REGULARS FROM OUR EDITOR

In high school, I was the girl who dressed in black from head to toe. I took my fashion inspiration from photographs of ’60s socialite and model Edie Sedgwick and never wavered from my look of monochromatic clothes and heavy black eyeliner. You get the picture. Over the years, the look mellowed, of course, and the odd bit of colour found its way in, but the majority of my wardrobe was still dark and “cool.” I hadn’t worn anything white – even at my wedding – until last summer.

In July 2015, my husband and I were in Paris during a heat wave. The temperature soared to more than 40°C and remained that way for the entire week – and I had nothing to wear. I’d packed jeans, long skirts and pretty mid-length dresses, perfect for the city’s normal 20°C July weather. It never occurred to me to pack for recordbreaking highs. Now, I know what you’re thinking: How convenient to have nothing to wear in Paris – the mecca of fashion – but I can assure you, we were on a strict spending allowance. Wine and croissants were in the budget, clothes were not.

Fortunately, July is sales month in Paris, so it just made sense that I took advantage, right? Off to the shops I went and shocked myself by buying a crisp cotton shirt- dress – in white. That was the day my love for black began to fade.

When I returned home, I began to imagine my house, with its dark beams and charcoal-painted walls, magically transformed with white. The idea of living in a pale space with the same freshness as my white shirtdress suddenly felt liberating. All I have to do now is convince my husband….