Ask Dethroner: What Do I Wear with White Jeans?

James T. writes:

So I inherited a pair of white jeans from my fiance’s dad (rather, he got them from her mother doesn’t like them nor can fit in them so they went to me) The questions become though…

1) What shirt do I wear these with? 2) What belt do I wear this with? 3) What shoes do I wear this with?

And lastly: 4) WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WEAR WITH WHITE JEANS?!

Obviously white socks. But yeah, after that I’m stumped. Even more is it even worth it, like is it a look people pull off or is it destined to the Salvation Army bin?

First: white socks? Really?

Your desire to wear what I am sure are white gym socks with jeans worries me—will you be able to pull off white jeans at all?

The socks part is actually easy: white goes with everything. Colored socks will look fine. Bright colors will look great. No socks and loafers will work fine, too. Just anything instead of white gym shocks, which should really only ever be worn with sneakers and jeans. (Although I tend to not do even that; I just like nice socks.)

Shirts? Again, white goes with everything. But the obvious place to start is a white or black shirt—a clean button-up with short sleeves, let’s say. Go preppy. Or try a striped shirt or a carmel-colored cardigan. Think of what you’d want to wear on the docks, while peering from under your shading hand across the ocean for a ship full of interesting socks.

You may not need a belt, but a white belt would be fine (this is a rare exception), as would a black or brown leather belt. Belts should really be matched into the whole outfit and style and heft is more important than color. GQ suggests no belt at all and I cannot strongly argue against their position.

In short: Lean toward the preppy side instead of the hair metal side and you’ll be fine.

(Photo: Doobybrain)