White - like a lot of fashion trends that keep repeating on us in the same way as stir-fried onions - is one of those annual style irritations that is beloved of fashion magazines but perhaps a little less popular with those who reside in that crazy land called "real life".
    Magazines love it because white can fit into pretty much whatever summer trend is being pushed that year: futuristic, innocent, English-rose - you name it, white fits it. Chanel, Balenciaga and much-vaunted young American Philip Lim - you name them, they've done white.
For the customer, however, things are a little less mutually beneficial. How does white fail the consumer? Oh, let me count the ways: it attracts filth quicker than Pete Doherty, it can make you look like an overgrown toddler en route to your own christening (the white frilly tunics by Chloé this summer, copied extensively on the high street, suffer in particular from this handicap) and let's just say that white, being the photo-negative of black, has the opposite of black's much-vaunted slimming qualities.
It makes men look like cricketers, it makes women look bridal and not, in either instance, in a good way. Frankly, it is hard not to suspect that designers and the high street have some kind of clandestine deal going on with an international dry-cleaning syndicate, so fond are they of this colour: "Hey, Sketchleys, listen up: we'll dress the ladies with those white, lacy dresses this summer again - you know, the kind that have to be professionally cleaned after the slightest contact with the outside world - and we'll take a cut of the profits."
More intriguing, though, and possibly more revealing, is seeing how people wear their white. Most fashion trends mute individuality and render everyone the same, but, with white being so adaptable, the messages it sends are very diffuse and a person's individual interpretation is as revealing as what they see in a Rorschach ink-blot test.
Which leads to another peril to this white malarkey, one even greater - yes, even greater - than adding on a visual 10 lb. You might think that you're conveying an image of classy innocence with your white combo (or maybe one of sassy independence) but one's true inner soul will inevitably shine through.
After all, as those dry-cleaners know, nothing shows up unfortunate stains faster than white.
The Guardian