In a debut dialogue with Followd, Fashion Editor Melissa Randhawa discusses the sartorial classic – White Shirt with Blue Jeans.
Any devotee of this fashion classic will approve that a clean white shirt is the best colour match to a pair of blue jeans. Why? Because the brighter white aims not to steal the show but rather, to flaunt its aesthetic chemistry with the shades of blue.
The raison d’etre of this minimalistic duet is that the wearer is given carte blanche to express their strong personality. One can fathom the attitude of the inimitable supermodel and British fashion icon Kate Moss who is synonymous with skinny jeans when she asserts, “I like a scarf with a shirt; it throws it off a bit.”
Speaking of powerful personalities, India’s very first supermodel and Miss India 1975 Anna Bredemeyer goes for class, clean lines and classic! “That spells fashion to me”, expresses the successful businesswoman.
She took the white on blue look into formal meetings as brand ambassador for Mont Blanc, Canali, and other international luxury brands. Anna’s insight on wearing a pair of slim fitted blue jeans, tucked in crisp white shirt with a belt and boots is refreshing. She poses, “Being comfortable in what you wear as if it were your second skin is why I’d rather be fashionable as opposed to being ‘in fashion’, for as to be ‘in fashion’ is temporary, just for the moment or season bound. Timeless is more my fashion mantra!”
The potency and gusto of this white-blue duet is a champion for kingpins of the global fashion empire and achieved cult status among cerebral sophisticates. The trendsetting fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent declared, “I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.”
Since then, the white-blue duet gained Front Row status to everything from the party look, café look, stepping out of the car look, mall look, airport look, work and boardroom look (navy jeans are an ideal crossover) to art gallery with cocktails look, and on occasion, the red carpet look. “It’s also a great desert look”, acclaims model, certified FiA driver and professional drift driver Ghaith Al Falasi who drifts in his Jeep across rugged sandy dunes wearing blue jeans over a white shirt – his favoured, traditional white is a colour of the UAE National dress.
In another part of the world when autumn comes a calling, automotive industrial engineer Rahul Dev from Michigan opts for a grey jacket top-note to the white-blue duet. Accessorised with tan leathers and layered in signature Dior grey is how this fashionable desi adds oomph to his fall look.
I’ll add yacht look – owing to an adorably stylish click of Ralph Lauren on a yacht in a white tee on blue boyfriend jeans. His effervescent charm is compounded by the understated glamour of white on blue and is a testament to why fashion greats worldwide favour this classic look — because their personalities are their true pièce de résistance.
Written by : Melissa Randhawa
The good
A clean pair of blue jeans and a white shirt that fits well and won’t suffocate the flow of one’s look, especially at the belly button.
The bad
This classic is a no no at wedding receptions, particularly at traditional do’s brimming with colour, bling and decadence. Unless required by the hosts to have all their guests dress this way, which is possible now that I’ve revealed the idea, you’ll be excused if you say Brad Pitt bumped into you before the wedding reception and cajoled you to swap your fabulous outfit with his blue jeans and white tee. You’ll have to back that story up with a selfie at the very least.
The trendy
The confident stance of one who knows their classic white-blue look puts the spring back into their step.
Fashion in the 2020s is destined to tweak the design of blue jeans every year. While investing in a fashionable pair of blue jeans has its perks, one must decide if the trend suits their style. Ankle blue jeans are a wardrobe staple. Not only does the resilient, no fuss fabric dodge mosquito bites and other ghastly blood suckers, it also shapes and contours the wearer, jives with a gargantuan range of footwear, and withstands a thorough beating. It’s no wonder that blue jeans sell like hot cakes even when they’ve been ripped, stone washed and slashed in the name of fashion.
According to Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis, May 20, 1873 is the birthday of blue jeans. The mercurial fabric has several votes as a second skin, a no-fret zone during weight fluctuations, and is supportive when one decides without much ado to climb up a tree or down a building. Enjoy your denim blues.