Lockdown Is Clearly The Ideal Time To Try Head-To-Toe White – And These Influencers Prove It

Let quarantine free you of stain anxiety.

Updated on08 05 2020

If you thought 1980s power shoulders, short suits and neon were the trickiest trends of the moment, then you have clearly not considered one which is far more daunting: head-to-toe white. Gulp. The reality, for most of us (excluded here, obviously, are the type of women who still look as if they are getting weekly blowdries at the moment) is that so much as looking at something white will stain it.

But sometimes, when it comes to fashion, the heart wins over the head. Didn’t ivory suiting look simply irresistible on the Max Mara and Deveaux catwalks? Weren’t Bottega Veneta’s sharp shirt dresses, as crisp as fresh white sheets, the epitome of cool-girl style? Wouldn’t you love to spend summer swanning around in Valentino’s billowing cotton dresses? Don’t Alexander McQueen’s impossibly romantic white lace gowns make you want to throw logic out of the window?

If it does, you’re in luck. Lockdown the ideal time to try the trend. No trains, no idling on the park grass, no personal space invasions. Social distancing is the ally of pristine white. However, a word of warning: children, animals and fake tan should we kept at a safe distance (as, indeed, should most household chores – consider this the perfect excuse for a solitary lie down).

Instagram’s most stylish influencers have already got the memo. At home in Copenhagen, Pernille Teisbaek has been rocking a uniform of white jeans and tees (kudos to her, she has two young sons at home). Monikh Dale, meanwhile, has been wafting around her London home in a succession of white knit dresses. Over in Milan, Tamu McPherson is doing lavish balloon sleeved dresses in brilliant white.

Where many get white wrong is to think of it as pure and innocent: all frothy communion lace and virginal nighties. But make no mistake, white takes guts and lashings of chutzpah to wear. Look at Camille Charriere in her white mini dress, served with a side of sass via the super short hemline and badass black knee high boots. It’s a look that’s all about contrasts, and we want in.

If all-white feels a little too severe for you, then mix it up with buttery neutrals like the influencer Brittany Bathgate who is teaming her pristine white pieces with biscuit-hued knits, which makes for a deliciously tactile pairing.

When we are allowed out to play again, consider white’s wow factor for after dark (or test drive it now on your Houseparty dates). It worked for Jennifer Aniston at the SAG Awards this year; her vintage John Galliano for Christian Dior bias cut gown almost stole the show from that exchange with Brad Pitt. If lockdown has one advantage it’s this: at least you don’t have to worry about upstaging the bride.