# White After Labor Day -- wth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933 "2014-04-12T12:53:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/21 "2014-04-12T19:24:49Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > With global climate change, Labor Day will become the new Memorial Day. I think we will move to Florida so my husband can wear dark pants with a white belt and white shoes year 'round. He will look snazzy. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/22 "2014-04-12T19:31:59Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Karl Lagerfeld can suck my cat’s ass. [Karl Lagerfeld has no need of your cat’s ass?](http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-designers/choupette-lagerfeld-interview-0912) > [@Equipoise](#): > > Sweatpants are a sign that I’m warmer and more comfortable and have more sense than to spend the kind of money it costs to buy Karl Lagerfeld clothes.I have 2 modes, warm and cool. When it’s warm enough I wear long, flowy skirts. When it’s too cool/cold for long, flowy skirts, I wear black or dark blue sweatpants. And I don’t give a rat’s, or my cat’s ass what any fucking asshole snob thinks. This is why we can never go anywhere nice. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/23 "2014-04-12T19:37:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You know what my criterion is for wearing summer clothes? How warm it is outside. When it’s warm out, I wear summer clothes, and when it’s cool out, I wear something warmer. I sort of thought that this was intuitively obvious to everyone. Only to bolshies. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/24 "2014-04-12T19:42:30Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Karl Lagerfeld can suck my cat’s ass. Sweatpants are a sign that I’m warmer and more comfortable and have more sense than to spend the kind of money it costs to buy Karl Lagerfeld clothes. If by “sign” you mean it’s something that gives a signal to other people, then no it’s not remotely a sign of that. I agree with Lagerfeld and Seinfeld. If you wear sweats anywhere other than home or the gym, it’s a sign of defeat. You’ve decided you can’t look good, so you might as well be comfortable. lol. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/25 "2014-04-12T20:50:52Z")
straw hat day is may 15th, felt hat day is sept. 15th. perhaps before memorial day (1861) and labour day (1887ish) that was the start and stop of wearing white. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/26 "2014-04-12T21:07:21Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > straw hat day is may 15th, felt hat day is sept. 15th. perhaps before memorial day (1861) and labour day (1887ish) that was the start and stop of wearing white. And there was the [Straw Hat Riot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_Hat_Riot) of 1922, where the then-tradition of knocking the straw hats off the heads of people wearing them after Sept 15 went a little overboard. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/27 "2014-04-12T22:16:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You know what my criterion is for wearing summer clothes? How warm it is outside. When it’s warm out, I wear summer clothes, and when it’s cool out, I wear something warmer. I sort of thought that this was intuitively obvious to everyone. Exackle! Miss Manners, Judith Martin, reminds us that all etiquette is based on courtesy and common sense. If it’s warm and sunny in March or mid September, put on your white pants and straw hat, and _strut your stuff_ ! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/28 "2014-04-13T01:51:47Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > I think it makes more sense if you don’t think it as a cut off for white, but a cut off for summer clothes. Some fabrics just scream summer - linen and seersucker and light poplin weaves. Light pastel colors and white do too. I think any modern reasonable person would agree it makes more sense to transition those clothes to the closet as the weather actually cools down. Basing seasonal fashions today on what the seasons were in England before air conditioning is a sign of insanity that didn’t exist even in the heyday of Newport, Hyannis, and Kennebunkport. The Americans who imported the English upper-class attitudes didn’t live in the South. I don’t think most Southerners made a fetish about limiting whites and summer flannels to three months. > [@AskNott](#): > > Exackle! Miss Manners, Judith Martin, reminds us that all etiquette is based on courtesy and common sense. If it’s warm and sunny in March or mid September, put on your white pants and straw hat, and _strut your stuff_ ! Wrong! _Manners_ are based on courtesy and common sense. _Etiquette_ is a collection of obtuse rules designed to exclude Others for not knowing them from birth. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/29 "2014-04-13T02:01:08Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Karl Lagerfeld can suck my cat’s ass. Sweatpants are a sign that I’m warmer and more comfortable and have more sense than to spend the kind of money it costs to buy Karl Lagerfeld clothes. > > I have 2 modes, warm and cool. When it’s warm enough I wear long, flowy skirts. When it’s too cool/cold for long, flowy skirts, I wear black or dark blue sweatpants. And I don’t give a rat’s, or my cat’s ass what any fucking asshole snob thinks. Jerry Seinfeld said a similar thing to George Costanza…"sweatpants says “I’ve given up” ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/30 "2014-04-13T02:14:18Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Do other countries that don’t observe Labor Day have this “rule,” and, if so, when do they put their whites away? > > Ta. I live in the southern hemisphere and ‘Labour Day’ differs from state to state. In NSW, where I live it’s the first weekend of October (i.e. during our spring), so that rule certainly wouldn’t apply. When I was growing up - when proper ladies wore hats and gloves and never went without stockings when going into Town - white shoes, in particular, weren’t worn in winter. It was also considered ‘wrong’ for a lady’s shoes to be a lighter colour than her stockings or dress. Nowadays, anything goes. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/31 "2014-04-13T02:31:48Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Exackle! Miss Manners, Judith Martin, reminds us that all etiquette is based on courtesy and common sense. If it’s warm and sunny in March or mid September, put on your white pants and straw hat, and _strut your stuff_ ! Cite? Because that sounds absolutely nothing like Judith Martin. In fact, she says quite the opposite in her book “Miss Manners Rescues Civilization” (pg. 27 on the common sense argument and page 48 on white shoes after labor day). ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/32 "2014-04-13T05:22:06Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > If by “sign” you mean it’s something that gives a signal to other people, then no it’s not remotely a sign of that. > > I agree with Lagerfeld and Seinfeld. If you wear sweats anywhere other than home or the gym, it’s a sign of defeat. You’ve decided you can’t look good, so you might as well be comfortable. lol. lol. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/33 "2014-04-13T06:13:08Z")
This reminds of an article I read in Life magazine from the forties. It discussed [seersucker suits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seersucker). They were considered perfectly acceptable as professional wear in the South, but considered gauche up North. Of course the reason was this was the era most places were not air conditioned, and if you’re a lawyer in Alabama in a sweaty courtroom in July a thick suit wasn’t going to cut it. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/34 "2014-04-13T07:49:29Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > Jerry Seinfeld said a similar thing to George Costanza…"sweatpants says “I’ve given up” Having never seen a single episode of Seinfeld, I’m not sure why I should care about what a fictional television character says to another fictional television character or anyone silly enough to quote a fictional television character. At least Lagerfeld has a reason: he wants people to buy his clothes. Since there’s no chance of him ever seeing me in my sweatpants, or me ever buying his clothes, I think I’ll be alright. I’ll still be warm and comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/35 "2014-04-13T12:36:11Z")
Wearing white after Labor Day? Go ahead, be a rebel! Wear those white shoes, pants, jacket, suit, dresses, skirts. If it’s summer weight, like light cotton, and bright white, not winter white, you are going to look like a fool. Like you haven’t put away your summer stuff and haven’t gotten out your winter/fall stuff. One of the tiny pleasures of life is putting on nice clothes according to the season. Little white sundress and sandals in the summer, wool sweater and corduroys in the fall. If you want to wear that sundress and sandals in a January blizzard, go ahead! No one is telling YOU what to do! You will, however, look inappropriate and faintly comical. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/36 "2014-04-13T15:36:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Wearing white after Labor Day? Go ahead, be a rebel! Wear those white shoes, pants, jacket, suit, dresses, skirts. If it’s summer weight, like light cotton, and bright white, not winter white, you are going to look like a fool. Like you haven’t put away your summer stuff and haven’t gotten out your winter/fall stuff. One of the tiny pleasures of life is putting on nice clothes according to the season. Little white sundress and sandals in the summer, wool sweater and corduroys in the fall. If you want to wear that sundress and sandals in a January blizzard, go ahead! No one is telling YOU what to do! You will, however, look inappropriate and faintly comical. But the rule had absolutely nothing to do with January blizzards. It had to do with the second week in September, weather that would often be as warm or warmer as the last week in August and for which wool sweaters were implements of torture. You can ridicule the rules very easily. But if you ridicule the rules by trying to apply them where they were never intended, guess who’s the one who looks inappropriate and faintly comical? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/37 "2014-04-13T15:45:05Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Having never seen a single episode of Seinfeld, I’m not sure why I should care about what a fictional television character says to another fictional television character or anyone silly enough to quote a fictional television character. At least Lagerfeld has a reason: he wants people to buy his clothes. Since there’s no chance of him ever seeing me in my sweatpants, or me ever buying his clothes, I think I’ll be alright. I’ll still be warm and comfortable. And you’ll look like you’ve given up. But this is the SDMB, where dressing like a slob is held in high regard. (And for someone as obsessed with movies as you are, you are strangely negative about television shows.) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/38 "2014-04-13T15:59:04Z")
If you’re going to wear white shoes after Labor Day, [just don’t do it around _Serial Mom_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMXcWCGkG3M) ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/39 "2014-04-13T16:08:07Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Wearing white after Labor Day? Go ahead, be a rebel! Wear those white shoes, pants, jacket, suit, dresses, skirts. If it’s summer weight, like light cotton, and bright white, not winter white, you are going to look like a fool. Like you haven’t put away your summer stuff and haven’t gotten out your winter/fall stuff. One of the tiny pleasures of life is putting on nice clothes according to the season. Little white sundress and sandals in the summer, wool sweater and corduroys in the fall. If you want to wear that sundress and sandals in a January blizzard, go ahead! No one is telling YOU what to do! You will, however, look inappropriate and faintly comical. You’ve never been to the southern US in September, I assume. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933/40 "2014-04-13T19:24:27Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > And you’ll look like you’ve given up. This makes no sense to me. The only thing I’ve “given up” on is freezing my butt off when I don’t have to. And I don’t have to. If I had a job that required being a bit more dressed up, I would, but I’d still wear my black sweat pants outside of work. I’m not going to freeze to please any snobs who might notice and sniff the air with derision. I win by being warm. Their attitude loses by being snobby and stupid and caring about something that does not affect them at all. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > (And for someone as obsessed with movies as you are, you are strangely negative about television shows.) I’m not negative about TV shows. I’m negative about quoting a fictional character on a television show as if it proves some sort of point and as if I should care. Not so much negative even, more like highly amused. It’s way sillier than me wearing something that keeps me warm while waiting for the bus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-after-labor-day-wth/685933.md?page=3)