Did people ever actually observe "no white after Labor Day"?

[Annie-Xmas]

In my Boston childhood, definitely. White was only worn between Memorial Day & Labor Day.

[pulykamell]

@Grumbacher_Red

Oh Dear Sweet Heaven! You really want to get me wound up, don’t you? I had an elderly Aunt whose face almost melted off the first time she went to a wedding and the bridesmaids wore black. I tried, to no avail, to convince her that it was alright because black is the most formal of colors, but she was not having any piece of it. :o

Heck, I’ve been to a wedding where the bride wore black. (No, she wasn’t a goth or anything. It was a classy, hip, outdoor wedding, and it was just a pretty dress she liked.)

[Missy2U]

@Annie-Xmas

In my Boston childhood, definitely. White was only worn between Memorial Day & Labor Day.

Ditto here - Chicago area. In the 70’s, early 80’s.

[Nava]

@Kennedy1960

The neighbor ladies all wore black when news broke of my Italian grandfather marrying my Irish grandmother, in '53. No joke. Came to my great grandma as if her son had died. Great Grandma didn’t care though.

The only differences between the picture of my Greatgrandma’s First Communion and her wedding are the color of the mantilla (white for FC, black for wedding) and the presence of a groom in the second one. The dress is the same black one. I’ve got part of the sew-on-sew-off decorations.

The one time I attended a wedding in the US, I wore a black bolero and a large, heavy, black skirt, with a white blouse. It happened to be my best clothes. Thankfully nobody took offense (Cuban-American bride, Armenian groom; MotG also wore black which could no way be mistaken for mourning clothing).