After years of throwing at shoppers every bright color they could concoct, fashion designers are declaring spring a more peaceful and tranquil season.

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.

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.

For early spring, Kors 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. 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.