What's Behind 'Don't Wear White After Labor Day?'
WEAR WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY
ยทUpdated:
·

The dictum that you shouldn't wear white outfits before Memorial Day and after Labor Day has been around for a long time. And while people don't really pay it much heed these days, it keeps hanging around. So where did it come from, and does it matter anymore?  

East Hampton Uniform

The Rule Delineated The Hot Summer Season

[In] the nineteen 00s, 10s and 20s… the summer season was bracketed by Memorial Day and Labor Day. Society flocked en masse from town house to seaside "cottage" or mountain "cabin" to escape the heat. City clothes were left behind in exchange for lighter, whiter, summer costumes. Come fall and the return to the city, summer clothes were put away and more formal city clothes donned once more.

[Emily Post]

New Money, New Rules

But There Were Also Class Implications Behind It

The wives of the super-rich ruled high society with an iron fist after the Civil War. As more and more people became millionaires, though, it was difficult to tell the difference between old money, respectable families, and those who only had vulgar new money. By the 1880s, in order to tell who was acceptable and who wasn't, the women who were already "in" felt it necessary to create dozens of fashion rules that everyone in the know had to follow […] Not wearing white outside the summer months was another one of these silly rules. 

[Mental Floss]

Still In Vogue

Perhaps The Fashionistas Back In The Day Are To Blame?

'All the magazines and tastemakers were centered in big cities, usually in northern climates that had seasons,' [Charlie Scheips, author of 'American Fashion'] notes. In the hot summer months, white clothing kept New York fashion editors cool. But facing, say, heavy fall rain, they might not have been inclined to risk sullying white ensembles with mud โ€” and that sensibility was reflected in the glossy pages of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, which set the tone for the country.

[Time]

Brush That Soot OfF Your Shoulder

Or Maybe We Should Just Blame It On Coal Soot 

Multiple commenters have pointed out another possible reason: 

Before heaters were invented, people shoveled coal to heat buildings. It was traditional for men to wear white or light colored suits. The soot from the coal would get all over them and stain their nice clothes. So they changed their wardrobe around Labor Day, when the weather typically starts to get cool. This practice turned into tradition, into rule, into the faux pas, into where we are now.

[Wise Geek]

I was taught that the reason for no white after labor day was a bit more prosaic. In the days of coal heat in the winter wearing white meant that it would get dirty and dingy almost immediately due to the coal dust in the air.

[Apartment Therapy]

Listen To Your Heart

So Can I Wear White On Tuesday?

Are you a member of the Nouveau Riche trying to impress the Old Money?  

Do you own a coal-burning heater? 

Do you feel compelled to adhere your personal style to the recommendations of early-20th century fashion magazines? 


If you answered yes to any of these, please A) stow your white pants for the next 9 months; and B) re-evaluate your life choices.  

<p>Dan Fallon is Digg's Editor in Chief.&nbsp;</p>

Want more stories like this?

Every day we send an email with the top stories from Digg.

Subscribe