Rebbetzin********:
You wrote: “(BTW these Gedolim that only wear white shirts do not c”v conform to “our” (or anyone else’s) standards, rather, they are the ones that set the standards and it is we that try our best to emulate them).”
I’m glad you invoked the word emulate and the concept of emulating the Gedolei Yisroel. What is catastrophic is that we have gotten stuck in emulating the things which are truly quite low on the ranks of what makes them Gedolei Yisroel. Have we considered first to emulate their hasmodoh? Maybe their midos? Maybe their strong emunoh and bitachon? How about their humility? We flipped things upside down, and are more concerned in dressing as they do, while the other things are expected to follow automatically. That’s not even funny on Purim.
Can you picture a matzeivoh that speaks of the virtues of the niftar buried below as someone who wore a white shirt? Do you recall a circulating photo, allegedly of a sign posted in a Lakewood beis hamedrash stating that the chometz was sold to a “real” goy who wore a colored shirt.
Have we really sunk that low?
I personally hold from chitzoniyus. But making it the symbol of the internal is inaccurate, and misleading.