It Will Be All White On The Night

It takes courage to wallk out all in white and I’m not talking about down the aisle.

Wearing anything in alabaster, chalk, pearl or snow requires careful handling and hawk-eyed scrutiny as it only takes a bit of wet grass or a drip of coffee to wreck the ensemble. Remember how Tony Curtis clad all in white in the film The Great Race emerged from a messy fight without a mark on him. Well, that doesn’t happen in real life, where all it takes is a dusty wall and suddenly you’re a marked woman.

As someone who wears white all year long (I love white winter coats) I’m always happy to see a flood of blanched clothing at this time of year when fashion says we should slip on an optic white dress for late night soirées and high wattage events.

White always looks so chic, crisp, elegant and timeless. It makes your skin look more tanned and keeps you cool on a hot day. And we do have the occasional tropical day.

If you are opting for white on white make sure items balance each other out. Wear ruffled or over-sized tops with skinny trousers or tailored shorts and pair a loose skirt with a fitted top. There are some gorgeous milky dresses for parties and holidays at Miss Selfridge, who have done an ethereal white collection that will have you looking like an angel, while at fashionista-outlet.com you will find a more practical, but equally dramatic See by Chloe round neck short-sleeved dress with large ivory buttons that is on sale.

If you want to break up the anemia effect, look for something with a border of colour such as the floral spread on the dress at fiftysomething.co.uk. Too much white? Then go for separates like the crochet embroidered top at Phase Eight — and there’s always white jeans. White necklaces on honey skin look good and I couldn’t resist the merry-go-round pendant necklace at boticca.com. It’ll be a real talking point, much like white pointed court shoes which were once thought so wrong, but are now so right.

Claudia Winkleman wore hers to the Glamour Awards last week and though the rest of her outfit was more scene shifter than red carpet, it made me want a pair.
The clutch is still popular and an embossed white one blends better than most, though Victoria Beckham chose to carry a Kindle-sized metallic one from her own collection when she picked up “Woman of the Decade” at the Glamour Awards.

Asked what was in her clutch, Victoria replied: “A lip gloss and a cloth to wipe my bag.” What, no keys? No phone? Suffice it to say that when Mrs B walks out all in white, it probably stays that way.