A “white shirt (…) reveals thousands of identities”, but when the form and the shade give an infinite number of identities to the garment, only that of the wearer is revealed in the end. The white shirt is neutral only in appearance. The power in its absence, the mystery in its clarity, its utter lack of excess: all this helped it attain its status of icon.
Polymorphous but never stereotyped, innocent but never ingenuous, its aesthetic autonomy has allowed it to drift into every trend as well as history itself. The white shirt became a cultural artifact in the 20th century when it established equality between employee and employer as they both formally united around the “white collar”. Present in every battle, the apple of every eye, the white shirt is a meditative time-out for women. The garment represents innocence and purity all while imposing a certain severity, fitting hand-in-hand with the confidence exuded from its strict and perpetual cut.
Whether you are a classic, Grace Kelly-esque lady, a rebellious anarchist à la Patti Smith, or an androgynous tough girl like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction; buttoned to the top or leaving little to the imagination, it lets every female get a dose of sensuality without ever being too much of a tease. And every time you slip into a man’s shirt, it only goes to show the disengagement from and ownership of what has become the “second sex” in our times.
1. Fashion Box
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