GET IT WHITE

White jeans are SO tricky to pull off. Here’s how

FORGET bling necklaces and It bags. This summer’s status symbol is far harder to get right: white jeans.

Impossible to keep clean, they nonetheless radiate style, indicating a life of leisure (and a high dry cleaning bill) and making them a favourite with the jetset.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston adore them, Liz Hurley once claimed to own 30 pairs and when Pippa Middleton stepped out of her fiance James Matthews’s £17million mansion last week, the pristine white jeans hugging her gym-honed bottom were as revealing of her celebrity as the £250,000 ring on her finger.

I, too, love white jeans. But I am slightly ashamed of the ill-fitting, largely unworn pairs in my wardrobe — for white jeans are a minefield.

Too lightweight and you run the risk of showcasing your knickers to the world. Get the cut wrong and they hang down your hips, cut into your muffin top and pinch your thighs. So they should never be bought in haste: take your time in the changing room and view from all angles.

Yet good white jeans really are glamorous, fresh, laid-back and sexy.

The trick is to spend a bit more on quality fabrics. Think in terms of crisp rather than flimsy cotton, bypass Primark, New Look and Matalan and turn instead to brands such as The White Company, Frame and MIH.

Don’t be tempted by over-skinny cuts — look for slim or straight styles and a cropped bootcut. Aim for something that looks and fits like slim trousers and you won’t go wrong.

Below are some of this summer’s white jeans that get it just right — and those that don’t.