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At 62, I'd decided a plain white T-shirt was for younger women. This is a letter about the one that proved me wrong
Six things this crisp white coverage tee gets right that every clingy, short-sleeved white T-shirt before it got wrong, from a Perth woman who had quietly given up on the simplest outfit there is.
Maggie Whitfield · 62 · Perth, WA · 5 min read
I'm 62, and there is one outfit I have admired on other women my whole adult life: a plain white T-shirt and a good pair of jeans. Nothing else. My daughter-in-law wears it to the markets and looks like she's stepped out of a magazine. I tried it, many times, and every time the T-shirt let me down. The sleeves stopped at exactly the wrong place on the arm. It clung to my tummy. So somewhere in my fifties I quietly decided the white T-shirt was for younger women, and I went back to my patterned tops that "hide things." So this is not a review. It's a woman who changed her mind, telling you why.
The T-shirt I'm writing about is the Marigold, a comfort coverage tee from Perth Boutique, a small Australian boutique that dresses women our age. I already owned it in grey, and wore it so much on our caravan trip down the South West that my friend Lorraine said, "Just get the white one, Mags. Summer's coming, and you've been wanting that white tee and jeans look for twenty years." She was right, as usual. When Perth Boutique later asked if they could share my letter, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
Here's what thirty years of white T-shirts taught me. The white tee is the most unforgiving thing in the shop. On a younger woman, anything works. On us, a white T-shirt that's slightly too tight, slightly too short in the sleeve or slightly too thin shows every single thing you'd rather it didn't. So you stop buying them. And then you stop wearing the outfit you always loved, and you don't even notice you've given it up.
I'd spent twenty years admiring the white T-shirt and jeans on everyone else, and telling myself it wasn't for women like me.
The Marigold is the first white T-shirt I've bought in over a decade that I actually wear, and having lived in it for a month, to the markets, to lunch, to the beach for sundowners and to Christmas shopping in the city, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The sleeves come down far enough
This is what every other white T-shirt got wrong. The Marigold has longer half sleeves that come down far enough to cover the top of the arm, so there's none of that harsh line across the widest part, which in white is about as unforgiving as it gets. I don't pull at them, I don't fold them down, and I haven't once reached for a cardigan to cover them.
Markets on Saturday, white tee and jeans. Did not tug at a sleeve once. Felt, frankly, a bit smug.
Relaxed, so white doesn't cling
The shape is relaxed. It sits easily and skims rather than gripping, which matters more in white than in any other colour, because white shows every line where a top pulls. It falls nicely past the waistband of my jeans, it doesn't ride up when I reach for something, and it never looks boxy or like I've borrowed one of Ray's.
Caught myself side-on in a shop window in Subiaco. Didn't wince. Kept walking. Progress.
Soft and light for a Perth summer
It's lightweight and soft, which is exactly what you want when it's 35 degrees and the easterly is blowing. White is the coolest colour you can wear in the sun, and paired with a light, soft T-shirt that still has proper sleeves, it's become the most comfortable thing in my wardrobe for the hot months. A word of honest advice, because I promised I'd give it: like any white top, I wear a nude bra underneath, and it looks lovely.
35 degrees, Christmas shopping in the city. Cool enough to survive Forrest Chase. That's saying something.
Why the white: it makes everything look fresh
This is what the white does that no other colour can. It brightens the face, it makes a summer tan look healthy rather than tired, and it makes whatever's underneath look clean and deliberate. White with jeans is the classic, of course, but I've worn it with my navy linen trousers, with a denim skirt, with khaki shorts and with a floral skirt from years ago that suddenly looked new again. If grey is the T-shirt that goes with everything, white is the one that makes everything look better.
Lorraine: "You look like you've been on holiday." I hadn't. It's just the white. Took ten years off the whole outfit.
A round neck that dresses up in seconds
The classic round neckline means you can dress it up with almost nothing. A necklace and earrings, and it's right for lunch. An open linen shirt or a light blazer over the top, and it's right for dinner. I wore it with my gold hoops and white jeans to sundowners at Cottesloe and felt more put-together than I have in any "going-out top" in years.
Sundowners at Cottesloe. White tee, white jeans, gold hoops. A woman at the next table asked if it was linen. It isn't. It's a $45 T-shirt.
Sizes up to a 20, and buy two, because it's white
The Marigold comes in AU sizes from 8/10 up to 18/20, and because it's a relaxed fit I ordered my usual size and it fitted straight away. It comes in other colours too, and I can vouch for the grey. But here's my advice on the white: buy two. White is the one you'll reach for most, it's the one that meets a splash of Christmas gravy or a drip of mango, and you'll want the spare clean and ready in the drawer.
Mango, Boxing Day, front of the tee. Changed into the spare. Nobody knew. Lorraine has ordered two whites of her own. "Not copying," she says.
This tee, against every white T-shirt before it
Most of us gave up on the white T-shirt because the white T-shirts let us down, not because we got too old for them. Here's the difference, laid out plainly.
Sleeves stop at the widest part of the arm
Clings, and shows every line
Fitted and short, rides up when you reach
Hidden under a cardigan "just in case"
Given up on by fifty-five
Longer half sleeves that cover the upper arm
Relaxed shape that skims, never grips
Soft and light for a Perth summer
Brightens the face and the whole outfit
The white tee and jeans, finally
About the price
The Marigold is $45.95 at the moment. The website says it's usually $90. I won't pretend I know what a T-shirt like this ought to cost, but I can tell you I've spent more than that on white tops that went to the back of the drawer after one wear.
Perth Boutique also take a bit off if you buy more than one: 10% for two, 15% for three and 20% for four, and it comes off automatically at the checkout. That's how I justified the spare white, and why Lorraine's order had three in it. You can split it with Afterpay too, which works out at about $11.50 a fortnight.
Shipping was free with Australia Post, tracked and insured, and there's a money-back guarantee if it isn't right. After so many white T-shirts that disappointed me, that's what got me to press the button.
easy fit
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If you're 55, or 62, or 70, and you quietly decided somewhere along the way that the white T-shirt and jeans weren't for you any more, this is the one I'd hand you myself, while the white is still in your size. It was never the outfit. It was the T-shirt.
Maggie
Marigold · Comfort Coverage Tee
Buy 2 save 10% · Buy 3 save 15% · Afterpay available
- Longer half sleeves that cover the upper arm
- Relaxed shape that skims rather than clings
- Soft, lightweight feel for hot summer days
- Classic round neckline that dresses up in seconds
- Crisp white that brightens the face and every outfit
- Sizes AU 8/10 to 18/20
- FREE shipping Australia-wide & money-back guarantee
Spring sale on now, while stocks last.
About the writer. Maggie Whitfield is 62 and lives in Perth with her husband Ray, a lemon tree that produces more than they can eat, and a standing Thursday coffee with Lorraine. She worked as a dental receptionist for twenty-six years and is now, in her own words, "saying yes to things."
This page is an advertisement for Perth Boutique. Individual experiences may vary. Perth Boutique · Free shipping Australia-wide · Money-back guarantee.