Using a color palette based on my personal coloring and adjusting it seasonally, I find there to be a limited number of pieces I really need to own in white.
They are:
- A white blouse or shirt.
- Several white t-shirts. In the summer, I could wear one almost everyday and I wash them every time. In the winter, I use them for contrast with a sweater in a soft, warm, and light color. And I love sleeveless tees!
- White tank tops and camis. For layering under button-up shirts.
- Summer upper layers: cotton ribbed cardigan, white jean jacket, etc.
Due to the fact that, in theory anyway, white gets dirty faster, I don’t bother with white bottoms. Who wants to have to worry about every little speck they might sit on? Shoes are the same way – they get dirty too easily – and I don’t feel comfortable drawing attention to my feet. White dresses are too restrictive as they cannot be worn to weddings.
Sometimes tricky because they “go with everything”, it makes sense to define limits for your neutrals. With white, I avoid bottoms and anything I could not wear in the summer. With black, I keep pants, a skirt, and pumps on hand. Both I use as an accent for winter layering with muted colors; white with pastel tints, black with darker shades.
Now I just need to figure out some ways to wear them together in the Spring.
I love your habit of putting pastels with white. I can’t picture you wearing big expanses of high contrast solid black and solid white pieces, though. To me it seems very close to wearing lots of brights together and I think you said you don’t do that. How about white jacket, black pants, grey shirt/top, something with grey in the shoes and handbag. Maybe a paisley handbag of greys, black and white with a tad of a fourth color?
I think you’re right, Vildy. I might try what you suggest today, since I haven’t gotten dressed yet. 😉
What about just what you said, but with pink? I LOVE the look of black, white, and pink. And grey with it would make it even easier to wear.
Also khaki works with black and white.
I have been having a lot of trouble with my whites (and khakis and blacks and browns too!) in that it is almost impossible to find two white items (or two khaki ones, etc) that don’t clash horribly. I have found that I have to avoid wearing two items in any one of those neutrals, because one is always cooler that the other, and there is a jarring clash. Even with a white suit, if one part of it has been cleaned more than the other part, there can be a clash because one part can have more light-reflecting rinse remaining than the other part. This is frustrating because I love white for summer and long to be able to wear more white than one piece Then of course everything can look very different in different lights… . (Now I know why I have in the past preferred dresses!)
Any thoughts on how to deal with this problem?
I hadn’t noticed as much problem with white and black as with, say, brown or khaki, but it’s true that it’s always safest to get two pieces that are from the same collection and dye lot if you are going to wear them together. Then always get the pieces cleaned together.
Mixing another color in, especially in a print, may help blend whites that are only slightly off. Otherwise, wear white with khaki or stick with dresses, I guess.
Let me know if you come up with something else. BTW, do you use bluing or bleach or anything else special when laundering your whites?