“White Denim: My Friend or Foe?”

“White Denim: My Friend or Foe?”

My Lifelong Journey, to Find the Perfect Pair of White Denim Pants

Every year once the slush starts to melt away, the flowers begin to bloom, and the birds begin to chirp, I know that spring has finally arrived after another long cold winter.  However, I always know for certain that spring has finally arrived when both young and old ladies start to bring their white denim out from hibernation.  I unfortunately have never been able to include myself in this demographic.   Yet every year I give myself the false sense of hope, that this might be the summer that I finally find my own dream pair of white pants.  

All I have ever really wanted is a pair of crisp white, stiff denim skinnies.  A pair that is opaque enough that they do not let the city of Toronto know the precise colour and brand of my underwear.   And most importantly, a pair of white denim that do not make me look as though I have somehow managed to gain 30 pounds from my very brief walk from the store’s rack to the fitting room.

Despite my fears of wearing white denim, I set out recently on a shopping trip to see if white denim and I could finally forge a friendship – or at the very least become acquaintances.  White pants can be pretty unforgiving, but regardless of this mildly terrifying tidbit I have seen them look stunning on women of all shapes and sizes. 

I knew I had to deal with this issue head on, and the only place to tackle this was at Over the Rainbow.  Over the Rainbow is a store located in Yorkville, which is described on their website as being a “denim emporium”.  After arriving at the store I quickly realized I had arrived in Toronto’s denim heaven. If I did not manage to find my pair of white denim pants here amongst the seemingly never-ending stacks and racks of jeans, then I knew it would finally be time for me to throw in the towel and spend another summer sweating it out in a pair of yawn worthy black skinnies.

The sales people at the store were incredibly sweet and helpful.   As I explained my very serious fashion dilemma to an associate named Nadia, I was quickly ushered to the fitting room with the promise that I would not go home empty handed. 

I was greeted at the fitting room curtain shortly afterwards by her with a stack of luscious designer jeans, in a variety of fits and in shades of white that I did not know had even existed.  The first pair that I tried on were a pair of Rag and Bone skinny fit denim that had two lovely zips at the pocket.  Unfortunately these were a no-go, as they managed to make my already short legs look shorter than what I had thought was even physically possible.  I shuffled back into the fitting room.  I tried on what seemed to be pair, after pair of white pants that only seemed to reinforce every negative stereotype I have ever had about this style. 

I was about to call it a day, but the lovely Nadia insisted I try on one last pair.  They were a pair of J Brand mid-rise skinny’s in a grey-tinged white.  I slipped them on, took a deep breath in and stepped out of the fitting prepared to face the worst.  To my surprise they actually looked incredible.  They made my legs look surprisingly long and lean, were for once not paper thing and transparent, and most importantly of all made my butt look amazing! 

After 21 years of being ruthlessly tormented by white denim we had finally become in my opinion, not just friends but best friends.