# When Did American men Stop Wearing White Suits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465 "2010-01-18T21:01:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/21 "2010-01-19T01:22:22Z")
I meant mens white dress shoes, not those buck types. My father had a pair in the 70s. The Army has a white dress uniform but it’s almost never used. I think it’s being phased out. The Navy still uses white uniforms for officers and enlisted. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/22 "2010-01-19T01:30:19Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first to mention [Seersucker Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seersucker_Thursday), the one day a year when U.S. Senators wear seersucker. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/23 "2010-01-19T02:02:57Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Tom Wolfe still wears 'em. > > But aside from the comfort issue – even if you have to wear a suit during summer, for whatever reason, you’re generally not going to wear a white one – hellish to keep clean. Gentlemen of means didn’t need to concern themselves with details like that. They’d have more than one suit and the servants would do the cleaning. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/24 "2010-01-19T04:07:49Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Gentlemen of means didn’t need to concern themselves with details like that. They’d have more than one suit and the servants would do the cleaning. It went beyond that, though. The white suit - or any such apparel that made concessions to the heat - really did become associated with a backwards, feudal way of life. Modern, industrious men came to avoid them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/25 "2010-01-19T04:16:40Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > It went beyond that, though. The white suit - or any such apparel that made concessions to the heat - really did become associated with a backwards, feudal way of life. Modern, industrious men came to avoid them. Methinks you are reading _waayyyyy_ too much into a fashion shift. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/26 "2010-01-19T04:22:47Z")
Well, I do know that right up into the 1940s you could be sent home from Wall Street for wearing seersucker. The Northeastern elites, at least, took such things quite seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/27 "2010-01-19T05:28:23Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I can’t believe I’m the first to mention [Seersucker Thursday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seersucker_Thursday), the one day a year when U.S. Senators wear seersucker. I just Netflixed [Advise and Consent](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055728/) yesterday. Charles Laughton’s traditionally white-suited South Carolina senator has to be one of the all-time great movie roles. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/28 "2010-01-19T05:34:04Z")
> [@davey77](#): > > When did Steve Martin take off his white suit for good? He has to be its most famous proponent. Nope. Colonel Sanders. hh ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/29 "2010-01-19T06:31:45Z")
I’ve got a Matlock blue and white striped seersucker (with vest!!! and tie!!!) and I even have been known to wear it to court just to make the judges smile and counsel think I’m playin’ wit 'em. I am. But all white? Even I don’t have such a cracker lawyer outfit. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/30 "2010-01-19T14:42:31Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Well, I do know that right up into the 1940s you could be sent home from Wall Street for wearing seersucker. The Northeastern elites, at least, took such things quite seriously. Well, yeah, because it’s not appropriate for New York City. That’s like wearing your Norfolk suit in the city - it’s country attire. Seersucker is semi-tropical summer wear and New York is too far north for it. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/31 "2010-01-19T15:09:42Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Well, yeah, because it’s not appropriate for New York City. That’s like wearing your Norfolk suit in the city - it’s country attire. Seersucker is semi-tropical summer wear and New York is too far north for it. True, but it gets hot in NYC in the summer. Almost as hot as in the South. I have a tan suit that I wear in the summers which I have worn to Court in Virginia. I have seen one attorney wear a white suit but it was rather unusual to see in court. I have seen quite a few people wear seersucker. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/32 "2010-01-20T03:20:14Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#): > > True, but it gets hot in NYC in the summer. Almost as hot as in the South. > > I have a tan suit that I wear in the summers which I have worn to Court in Virginia. I have seen one attorney wear a white suit but it was rather unusual to see in court. I have seen quite a few people wear seersucker. semi-hijack: What kind of tie goes w/seersucker? Seriously. Say, white shirt, because i can’t believe any other would go with it. Thanks, hh ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465/33 "2010-01-20T05:17:46Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > semi-hijack: What kind of tie goes w/seersucker? Seriously. Say, white shirt, because i can’t believe any other would go with it. > > Thanks, > hh I have a blue/white stripe seersucker suit (just like what’s already been photolink’d upthread) and typically have a salmon/pink shirt with it, with those boat shoes frat boys seem to like now. You actually have a lot you can do with the shirt, but typically (I Am Not A Fashion Maven) something colorful but not loud. The tie is the thing that, err, ties it all together, but it also stands out on its own. One of the ties I use for that is a very light blue with a paisley sort of design (orange/white), another is a very conservative dark blue where the accents are much calmer, small pink/white paisley things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-american-men-stop-wearing-white-suits/525465.md?page=1)