After years of searching and a recent surge of high street versions that simply do not fit me, I have finally found a pair of white jeans. Imagine my joy when I popped into a local vintage shop to see a pair of white Levi’s 501 jeans in my size hanging out like a dream come true amongst the small selection of denim. So, I’m supposed to be on a spending ban but when the fashion gods land such a miracle right in your lap, it’s impossible to resist. As I said, I have been searching for the perfect white jeans for years – no exaggeration – so I was not about to walk away from a pair in the ultimate vintage cut of jeans and hence sentencing myself to more years of searching.
I must admit, when I first tried them on I was hesitant. There are so many reasons why one should not buy white jeans. Although they are easy to style, they are hard to wear - you have to know that it won’t rain or you won’t accidentally sit in something or spill tea down yourself, just to mention a few ways you might ruin your white jeans with a big, nasty stain. So wearing and buying white jeans is quite a commitment. Furthermore, for some reason, I think wearing white jeans takes some getting used to, especially if you not used to seeing your legs clad in such a bright and light colour. Even if they are perhaps only a tad lighter than your favourite blue jeans and even if the creases we are so used to appearing around our bum and crotch area in blue or black jeans are the same, somehow, white jeans look very different.
As I said, styling-wise, I think white jeans are so easy. Perhaps that is because I have had years of imagining what to wear with them or that I have always taken inspiration from people wearing white trousers. But yeah, white jeans are as simple to style as black jeans and just as an all black outfit can look awesome with the right accessories, so can an all white look, which is the base of today’s outfit. I’m wearing a simple white t-shirt tucked into the white Levi’s jeans and quite frankly I could have thrown on some old black Converse and been pretty happy with the outfit. But instead, I wanted to jazz up this all-white base with some blocks of my current favourite colours for spring/summer.
Let’s start with the shoes. I picked up these beautiful yellow platform espadrille sandals (woah, what a mouthful) last summer and I am still so obsessed. Espadrilles are having a real moment right now; they are all over my Instagram in varying styles and I am definitely looking into buying another pair before the summer is up. Yellow is also a big colour this season and together with the complimenting sand colour of the espadrille platform, these shoes look just perfect with the white jeans and white t-shirt combo - even more so than with blue jeans and a white t-shirt, which is how I first styled them last year.
The orange denim jacket and pink bag are recent vintage finds, which I have struggled somewhat to inject into my daily outfits, until now. The orange jacket looks so much better with white jeans than blue or black – although navy blue trousers have served as a nice alternative – and I think that is because of the more neutral base and the white stitching in the jacket. I really love this jacket – it’s so different to wear such a bright summer jacket rather than the usual blue one and I am hoping to find more ways to make it work in my wardrobe (suggestions on a postcard, or ya know, in the comments below).
Similarly to white jeans, this pink bag was a bit of a risk, being made of a fine silk fabric and having a beautiful wicker handle I haven’t wanted to wear it on rainy days. Furthermore, as this bag has to be carried either in hand or in the nook of the arm it makes it less practical than my usual choice of a backpack or cross body bag. Despite all this, the bag is so beautiful that couldn’t not buy it and although I had envisaged wearing it solely with monochrome outfits, I think it works really well with this clashing but complimentary blocks of yellow and orange.
I hope you like this bold but also quite simple outfit! Are you on the hunt for the perfect pair of white jeans? Check out my top high street picks below. Or perhaps you have been wearing white jeans for years? Let me know your highs and lows of wearing white jeans – I’d love to know! X
