I noticed a pattern in museums - the statues and portraits that I spent time being entranced by had a theme. Was it because of the poses? Was it the formal decor or loose semi-nude dressings? It then occurred to me – there was something about the toga – the unisex garment.

This connected with a theme I had – photographing people in their white shirts. It wasn’t intentional, but once it clicked, I started requesting people to wear a white shirt before a photo session. Both men and women can look handsome, sexy, masculine, feminine, innocent, determined… all in this one garment that could be formal or informal. All genders and ages have worn a white button-down shirt.

Yet, as universal as it is, it's so easy to be yourself... or someone else if that's what you need be.

To others, there were other meanings.

"I grew up watching the business world buttoned into white shirts and choked up by ties. This was a time where women in higher level roles were overwhelmingly few and far between. Working in the entertainment industry, being critiqued, coerced and passed over by suits and shirts and power struggles, I have found it increasingly important to retain my femininity in a male-dominant industry. I don't need to compete with a man. I want to wear things my way. A white shirt, to me, is not dissimilar to our working landscape. It may have been shaped for a man, but it looks just as great on a woman, and I'm going to celebrate that in my own feminine way.
The universal garment - the modern toga."

Kristina Lao, actor/musician/song-writer and model in the White Shirt Project