SUMMER WHITES — Rue Rodier

Wearing white in summer is nothing new, but it never gets old. It’s probably the most timeless shade you could possibly sport, which will still make you look on-trend year after year when the mercury rises. As long as you stay away from red wine, spaghetti Bolognese and any sneaky sticky fingers, this is the easiest hue to help you hone your summer style skills. So in pre-empting upcoming warmer weather, I’ve teamed up with GAP to bring you two very different white looks, which will work equally as well for any occasion as the temperature heats up. White will also make you looked slightly tanned, however pale you are, even if you’ve been hibernating since last summer. Luckily I found a little sun trap in Jardin du Luxembourg and a nearby street when photographing these outfits last this week.

GAP is the purveyor of great basics. I’ve been shopping with the brand since I was a child and it never fails to deliver. My dad (yes my dad) loved nothing more than taking me on mini weekend shopping sprees to GAP while I was growing up in Canterbury, UK, to dress me up in their lastest denim drop. Recalling these trips, I visited the boutique on the Champs Élysée (Paris’ largest) last Tuesday to pick out a couple of outfits from their range of whiter than white items, to create two very different looks that can be easily interchangeable. For example, throw the denim jacket over the linen midi dress when the weather gets a little chilly and the shoes I’ve styled each outfit with can also be swapped depending on your mood.

I decided to tone down the linen dress with a pair of (often controversial) ‘dad sandals’, or ‘mandals’ as I’ve also cleverly heard them referred as, and a straw hat that I picked up on holiday in Ibiza last summer. I would wear this site-seeing in say, Santorini or Corsica and imagine wearing a white bikini underneath so I’m already prepped for the beach. Or for drinks on a balmy evening down by the Seine. I paired the jeans with thong sandals - as is the trend right now, which is great as they are super comfy - to elevate the denim suit that can be say, worn to lunch during the day or paired with a pop of bright red lipstick in the evening for cocktails with les amies.