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White shoes have a reputation for being the thing that looks immaculate for about a day and a half and then spends the rest of its life looking like it's been dragged round a building site, and honestly, that reputation is mostly earned. I still buy them every year anyway, because nothing else lifts an outfit the way a clean white shoe does, and I've made my peace with the upkeep.
They go into more of an ordinary week than you'd expect from something so fussy looking. Straight leg jeans and a plain t-shirt, a linen shirt and shorts, a midi skirt that would otherwise look a bit too neat on its own, a plain cotton dress on a day you can't be bothered to think about shoes at all. White trainers do the casual end of that list, a white leather flat or a simple white sandal does the rest. Before you buy, check what the upper is actually made of, because a lot of the budget ones are a coated canvas that looks fine on the shelf and creases like paper within a fortnight, and have a proper look at the sole unit too, since a thin flat sole with no give is the one that makes your feet ache by mid afternoon. Check the stitching round the toe box as well, loose threads there are usually the first sign of the whole thing coming apart early. If you're starting from nothing, go for a simple leather trainer in a plain shape, no big logo, no mesh panels, because mesh holds dirt and goes grey in patches no matter how carefully you clean it, and leather at least wipes back to something respectable.
A well made white shoe tends to be leather or a proper leather look rather than canvas, with a sole that's glued and stitched rather than just glued, because the glued only ones start peeling at the toe within a few months of normal wear. The hardware matters more than people expect too, dull eyelets and a zip that catches are usually a sign the rest of the shoe was made to the same standard. The finish is the real tell though, run a hand over it in the shop, a good one feels smooth and slightly cool, a disappointing one feels slightly tacky or has an uneven sheen that tells you the coating is already starting to lift.
Reach for white shoes when you want an outfit to look deliberate without having tried very hard, and accept that you'll be cleaning them more often than any other pair in the house.
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