We all know the old phrase, “don’t wear white after Labor Day,” but do we even know why that is or how that came about? I have heard the phrase many times but never paid much attention to is besides joking that I was wearing white after Labor Day. I also mentally excluded white tops from this rule, you know if I were to even follow it. To me I always assumed white pants and dresses were the only pieces that fell into under this strange fashion restriction.
I never actually looked up why we have this “rule” until this year. It apparently took me 28 years of ignoring it to be curious enough to want to know why. Turns out, in my opinion, it is good most people ignore this very out of date way of thinking. An article from Marie Claire, “Can You Wear White After Labor Day?: A Consensus”, opened my eyes to this silly tradition. The article read:
The “you can’t wear white after Labor Day,” rule was created to separate the old money elitists from the new money group. “It [was] insiders trying to keep other people out,” according to Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, in an interview with Time, “and outsiders trying to climb in by proving they know the rules.” – Chelsea Peng, Marie Claire
The whole reason this “rule” was made was to separate classes, this seems ridiculous to me and very Gatsby-esq. This isn’t East and West Egg.
“For those who had money and could leave the city during warmer months, white was considered vacation attire.” Chelsea Peng, Marie Claire
When summer is over you would ideally come home from vacation and bust out your darker fall clothes to get back to school, work and life and pack away your “vacation” clothes. Such a silly rule about wearing a certain color. Glad it is 2018 and I can wear white whenever I want and not look like a social climbing, new money wannabe.
I finally got my favorite jeans in white and I love them! The Jamie from Topshop are my all time favorite jeans. They are the perfect high waist jeans and are so comfy and flattering. I have barely touched any of my other jeans since I got these and now I have blue, black, and white so I am pretty much set.
Funny story about these white ones. I wear a size 28×32 in these and Nordstrom only had a 28×30. I am tall so those would not work for me. They were on sale and said “price matched” so I figured that must mean they are on sale on the Topshop site. I was right and they had my size so I ordered them! They came in and were “sateen”… they were shiny space pants! I was so mad I did not read the description well enough. I returned them and decided I would just try on the the 30×32 at Nordstrom which were too big BUT turned out this Nordstrom had my size it just didn’t show online. So I finally got my white jeans… just in time for Labor Day! lol
I have never been one to wear white on white or off white on white (one, because I spill things, and two, I wasn’t sure if that even looked okay). I have seen a couple bloggers do it though and I really liked it! I gave it a try with my sprinkle tank and it was super cute. I also added this sweater in hopes it would make fall come sooner. I am still waiting but have a good feeling… stay tuned.
I also added one of my favorite wedges because you cannot ruin a good look with bad shoes, duh.
Shop the look: Top (40% off!) | Jeans (50% off!) | Sweater | Wedges
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
WELL—WHY NOT AND LOOK AMAZING! 🙂