I have a soft spot for the crisp pairing of black and white in fact I started my career making black and white striped post my inspiration was the graduate notably the black and white striped awning in Mrs. robinson's backyard it was so smart so sharp so country club chic awning stripes say everything that needs to be said about black and white nifty poppy punchy perfection think Geoffrey beene slim Aarons Irving Penn horst p horst think vans you simply cannot go wrong expressing yourself in black and white it's a fail safe pairing that's graphic yet neutral and impossible to screw up it's either black and white or just white I wear white pants every single day even to block tie events when it comes to attiring your home however it's best to use white as a neutral backdrop for exuberant colors rather than as a statement in and of itself white on white is so cold and antiseptic looking and yet ironically so impossible to keep clean in its previous incarnation my New York apartment featured every color under the moon then I tore off the grass cloth wallpaper and jettisoned the jolly accent walls and whitewashed every available surface the result everything popped white lets happy chic colors be themselves.