White after Labor Day

I remember hearing about the phrase “Don’t wear white after Labor Day” for the first time and not being sure exactly what it meant. It turned out that everything originated back in the 1930s when wealthy Americans from the North-East enjoyed their long summer vacation in expensive hotels or summer houses and wore white as a fashion statement. White clothing was sending a message of wealth, ease, and leisurely lifestyle. At the end of the summer, after Labor Day, they would go back to the city to work and their outfit changed to darker hues.

By the 1950s this common practice started to be adopted by the growing middle class, so the wealthy needed to protect their exclusivity by establishing many new rules, one of them being “wear no white after Labor Day”. The aspiring wealth still found a way to absorb and follow the new trend, which gave them a better chance to assimilate in the high-end society. Soon after, women’s magazines also started making a fashion statement, suggesting that white clothing should be worn exclusively between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Here I am, picking this outfit at the end of the summer, against all snobbish etiquette and established rules, right after Labor Day.

Style: shoes Derek Lam, jeans Hudson, t-shirt J.Crew, jacket Theory