsies. I have socks that I cook in, and socks that I work in, tucked safely out of sight of the screen’s video camera.

I have specific socks that I exercise in (even my online fitness video guru Joe Wicks does his squats and stretches in socks), and soft, slouchy bed socks that I sleep in.

At night, I change from comfy white Bonds sports socks or sushi-print Happy Socks into a pair of snappy pink lurex ankle socks or my last fine-knit Falke pair from Fenwick in London. That’s what dressing for dinner looks like these days.

Joy of joys, for once in my life, the fashion world and I are in step. The current Simone Rocha collection is all about romantic, embroidered frocks paired with romantic, embroidered socks.

Fashion magazines are plastered with Max Mara spreads, the geeky models wearing pastel knee-highs. Even Fendi is offering beige silk socks trimmed with jacquard pequin stripes for $290.

Wait, Fendi does socks? Of course it does. The world needs warm and cosy socks right now, perhaps even more than it needs $4000 handbags in which to stash one’s face mask and hand sanitiser.