Wearing White

Closet Content Analysis: Whites

Nice: White Clothing in the Summer

I have always liked white in the summer although it is not the best choice when traveling. I have linen drawstring pants and shorts, several t-shirts with crew and v-necks and several different sleeve lengths, loose fitting summer tops and a cotton pullover all in white.

White Blanc du Nil "pull" on JoyD.

White Blanc du Nil Top Photo by JoyD.

This  summer, I have purchased two tops from Blanc du Nil, a shop that is only opened from May to October in most parts of France.

Everything in the store is white and there are selections for men, women and children. I needed a cotton pullover for cooler evenings and a loose cotton top for really hot days to wear when everything else "sticks". What a clever marketing plan for the summer. You will find these stores in most larger centers and I have purchased items in Arcachon and in Sarlat.

Asymmetrical top from Blanc du Nil Photo by JoyD.

Although I liked the asymmetrical top when I tried it on in the shop, it proved to be a bit of a problem when I started trying it on with different bottoms at home. Too much white with the white linen pants, too much contrast with black linen pants. Perhaps it was the proportion and the asymmetry together that I didn't like. I didn't care for it with a skirt at all. By this time, I thought I should just hem it to be the same length all around. I then tried it with a pair of mid-thigh white cotton shorts. The longest point of the asymmetrical top came to the bottom of the shorts. I don't know why this combination worked; perhaps it was this particular proportion on my particular height but I felt most comfortable with this combination.

White sleeveless shirt Photo by JoyD.

Last Saturday, a vendor employed the same marketing plan as Blance du Nil and just had white displayed. Interestingly, the stall was always full of people checking out the merchandise. Other vendors had mixtures of colourful clothing patterns but there is something very attractive in clothing colour block displays in varying tones of one colour. I bought a sleeveless cotton shirt with two horizontal lines of discreet open work. It reminded me of the edging on my antique linen flat sheets. There was no fibre content tag but it felt like cotton, not linen and for €5 it was worth it.

White t-shirts with blue & white shirt layered. Photo by JoyD.

I wrote that a white top and white pants can look like too much white so I very often wear a blue and white striped shirt as a layer in order to break apart the total white look. It works.

White can have many NO THANKS reasons to wear it but I can put up with them since I find more NICE opportunities in the summer.