White after Labor Day: Fashion Faux Pas
What to wear, when to wear it, and where to wear it, has always been the backbone of fashion throughout the centuries. For instance, we wear bathing suits in the summer while enjoying a dip in the pool. We wear an all black attire at a funeral when mourning someone who has passed. And, we wear white all the way through the summer up until Labor Day. But wait, it’s 2016. Nowadays, people pretty much wear whatever they want, whenever they want; breaking fashion rules that have been murmured throughout the decades. I mean, most fashion ‘rules’ make sense to a degree, but not wearing white after Labor Day?
Thou Shall Not Wear White after Labor Day.
The fashion commandment of not wearing white before Memorial Day and after Labor Day has been around for an absurd amount of time. Even though, not many people acknowledge that rule much nowadays, it still manages to stick around.
The wearing-white commandment struck in the 1900s-1920s during the summer season bracketed between Memorial Day and Labor Day, where societal influencers would leave behind their city clothes in exchange for lighter, whiter summer outfits. Once fall came around, the summer-cationers would return to the city; where their summer clothes were put into hibernation as fall wear was dusted off to be worn once again. By the 1950s, women’s magazines made it clear to middle class America, that white clothing came out on Memorial Day and went away on Labor Day.
Today, you can obviously wear white after Labor Day, and it makes sense since in most areas, the September climate still lacks fall-like temperatures. Also, it is more about the fabric choice versus color when it comes to today’s styling. Even in the dead of winter, many wear fashionable white wools, cashmeres, jeans and down-filled parkas.
The fashion world is much more relaxed about what colors to wear and when, but every year you will still hear people say that white after Labor Day is unacceptable, all thanks to some snobby millionaires over 100 years ago. However, for years before our generation, socialites like Coco Chanel, would buck through the trend and wear white year-round.
Fashion icons and influencers have strayed away from the wearing white commandment; where they have rebelled and suggested how to wear fall and winter whites. The adopted commandment was wrongly trickled down throughout the decades that the fashion rule is barely being considered let alone acknowledged. Therefore, the true interpretation would be “wear what’s appropriate—for the weather, the season or the occasion.”
