Many of the button-down shirts, crocheted sweaters, eyelet dresses and high-waisted pants in stores this season are offered in Grand Cayman sand, cappuccino foam or moonlight - all fancy names for white.

Offering white for spring and summer is, of course, nothing new. But it is both fresh and refreshing.

''I think the interesting thing is we've had quite a few years of bling, bling, bling, bling, bling. To me, it's like too rich of a meal. At some point, you need to cleanse your palate,'' says designer Michael Kors.

The emphasis of the clothes shifts from an attention-grabbing hue to the cut, subtle details and luxuriousness of fabrics, he says. That's not to say it's a boring fashion season, he adds, but there's a restraint that was needed. ''It's romantic minimalism, which, yes, is an oxymoron. . . . It's like putting Splenda in the ice tea. It's sweet but not too sugary.''

Wearing white, especially in a city, always makes people look as if they're above the fray, Kors says. ''In Paris, you'll see a woman on the crummiest, rainy day in a white coat. It immediately gives her a movie star spin.''

Kors' spring collection features layers of white in soft silhouettes, accented mostly by simple beiges and blacks. But while it's hard to mix blacks with different color casts, it works for white. The differences only highlight the richness of the lace, embroidery or eyelet that also might be part of the outfit.

''There's cool blueish white, white with a yellow cast, a rosy cast, a creamy cast. It's kind of cool to mix it all up. Wear a vanilla shade, ecru and optic white, and mix it all together. If you're confused about the different whites, go to the local paint store, they'll sort it out,'' says Kors with a laugh.

White is for all seasons, he says, though ecru and sand-colored shades are easier to pull off than optic white when there's still a chill in the air. For early spring, he suggests a creamy white lace dress with metallic shoes and maybe a fur cape. In the summer, wear that same dress with flip-flops.

White actually can be tricky for shoes, says Coach president and executive director Reed Krakoff, so, if in doubt, go with a casual style or more of a parchment color.

For bags, though, almost anything goes. ''White is as easy as black, now that people are wearing it year-round,'' says Krakoff.

Even once this white ''trend'' is over, Krakoff expects white to stick around as a basic color - like black and navy - that will be integrated into future collections.

For now, though, white ''is the story for spring,'' says Gregg Andrews, a fashion director for Nordstrom, with white-on-white as the chicest outfit and the white handbag as the ''iconic item'' of the season.

Milk white is pretty much the standard white, says Leatrice Eiseman, author of More Alive With Color, but there are dozens of other shades. Milk white probably stands out because it's a bright white.

''The purer the color, the more the human eye sees it like a brilliant color. The attention-getting value of a very bright white is enormous,'' she says.

In fashion, bright white usually looks best on very fair skin or very dark skin, she says. ''On dark skin, it's a great contrast, and on very fair skin, off-white will look strange. But you have to think of the texture of the fabric. With sheer white or semi-sheer, the color of the skin becomes the undertone of the white.''

Also be careful where you wear the white. It can be ''enlarging'' - which might be why it's so popular in home decorating but it's an optical illusion you need to be prepared for if you're wearing head-to-toe white.

Off-whites, however, work more like a neutral.

''If you want to use white because it 'goes with everything,' you might want an off-white,'' says Eiseman. ''You're likely to be more comfortable - and it's more versatile.''

Since pure whites have blue undertones, they don't necessarily work with warmer colors, such as peach, yellow or gold. A creamy white tends to have a yellowish undertone, and an off-white can have a pink or peachy tone, or even have a slight green or lavender cast, Eiseman says.

Bright white looks best playing off black or navy because it adds crispness, she adds, and bright white also can pop against brown, tan and blueish gray.