There’s a British upscale home decoration brand called The White Company, which, as the name implies, is all about the colour white. There’s actually a long history behind the association between wealth and whiteness, precisely because in the past it was so difficult to get textiles shining white. It’s still difficult to keep them that way, so this affinity for white is a case of conspicuous consumption: You buy it precisely to show off that you can afford all that hassle. I suppose a similar thinking is behind the preference for white in naval uniforms.