I put good quality white slip covers over some well worn furniture for a quick fix when we were selling one of our homes. They lasted about 5 years before they wouldn't come as clean as I wanted anymore, even with sending them professionally cleaned.

I love my white leather I have 2 large dogs and we entertain a lot also grandkids it is cowhide not calf skin it is 9 yrs old looks like new . I have always found slip covers start looking shabby after about 3 washes and I really dislike the whole shabby chic thing anyway.. You could even go a nice vanilla colored leather still light but not so stark as white .

I had white slip covers that looked quite nice for the first few years, then started to look spotty after a while. I went with a cream color as well and they look just as nice - the stubborn stains don't show up as much!