Wearing white is now wrong?

[Dora]

Hi all,

I was recently told by a GG that this time of year wearing a white sweater is a no-no and I should wait until Easter before doing so.

Sheesh... Who came up with this crazy rule?!?!?

Dora

[tekla]

I thought the old rule was you wore white between Memorial Day and Labor Day, i.e. summer only, Easter is for pastels.

[Dora]

I thought the old rule was you wore white between Memorial Day and Labor Day, i.e. summer only, Easter is for pastels.

Oh my goodness! Rules for pastels too! LOL

I'm breaking the rule and I am wearing a white sweater today. If the fashion police pick me up, please someone, post my bail!

Dora

[Dennis]

Yep, no white after labour day. But I think that applies to pants and skirts mostly, not sweaters and blouses.

Dennis

[tekla]

I thought you wanted warmer colors for fall and winter, so not white, but a cream or an off-white. 

And I thought the rule was all about shoes too.  No white shoes outside of summer.

[Dennis]

Oh yeah, definitely shoes too. In fact, men shouldn't wear white shoes before or after labour day unless they're nurses.

Dennis

[tekla]

You know, not even then.

[tekla]

Maybe offering those items for sale was a trap.

[lizbeth]

the wearing white after labor day rule is so passe. I even saw an article in cosmo or something that said no one cared about that rule anymore and that white was actually fashionable any time of the year.

some people will probably still look at you weird if they haven't gotten the memo and if they still think wearing white after labor day is passe, but if they say anything just point out how fashion chic you are.

[lizbeth]

of course, now that I think about it - I live in california and we don't even have seasons here (unless you count earthquake, flood, fire and riot as our seasons, hehe). so maybe us left coast girls have a different rule book that those in parts of the world that actually have seasons.

[tekla]

Fashion rules in San Fran are kinda like an arcane remnant of a forgotten age, quaint to remember, though no one cares anymore.

[Janet_Girl]

There only reason you don't wear white in Winter is if you fall in a drift of snow, you won't be found till Spring. 

I only wear white in summer, reflects the sun and thus the heat.  But if the sweater is thick then who cares, it is warm.

sweater

[tekla]

I've got the Henry Ford Wardrobe, any color you want as long as it's black.  That makes it easy.  Black always goes with black.  Never in or out of season.  Easy to find in a snow drift.  Easy to hide at night. 

[Lisbeth]

Move to Minnesota. We don't even know the word "fashion" as my partner has been slowly learning. But as a practical matter, if you wear white and fall and break your leg, they might not find you until the spring thaw.

[tekla]

Where formal means 'clean overalls.'

[Lisbeth]

Where formal means 'clean overalls.'

No, it means "clean snowmobile suit."

[tekla]

Good 'n warm, eh?

[Kaelin]

Oh yeah, definitely shoes too. In fact, men shouldn't wear white shoes before or after labour day unless they're nurses.

Dennis

I wear white shoes half the time.  However, they are tennis/running shoes, so perhaps they don't count?

And yeah, the Memorial/Labor Day cut-offs are a fading standard.

[Dora]

Why aren't you supposed to wear white after Labor Day?

As with many customs and etiquette dictums, it's difficult to pin down the reason behind the prohibition against white after Labor Day. We searched on variations of "wear white after Labor Day" and sifted through the Etiquette and Fashion categories in the Yahoo! Directory. We managed to turn up a bit of information on the fashion dictate.

Originally, the rule was more along the lines of "Only wear white shoes between Memorial Day and Labor Day." Furthermore, it mainly applied to white pumps or dress shoes. White tennis shoes and off-white boots seem exempt, as are any shoes worn by a winter bride. "Winter white" clothing (e.g., cream-colored wool) is acceptable between Labor Day and Memorial Day too.

The only logical reasoning we could find cited temperature. Image consultant Nancy Penn suggests that because white reflects light and heat, wearing white would make you cooler in winter, and thus should be avoided. But others suggest the rule stems from a class issue. Acting Director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology Valerie Steele notes that in the late 19th century and the 1950s, more people were entering the middle classes. These nouveau-riche folks were often unaware of the standards of high society, so they were given specific codified rules to follow in order to fit in.

Several sites quoted a charming refrain about G.R.I.T.S. -- girls raised in the South. This bit of folklore states, "Southern girls know bad manners when they see them," and a clear sign of bad manners is wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. Because fashions in the American South can be a little more formal than elsewhere, perhaps the no-white-shoes rule came from south of the Mason-Dixon Line? Even Star Jones (an otherwise fashion-forward Southern lady) admits that white shoes "are for Easter Sunday and not the dead of winter."

We can only surmise that the point of this rule is to ensure that people only wear summer fashions during the actual summer months. The opposite probably applies as well, but people generally don't need to be reminded to avoid wearing a goose-down parka in 100-degree weather. If you live in a locale with summer temperatures year-round, we can't see the harm in wearing white shoes or a head-to-toe white outfit in October. And we promise not to tell Miss Manners.

Source: Ask Yahoo http://ask.yahoo.com/20020913.html

[gilded]

In the late 1970's we had Winter-white as "this season's color."

In the northern cities (Chicago, NYC, etc), the winter is grey and the tall buildings  makes it very dark.
A white outfit makes you dramatic and stunning.
Not so in LA & SF tho.

- gilded_gurlNYC