Westminster Socks - The tide is high.

Is it bad or good that we can look at this picture and tell exactly what they're hoping to sell us? I say it's lame. In order to show this much sock when seated, these men would need to be wearing their son's trousers.

The National Sock Council's (NCC) Searchable Database (NCCSDB) says that the average height that a trouser cuff will rise, due to the geometry of the seated male human, is three inches. So, these gentlemen can only dream of a world where their pants brush the tops of their shoes during a nice stroll to the tailor to complain.

Of course, this is Westminster Socks. It's all about the socks, man. Maybe the excuse is that these guys are wearing culottes? Clam diggers maybe?

The painting is servicebale, but not great. It looks kind of flat. try this: look at the painting and ask yourself "Where's the light coming from?". Well, you can look at the floor and see that cast shadow from the man's leg and deduce the light is coming through the window, and the light is of a yellowish color. But, you should be able to look at anything in the picture and identify the light source.

Here's a little example I came up with in five minutes. I added a little rimlight to the men's legs, coming through the window. The original is on the left. My five-minute rimlight is on the right.

The artist took the time to paint that whole street scene outside, but it looks like he left the focal point of the whole picture half done.

Speaking of the street scene, I love that bus. It's all streamlined and greenyellow-ey. Westminster could sell me a bus any day, based on this ad. But I think I'd be uncomfortable wearing flat socks. Also, I don't think I have enough sock pride to wear my pants that short.

Note: To all our British readers (Are there any of you? Prolly not.), the word "pants" means "trousers" in the U.S. I know in Enga-land it means "underwear", but over here we say "underwear". "Trousers" and "pants" are interchangeable. Sorry about what we've done with your language. We'll try to have it fixed up by the time we return it to you.