Call it chromophobia. This is, of course, the deathly fear shared by so many fashion followers of that elusive, colorful fellow known to science as Roy G. BivNo one knows if the condition is hereditary or environmental, though anecdotal evidence suggests that it may result from spending too much time on the international designer floor of Barneys New York. Whatever the source of their predilections, these poor devils have had a tough go of it lately, what with the preppy revival injecting color after color into fashion's bloodstream. For die-hard chromophobes, the worst development, akin to aiming a fully loaded garlic press at a vampire, was the advent of checks and plaids shot with enough colors to make a Liberty print green with envy. Well, they can cheer up. This season has brought plaid of a more restrained stripe just for them: shadow plaids -- that is, subtler patterns rendered in blacks, grays and whites. A kind of mash-up of vanguard and rear guard, of Antwerp and Edinburgh, they offer some of the dandyish charm of tartans while paying homage to the black mood that never goes out of fashion. 'This is a gentler interpretation of plaid,' said David Neville, one of the partners behind Rag & Bone, who himself confessed to a certain aversion toward color. 'Today I am wearing a combination of light gray, dark gray and black, so I guess I fit into that mold. But I can be a bit more adventurous -- perhaps around the holidays. I wouldn't wear a bold, bright plaid, but I would wear a shadow plaid. Subtle is good, you know?' As it turns out, as untraditional as many black-and-white plaids may be, the plain color scheme makes them seem more classic than, say, a bright red Dress Campbell tartan, pedigree be damned. While colorful plaids can read as weekend wear, black and white plaids have a stylishly professional, low-key mien. 'Shadow plaids are the new solids,' said Eric Jennings, the men's fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue. 'They're ideal for men's suiting. From far away they read as a solid color, and up close the texture and fabric come to life. And they're the perfect background for a pop of color.' It is worth noting that 'shadow plaid,' like many men's-wear terms, has taken on different meanings. Jennings uses it to describe understated tone-on-tone plaids, like dark brown on medium brown. Others use it to describe gray-scale plaids. Still others use it to describe the ombre plaids popular in Western shirts in which two colors gradate from one to the other. But there is no question that plaids in plain gray, black and white combinations are the ones that have come in this season. 'It's a part of the Americana vibe we've seen,' Nick Sullivan, the fashion director of Esquire, explained. 'This fall there's been a move away from its more obvious forms -- the preppy thing that became really mainstream, and the backwoodsman look with the red wool buffalo-plaid coat. This is a little step forward to something more sophisticated, and at the same time a step back to something more normal.' But don't go thinking that the emergence of shadow plaid is a sign that men's wear is headed back to the Italianate '90s, when Prada and Gucci put entire ZIP codes into sleek gray suiting with all the warmth of a charcoal briquette. As the retro-volutionary style of the gentleman continues to grow, its adherents are ready and willing to ferret out its less obvious manifestations. Kick it up a notch? A gentleman would just as soon kick it down. 