The art of 'Wearing White'

"Can I wear white?"

During my workshops, I get completely immersed in talking about colours and how they can either enhance or detract from our natural colouring.

One thing I am almost always stopped and asked is, "Ok, but what about black and white? Who can wear those?"

There's a lot to say about these two amazing, striking neutrals so I'm going to focus on White for today's post.

In Spring, our fashion mags and insta feeds start to fill up with dreamy images of bloggers and models in head to toe white but how do we make this work in the real world?

Pure white is the brightest of all colours and can be quite harsh on someone who is less than barbie-doll like in terms of their glossiness. Off-white on the other hand or Ivory Whites are less reflectively bright and a little more gentle and forgiving on most of us.

How bright we can go with our clothing really depends on the following:

• How glossy is our hair?

• How glowing is our skin?

• How white are the whites of our eyes and our teeth? Be careful as pure white can make these look more yellow!

Unless we are clones of Cheryl Cole, most of us don't tend to look that 'glossy' and bright naturally and therefore a softer version of white will always be more flattering than a pure snow white.

Things that can change this are whether we have been on holiday or been in the sun, how healthy we are, how much sleep we've had and really anything that affects your natural glow.

Wearing shades of white, even if they are not a pure white, can still reflect light up onto the face giving a lovely brightening effect, much like wearing pearl earrings.

So there is a shade of white for everyone, the question is how bright you go from the purest snow white to the creamiest off-white. 

In fact, if your complexion is slightly muted, you may even find a very light beige or cream is the perfect answer to white for you

Pure White is a true neutral. It's neither warm nor cool. Cream on the other hand contains yellow and so is best suited to warm skin tones. Beige, tend to be more pink or grey toned and therefore works well for cooler complexions.

Hope that helps a little!

I'd love to hear from you if you have questions.

My next 'How to edit your wardrobe' Workshop is on 18th May at 8pm - grab your place HERE

I will be sharing with you, how to assess your own colours and which colours to wear amongst other topics!

Photo credits:

@iamcharlotteolivia

@the_peach_skin

@basmabhamze