I adore the idea of wearing white-on-white in spring. But all four of my attempts to style white jeans this year have given "I'm an employee at The White Lotus hotel" energy, not the effortless cool-girl I want to be. On May 13, Rihanna 's T-shirt and jeans outfit proved styling success lies in choosing different shades of white.

Rihanna 's night out in New York city taught me back-to-back, stark-white styles can be too harsh a color combination . First, she went completely colorless with an oversize T-shirt. Her high-vamp flats were molded from the same shade (or lack there of), except in glossy leather.

Then, to split up her blinding look, Rihanna slipped on baggy, off-white jeans . Her take on the straight-leg trend was dyed a few hues warmer than other shades in street style.…