Thigh High, Sky High

There comes a time in everyone’s life where they just need…a rant.  Something that niggles at the back of your mind that you cannot simply brush aside and you feel you must share it with everyone to ease your own sanity.  I have reached such a state.  Why…because of socks.  No, not just ordinary socks, I’m talking thigh high sleek black socks - bring on the rant.

I wore the aforementioned pair to work earlier this week (it was a hot day and tights are too sticky), accompanied by a cute pair of black shorts, a Betty Boop tee (cleavage covering) and a red bow in my hair.  I was going for the ‘a lil cutesy, a lil indie’ look.  I was NOT going for the ‘I get paid to have sex with strangers’ look, which apparently is what the whole world thought of me.  I was stunned at the reception I was receiving, not the usual builder’s whistle, but weird long stares…uncomfortably long stares from both species (men and women). Why?  How is there this slutty image attached to thigh high socks?  What’s worse is that I’ve seen plenty of wee indie/emo/punk girlies walking around with a pair of denim hot pants, black knee high socks and some white plimsolls (complete the look with oversized checked shirt and aviator sunnies) and they look cute.  No-one batters an eye lid!  So where did I go wrong?

Is it that extra two inches of sock to over the knee level that suggests sexual promiscuity?  I would have to argue that the more material means less flesh showing and thus less whore-ish tendencies.  Or, it could be that the top of the sock automatically drags the eye line to your crotch level, thus you appear to be forcing others to stare at your bits.  Or is it simply the footwear you opt for?  Maybe black Mary Jane court shoes were just the extra height needed to make me a slut.  If I had worn a pair of beaten converse, would I have been left to wander the city in peace?  I think so.

I am not often eager to admit I myself created a fashion fuck up, and I refuse to accept this is the case with my thigh high socks.  As far as I’m concerned, it is other’s filthy minds that made them slutty, not my motive behind wearing them.  What’s more, I am determined to wear them as much as possible in public, hoping to ease others into a slow acceptance that they can just be cool and chic, and not a garment assigned to the bedroom.  All I will confess to is this: maybe as work attire goes, they were far from appropriate.

Nicola Louise Watson


20/03/09