I’m neutral on this.

The Back Story.

For Luna Jubilee’s 52 Weeks of Color challenge last week, I was prancing around in pink and green hot pants and sporting sparkly heels that were about seven stories tall. I’m taking it down a few notches this week with a positively sedate blend of neutrals. As always, I think we can debate the color. Ecru can be lighter or darker, and range from of a yellowish-tinged, grayish cream (thank you boon hair with color change headband, once again), or as evidenced by the labeling provided by League on these gartered socks of theirs, a mid-toned grayed brown. I think I have a little bit of everything someone might call “ecru” in this get up. The texture of the black plus fours even has a bit of the stuff going on.

Now, about this gartered socks thing… the appeal for me is similar to the appeal of wearing bloomers as an outer garment. In this case, it’s combined with the appeal of menswear from a day of more refined sensibilities. What’s funny about it – ironic, even – is that when you saw gartered socks in the old movies, it was for comic effect, the man being for one reason or another sans trousers (the “underscene,” I think I once saw it called). Showing his garters was by no means a desirable state of affairs for a man. Now it’s ‘edgy’ lady dandy fashion – I’m not seeing the boys blog this look, but do send me a link if you run across it.

A word, too, about what to call short pants that end at the knee. Here in the U.S., the name is knickerbockers, but no one ever says that anymore. Instead, we call them knickers, but with the British TV invasion over the past handful of decades, I suspect we’re using that less. You wouldn’t want to say you got a cool pair of hiking panties nor opine that you prefer players to wear the old style baseball uniforms with panties instead of trousers. Would you?

I’m calling them plus fours here, although technically they aren’t long enough for that (“plus four” referring to how far below the knee they fall). I could also call them breeches, but that’s just a little too archaic sounding to me. Knee pants would work, of course, but myeh.

The Goods.

• Hair: booN – URC519 in black – 0L (former group gift)
• Skin: .::Mother Goose’s::. – Yvonne w/ freckles – 1L
• Makeup: *Boom* @ Kozmetika – Love My Eyes liner & mascara + I Aleida – I makeup 4 in white – 0L (Skin Fair 2011 gift)
• Necklace: Happy Finds – Dark Owl – 0L (group gift)
• Top: Oyakin – Linen Tunic – 0L (cupid hunt 2011 find)
• Plus Fours (short pants): Zibska – Jones – 0L (I Love SL FAshion Hunt item)
• Socks: League – Gartered Socks in ecru
• Shoes: .:Periquita:. – Mary Squares – Periquita disappeared off the face of the planet. If anyone knows of what went down or what might come back up, pass the word.
• Location: LaPerla II – old Italy