I'm more than aware of our history, I wouldn't have posted that otherwise. I wasn't including the socks as part of the trim as they've constantly changed, I was addressing the shirt specifically. If you disregard any laser blue shirts as they can't even get the home colours right, there's a period of six years in the 20th century with a black collar where there's more black than white - other than that there's just as much white.
The only kits I specifically find issue regarding this is Umbro a few years ago and Nike's last seasons (which had no white anywhere). I associate dark trim with them, white with us as they've often had black trim and shorts.
Regarding the socks you address, dark shorts/socks seems to have been standard in the early 20th century as I doubt the availability of the modern colour scheme was the same - or for other reasons.
My point is our modern colour scheme is sky blue and white - what we have gradually found over time.
I'm pretty sure a variety of sock colours were available from the 1800s onwards. The Shite had green socks in the 1800s, Liverpool had read, I'm sure if we were so inclined we could have had sky blue. We chose navy, and to me sky blue, white and navy blue are the Manchester City colours.
I completely agree with you that white is an essential part of our identity. Even more so than navy blue. Every City kit should always contain sky blue and white, and every kit did until two years ago, and it's a joke that the club let Nike do away with it on a whim after 100 years of history.
I'm not saying you're one of them, but there are countless posters who say "navy blue is not a City colour" and it winds me up. It's absolutely a City colour and has been for over 100 years. It's not raggish, it's not Coventry, it's Manchester City. Navy blue is very much a City colour.
My personal view is that:
The shirts should ALWAYS be sky blue
The shorts should ALWAYS be white
The socks should ALWAYS be blue. I don't mind the odd change between sky blue and navy blue, but I don't really like City wearing white socks, it looks like a cheap Lazio rip off.
This same debate happens every alternate year when the club / manufacturers decide to fuck around with our identity. We need another club consultation, decide on an identity the fans want and stick to it. Stop fucking around with it like we're a Sunday League side.