Adele’s 30 fashion has been an autumnal stroll through the world’s biggest brands, from logoed heritage-brown Burberry to wine-coloured patent leather Lanvin and Oscar de la Renta sequins in creeping vine leaf motifs. Cut to her audience with media’s matriarch Oprah, and her custom white Christopher John Rogers suit stood out like a snowflake in the midst. Adele had, she told Winfrey, never worn white before.
Whether it was the connotations associated with the alabaster colour – freedom, fresh starts, hope – that inspired her gear shift from dark to light is up for debate. Her stylist Jamie Mizrahi described the bespoke tailoring by Rogers, one of New York’s brightest stars, who is usually celebrated for his use of Crayola brights, as simply, “the perfect power suit”. Oprah, also outfitted in luxurious cream, and shrouded by a halo of climbing white blooms, only added to the messaging.
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Indeed, there’s something inherently bold about wearing one singularly pure colour; the question of whether it will remain absolutely immaculate or be completely ruined hanging in the balance. This mood of liberated confidence, or just a penchant for the pristine, seems to have resonated across the board in Hollywood, where both men and women have been wiping the slate clean in terms of tailoring.
Jennifer Hudson and Sarah Paulson have enjoyed the freshness louche ivory separates bring to the red carpet as Tinseltown engages in full partywear mode. Bella Hadid’s pearlescent Dior corset and coords looked almost bridal worthy and wholly modern early this year, while Lady Gaga redefined executive realness in creamy Jean Paul Gaultier pinstripes and looked like a true boss bitch in the process.
While the main purpose of black suiting is to look sleek, white, it transpires, invites character. Jared Leto recently turned heads in a crisp Gucci number with baby pink feathered sleeves, while Timothée Chalamet’s colourless Haider Ackermann two-piece came with crystal buttons. He wore it with Converse and walked 10 blocks to the Met Gala. Squid Game’s overnight star Lee Jung-jae also embraced the quirkier side of milky menswear and offset his suit with a necktie – and a smile.
It takes guts and a great dry cleaner to do white suiting, whether you’re more Hilary Clinton in suffragette-white Ralph Lauren or John Travolta’s ’70s thrift store partywear. A lesson to the white suit virgin? Take a leaf from the book of Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler – all white suits, pearls, and pure vindication – in The First Wives Club, and wear it with a two fingers-up attitude. Mizrahi posted a side-by-side of Adele and the trio of acting doyennes, showing the eternal magnetism of frosted tailoring. It’s time to start rolling in the deep.
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