white after Labor Day: opinions differ
Oct. 10th, 2006 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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timcharmorbien posed a question that I thought deserved it's own post: why no white after Labor Day?
I have heard this fashion "rule" most of my life but never knew where it came from and never knew anyone who actually practiced it - being practical people, no one in my family ever wore lots of white at any time of year.
Google is my friend, and pulled out a ton of linkage. Turns out the original rule is no white shoes after Labor Day or before Memorial Day, and originated in the South (factoid gacked here, which cites the book A Southern Belle Primer, Or why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma, which is screamingly funny if you're a woman from the South who doesn't meet all of the Scarlett O'Hara stereotypes. But I digress), with the reasoning that 1) wearing summer clothing in winter and vice versa is just clueless, and 2) white deflects heat and so is cooler in summer months (same link). The rule also only applies to dress shoes - athletes, brides, and nurses are exempt.
All of which makes sense if 1) wool is ONLY worn in winter and linen is ONLY worn in summer (what about tropical-weight wool and linen shirts layered with a sweater?) or 2) you're in a part of the country that has seasons (see: Hawaii, Alaska) (Also: note, this is an American fashion bugbear - I'm aware that Memorial Day/Labor Day aren't celebrated in other countries). As such the rule has rightly fallen under fire, most eloquently by Manolo's Shoe Blog where the author exhorts, "yes, yes, the thousand times yes, the white shoes they may be worn after the Day of Labor".
My own take: I adhere to very few fashion rules. My big two are 1) is it comfortable (physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The world being imperfect, shoot for 2 out of 3) and 2) if it's not fun, you're doing it wrong (exception: almost anything worn for a job interview. If you can find a way to make a boring navy skirt suit "fun", I'll eat your hat, or white shoes, or something).
As such, the "no white shoes after Labor Day" rule is fair game to me, but my own personal experience is that white shoes look huge, are hard to keep clean, and go with almost nothing in my wardrobe (because I wear dark colors even in summer, in defiance of Miss Manners and everyone else :P), violating the "comfortable" and "fun" rules.
So, IMHO - if you're south of the Mason-Dixon, you'll get stared at by stuffy sorority girls for wearing white dress shoes in March, but if it's hot out or it's a cute/comfortable shoe, wear 'em anyway and tweak their perky noses :P
timcharmorbien posed a question that I thought deserved it's own post: why no white after Labor Day?I have heard this fashion "rule" most of my life but never knew where it came from and never knew anyone who actually practiced it - being practical people, no one in my family ever wore lots of white at any time of year.
Google is my friend, and pulled out a ton of linkage. Turns out the original rule is no white shoes after Labor Day or before Memorial Day, and originated in the South (factoid gacked here, which cites the book A Southern Belle Primer, Or why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma, which is screamingly funny if you're a woman from the South who doesn't meet all of the Scarlett O'Hara stereotypes. But I digress), with the reasoning that 1) wearing summer clothing in winter and vice versa is just clueless, and 2) white deflects heat and so is cooler in summer months (same link). The rule also only applies to dress shoes - athletes, brides, and nurses are exempt.
All of which makes sense if 1) wool is ONLY worn in winter and linen is ONLY worn in summer (what about tropical-weight wool and linen shirts layered with a sweater?) or 2) you're in a part of the country that has seasons (see: Hawaii, Alaska) (Also: note, this is an American fashion bugbear - I'm aware that Memorial Day/Labor Day aren't celebrated in other countries). As such the rule has rightly fallen under fire, most eloquently by Manolo's Shoe Blog where the author exhorts, "yes, yes, the thousand times yes, the white shoes they may be worn after the Day of Labor".
My own take: I adhere to very few fashion rules. My big two are 1) is it comfortable (physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The world being imperfect, shoot for 2 out of 3) and 2) if it's not fun, you're doing it wrong (exception: almost anything worn for a job interview. If you can find a way to make a boring navy skirt suit "fun", I'll eat your hat, or white shoes, or something).
As such, the "no white shoes after Labor Day" rule is fair game to me, but my own personal experience is that white shoes look huge, are hard to keep clean, and go with almost nothing in my wardrobe (because I wear dark colors even in summer, in defiance of Miss Manners and everyone else :P), violating the "comfortable" and "fun" rules.
So, IMHO - if you're south of the Mason-Dixon, you'll get stared at by stuffy sorority girls for wearing white dress shoes in March, but if it's hot out or it's a cute/comfortable shoe, wear 'em anyway and tweak their perky noses :P
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 03:11 am (UTC)I always learned growing up that the bridesmaids shoes should be dyeables to match the dress - and that b.maids should never wear white, red, or black because they might upstage the bride (though I've seen several sets of black taffeta-clad bridesmaids).
Now that I've typed all this I realize your sisters were probably cool enough not to adhere to restrictive bridal conventions :P
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 03:47 am (UTC)My sisters were both quite traditional and embraced all the local conventions. The dresses for those events were, chronologically, knee-length pale pink satin w/ pink & silver lace jacket and mid-calf dusty rose taffeta; I also wore slinky floor-length cream as maid of honour for a friend who had her wedding dress made from the same cream fabric (military wedding w/ the guys in Armed Forces dress uniforms of an odd shade of dark green) ... the dressy sandals worn with that were at least something I was willing to wear in public with other outfits. :p
no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-12 12:19 am (UTC)Of course all that practical white shoe stuff was back in the eighties; I'm sure that these days the rural folks are wasting just as much money-they-don't-have as the city folk do. :-(
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Date: 2006-10-11 02:37 am (UTC)Having said this - ditto what