Style/Let's talk about white

Like I've mentioned before, I am really, really obsessed with white during the summer months. And although my planned S/S '14 wardrobe has more black in it than ever before, when I picture the summer all I can think about is a uniform of a simple white shift dress and sandals. 

Right now the perfect shift dress exists only in my head,
so this decidedly less basic, 

not-actually-a-shift-at-all beauty will have to do the illustration. A.L.C Pre Fall 14 

What is it about white that's so appealing though? I think it's the perfect intersection of function and aesthetic. So much of style is about making that choice - design and beauty, or the protection and fortification of the body?
I don't think anyone would actually argue that it's an either/or question, particularly anyone interested in style who still dresses for a day job. Certainly though, it's a distinct and present dichotomy underlying the design of any garment. 

And as far as I'm concerned, a really great piece does both.

A white shift dress doesn't exactly fortify the body, nor is white necessarily practical - or even functional - on a city street corner. But white does lend the garment, what is in my opinion, the highest functional quality: simplicity.

It's a literal blank canvas - it allows the dress to adapt endlessly, to disappear into quiet reality. It's aesthetically perfect, precisely because it is not (ostentatiously) designed. This is not a dress that wears you, nor is it a dress that makes any sweeping statements about the wearer's identity. Fill in the blanks. Paint by very, very faint numbers. 

 And because the dress is so simple, it lends the dress an freedom of being that would be harder to find elsewhere.
One could probably make these arguments for dresses of other solid colors, black in particular. But man, there is something pure, clean white that just makes me feel so damn tops when I wear it - which is, ultimately, the most important function of a garment.