Over the Edge » September 7

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fashion Police: While
After Labour Day

A Fashion Faux Pas Whose Time Has Come

SHELBY PETERSEN
EDITOR IN CHIEF

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SHELBY PETERSEN

While the reasons forbidding one to wear white after Labour Day are varied, it has been ranked high as a major
etiquette faux pas for decades now. A 2009 Time Magazine article suggests that the reasons are simple: “wearing white in
the summer was a tactic to stay cool, people didn’t walk around in tank tops and t-shirts and there was no air conditioning.”
The article goes on to suggest that after Labour Day had passed, so too did the sunny afternoons. With the onset of cooler
and wetter weather, the fashion elite had to switch to more suitable clothing that would not only keep them warmer but also
show less dirt and mud. While this explanation seems sensible, Laura Fitzpatrick aptly points out that the fashion world very
rarely follows sensible, functional rules.

Instead, Fitzpatrick argues that the “no white after Labour Day” rule has a lot more to it. As it is with most
nonsensical etiquette rules, class drives the method behind them. With the rise of the middle class in the 1950s more and
more people could afford to take holidays during the summer to near off islands in the Caribbean and Hawaii. It was othese
holidays that the well off would don their white regalia to show to the world that they could not only afford these lavish
trips but also that they could live the life of luxury and not have to worry about their lighter clothes being sullied by having
to work at their jobs. Once the holiday season was over, the white clothes were stored away for another year. Not wearing
white after Labour Day then became sort of a social status marker. If you didn’t know that white clothes were reserved only
for tropical getaways, then that was because you couldn’t afford them. Basically, wearing white after Labour Day became
the marker for who was rich and important and who was not.

While times have certainly changed since the rise of this
silly rule, some people are still headfast in its observance.
Fashion designers, however, have decidedly chosen to
do away with the silly rule as more and more models are
walking down fall runways in a myriad of whites and off-
whites.

So, how can you wear white after Labour Day without
looking like an out-of-place tennis player in the middle of
November? Well, the key to wearing white all year round is
how you wear it and what you wear it with.

Here are a few tips to help keep you looking fresh and
seasonally appropriate well into the winter months:

1. Choose a white dress made of a thicker material. Try
going for a dress made of cotton with a lace overlay. This
gives the impression that the dress is made for cooler
weather because it is much more substantial than the usual

light summer dress.

2. Pair your whites with black. This doesn’t mean wear a
white shirt with black pants, but rather a white dress with
opaque black tights and maybe some chunky black shoes.
Not only will this toughen up the white dress and make
it look less wedding-like, it will also keep it seasonally
appropriate.

3. Layer the dress with cardigans and scarves. This year
the popular colour combinations are burgundy, camel, and
leopard. All three of these colours and patterns will only
help to accentuate your white or cream coloured piece.

Basically, the key to wearing white after Labour Day is to
not look like you just got home from Barbados and forgot
just how cold it is here. Leave your spaghetti straps and flip-
flops at home and layer up like there is no tomorrow.

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