If you’re on a hunt for the perfect white T-shirt, you’ll want to read this first.
SAVE ON CHIC | For me, nothing expresses the idea of possibility as effectively as a brand-new white T-shirt. Fresh and uncom- plicated, great white tees are feminine without being too girly. They can go elegant or sporty. And there are few clothing items that cannot be paired successfully with a basic white tee, or few complexions that aren’t visually improved when white interlock fabric rests next to skin. Sporty Jennifer Aniston has made a career of looking hot and all-American healthy in ordinary white, body-flattering tees. Always elegant fashion designer Michael Kors, late of Project Runway, never travels anywhere without a stack of six.
I like having a stack too, breaking out a new white one when the situation calls for looking bright-eyed and energized. If I were rich as Chris Rock, who opens a new carton of milk every day no matter how much is left in the fridge, I might invest some of my disposable income into filling drawers with new white T-shirts so I’d never have to wear the same one twice. (I’d donate all of my once-worns to charity, of course.)
I love new white T-shirts because they all get nasty quick. Whether it’s a $70-plus crew from James Perse or a $4 tank from Old Navy, if coffee drops or general yellowing don’t put it out of commission, deodorant stains under the arms will do the trick. Which brings me to my secret ingredient for the perfect white T-shirt: after passing the style test, it needs to be (really) cheap.
We’re Mad About These Tees
The Gap has some new, cleverly designed T-shirts for fall priced at around $25 each, which seems reasonable though I’d never buy the white versions unless they went on sale. My taste in white tees runs cheaper.
Right now I’m loving the short-sleeve crew neck tees from Joe Fresh. Made of 95 percent cotton and 5 percent spandex and just $8 each, eight or nine are the price of a single James Perse T-shirt, and except for the length of the sleeve and the shade of white, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
Two other great white tees on my radar are the Pure cotton-and-spandex long-sleeve tees from Alfred Sung, which are two for $16 at Zellers, and the 100 percent cotton Perfect tee from Old Navy. This one is long sleeved and sells for $14.50, but I found it on sale just last week for $7. If you’re going to buy white T-shirts in bulk, as I do, you might want to consider any of these three. —Annabel Lee
Photo: The white queen, Jennifer Aniston, SplashNews