• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, January 7, 2011

I knew stainless had become the new black which had become the new harvest gold/avocado green/burnt orange some time ago -- and throw in the errant red appliance whydoncha -- but when did white go out of fashion? I espied this mini-trend-in-the-making while re-reporting yesterday's news about RVs and minivans but felt it deserved more than a throwaway line.

"Minivans quickly became appliances, and no one wants a white washing machine or a white refrigerator," automotive consultant Chris Cedergren told the New York Times' Nick Bunkley. "They want something they feel proud of driving, and they don't want to be embarrassed."

And James R. Hagerty reported in the Wall Street Journal that RV makers are "trying to make RVs look less like white boxes."

It's one thing to know that honeysuckle is the hue of the coming year, quite another to contemplate cries for the death of white. Whole product lines could be in jeopardy. And didn't we just write that the list price on a pair of white Slim-Fit Levi's at Saks Fifth Avenue was $179, a $135 premium on the list price of the indigo variety at JC Penney? Also, while researching my commentary on eggs, I'd also discovererd that white ones were just as good as brown ones, contrary to some people's assumptions.

I started by consulting the source of all things fashion, the current issue of Vogue. The silk chiffon dress that Natalie Portman wears on the cover is more honeysucklish than linen whitish, my unpracticed eye would say, but she's wearing plenty of white in the inside pages and online. That Dior handbag featured in the ad spread on pages 6 and 7 is white, as is the coat worn by the model for Estée Lauder on the following pages, as is, I think, that stylized picture of a Cadillac CTS coupe a little further inside. And all four of the models in the six-page spread for L'Oréal wear white outfits. We're not even at the table of contents yet and I'm convinced that white still rules the runways.

(One aside. There's a cover snipe on the issue that says: "WHY WE GET FAT. It's Not What You Think." It's also not what the vast majority of nutritionists think either, as the story itself makes quite clear. I know how the cover line game is played, but the basic science of nutrition -- to lose weight, expend more calories than you ingest -- shouldn't be trivialized. It has literally become a life-and-death issue.)

I then turned to the Internet, searching for "the color white out of fashion." Nothing hinting of such a trend was returned. Nada. Zilch. Instead, I learned that it's a myth that you can't wear white after Labor Day. And while women have different reasons for wearing different colors other than white on their wedding day, few think that the color itself is out of fashion.

To top things off, I learned that Porsche Design Studios has broken "from the traditional use of black for the first time in 30 years and is presenting a collection entirely in white." And while you're on the Trendhunter website, be sure to check out these 38 "snowy designs" that will Scandinavianize your home décor.

It's no mystery why white remains so popular if you take a look at the Sensational Color website. Just for starters, it "aids mental clarity; encourages us to clear clutter or obstacles; evokes purification of thoughts or actions and enables fresh beginnings."

Case closed. Disparage it all you want, you consultants, analysts and other naysayers, but white is here to stay. And having learned about the value of white space in a publication at the foot of one of its masters, art director Walter Bernard, that's exactly what I'm going to leave between here and further rumination Monday morning. If you're on the East Coast, enjoy the snow!