You Can Wear White Without Feeling Self-Conscious

White has a reputation in the plus-size community, and not an entirely fair one. It is the colour most of us were benevolently steered away from at some point (and consequently, nudged towards black), usually by someone who meant well and probably thought they were doing us a favour. Most of that advice was not malicious, of course. However, it was also not particularly useful, and a lot of us have been dressing around it for longer than we should have. 

So here we are, putting it down properly, in black and white. 

It is almost always a fabric issue, not a colour issue

Here is what nobody tells you about white. Most bad white experiences are a fabric problem, not a colour problem. Thin, cheap white fabric is sheer in certain lights and unforgiving in others, and honestly, that would be an issue in any colour. A well-made white piece in a substantial cotton, a structured linen or a quality crepe is an entirely different proposition. It sits properly, moves well and feels nothing like what most of us were bracing for the first time we tried it. If white has let you down before, the fabric is almost certainly where things went wrong. It is worth revisiting the colour with that in mind before writing it off for good.

All-white dressing is actually one of the most flattering things you can do

Yes, we are saying it. Head-to-toe white, or close to it, is one of the most quietly powerful silhouettes going, and it is particularly good on plus-size figures. When there is no strong colour break between your top and your bottom, the eye reads the outfit as one long, unbroken line, and that does beautiful things for the overall silhouette. A cream knit with white wide-leg trousers, an ivory linen shirt over a white midi skirt—these combinations are simple in theory, they require almost no effort in execution, but they consistently look more considered than they have any right to. Women who discover tonal white dressing tend to become slightly evangelical about it. And honestly? We understand why.

White goes with more of your wardrobe than you probably realise

Part of what makes the avoidance of white such a practical loss, beyond the confidence piece, is the wardrobe mileage a single good white piece gives you. A white linen shirt works over a slip dress, under a blazer, tucked into trousers and half-tucked with a skirt. It connects pieces that would not otherwise talk to each other and makes the rest of the wardrobe work harder without any additional effort on your part. Avoiding white does not just limit what you wear in white, it limits everything around it too, and that is a cost that flies over your head until you one day decide to add a white piece back in and suddenly everything has more options than it did before.

The self-consciousness genuinely does fade, and faster than you expect

This is probably the most important thing we can say, and it comes directly from women who have been exactly where you are. It’s the same as the crop top dilemma. The fear of wearing white, of being looked at, and of the fabric doing something unexpected, is almost always worse in the imagination than it is in real life. Most women who make the leap describe the same experience where they wore it, the world continued as normal and the dread that had been attached to the colour for years lost most of its grip. Starting somewhere low stakes helps. A white top on a casual day. A white linen shirt worn open as a layer over something familiar. Something that lets you get the experience of wearing it without the pressure of a big occasion making it feel higher stakes than it needs to be. It gets easier from there, and it gets easier faster than most people expect.

There was never a rule

The plus-size women who wear white confidently did not get there by having a different body or a different level of courage. They got there by trying it once, finding out the experience bore very little resemblance to the dread that came before it, and not looking back. Why would they? The world is their oyster, and it is in a lovely shade of pearl. 

That world is available to you too, and it starts with one well-made piece worn somewhere you feel at ease. Everything after that will take care of itself.

For plus-size women ready to add white to the rotation properly, Voycestas Plus has the pieces worth starting with. You will find here considered fits, quality fabrics and styles that make the whole thing considerably less fraught than it has been made out to be. Discover our collection today, and wear white, like you always should have.