Why Can’t You Wear White After Labor Day?

Why Can’t You Wear White After Labor Day?

VOGUE ARTICLE  by ELISE TAYLOR

September 1, 2023

PARAGRAPH 1 It is a truth universally acknowledged that you can’t wear white after Labor Day. But why? It’s a fashion rule that has been parroted by grandmothers, general interest magazines, and teenage mean girls for generations, as if it’s a statute that society has always abided by. Break it and—the horror!—you’re committing a sartorial sin.

PARAGRAPH 2  As with so many American fashion edicts, though, its origins can be traced back to the elite of the Gilded Age. Every summer, they would decamp from the crowded, sweltering city to cooler places by the ocean, such as Newport or Southampton, for the entire season. Packed in their trunks were wardrobes of white.

PARAGRAPH 3  It was a practical choice, above all: back then, it was wholly inappropriate to wear tank tops, shorts, or mini-dresses even as the temperatures soared. White, which reflects light, keeps the wearer cooler. Plus, linen—a popular, breathable fabric especially for suits—usually came in neutral tones.

PARAGRAPH 4 

Then, the emergence of sportswear also played a role in the popularity and prestige of garments that were white. In the early 19th century, tennis became a popular co-ed sport among the moneyed class. Wearing a white uniform had been a tradition since the 16th century in France. At that time nobles wore white while playing the indoor game of jeu de paume. In fact, in 1977, London's Wimbledon Club made it a strict requirement for their players. Why? White masks sweat! At the time sweat was considered extremely unseemly. It was considered especially unbecoming in the presence of the opposite sex. For those reasons, white also became popular to wear while pursuing leisure sports like cycling. Many women favored a white or partially white combination of tailored blouse paired with a long skirt. This ensemble allowed for easier movement. John Singer Sargent's 1897 portrait of Gilded Age socialite Edith Minturn exemplified this.

PARAGRAPH 5  Then, there was a class element at play: white didn’t show sweat, but it did show dirt. To wear white was a subtle way of showing you weren’t doing the landscaping, cooking, or cleaning. It told everyone that you were not doing any manual labor. That meant you were rich enough to be paying someone else to do these things.

PARAGRAPH 6   When fall came, the wealthy packed their whites away. They didn’t need to wear them because temperatures had cooled. The tennis tournaments had finished. But they also couldn’t wear them. Back then, the New York City streets were filthy. They were made of dirt, covered in horse excrement, as well as rotting garbage. If you walked out wearing white, it would soon be covered in grime. “White, while perfect for the country, it is, because it soils so easily, impossible for town wear,” Vogue wrote in 1925.

PARAGRAPH 7  There were exceptions to the of stigma around wearing white after Labor Day. White furs were always popular in the winter. Women often wore lighter colors to balls or at the opera. This was a actually a status symbol! It showed you had a carriage staffed with footmen! That ensured that your dress wouldn’t get dirty. In fact, if you look at Gilded to Progressive back issues of Vogue, you’ll find many of our illustrations featuring women in white or lightly-hued fancy dress.

PARAGRAPH 8  In the 1910s and 1920s, however, everything changed. With the mass production of Henry Ford’s Model T in 1908, a new era for New York City was ushered in. What was once a carriage town quickly became a car town. From 1915, even those who didn’t have a Ford could hire a cab from John Hertz’s Yellow Cab company. Rail transportation, too, rapidly expanded. Over the next 49 years, New York’s subway system became one of the most sophisticated and sprawling in the world.

PARAGRAPH 9  How does that relate to wearing white? The final piece of the puzzle lies in the expansion of New York City’s Sanitation Department, led by Colonel Waring.

PARAGRAPH  10  In 1895, a New York Times article read “Clean Streets At Last.” Things were changing and becoming cleaner in New York City. The reporter noticed that there were "clean gutters and absolute sweetness.” By the 1920s, Waring’s “White Wings”—or sanitation workers, were commonplace on the streets. They wore white uniforms to show a medical-like authority. So, slowly but surely, the reasons why you couldn't wear white in the city faded away. Similar trends were growing in European cities as well. In Paris, Coco Chanel started wearing white regardless of the season. Meanwhile, American Vogue began dressing models in “winter whites” throughout their cold-weather issues. This is an aesthetic you can still find in Vogue’s pages today.

PARAGRAPH 11  Yet, old habits die hard! Somehow the “no white after labor day” old wives’ tale stuck. It remains bafflingly. In Amy Vanderbilt’s Ladies Home Journal advice column in the 1970s, she responded to a reader who posed the question, “I don’t know where the rule began, but it no longer holds.” Throughout the decades, some of the world’s best-dressed women have worn white year round. These fashion icons include Coco Chanel, Gigi Hadid, and Michelle Obama.

PARAGRAPH 12 So, perhaps the time is nigh to issue a declaration. We don’t live in the Gilded Age anymore. Our streets are paved. Our supermarkets stock antiperspirants. You can wear white after Labor Day.

Vocabulary Words:

PARAGRAPH 1

1. parroted

2. statute

3. abided

4. sartorial

PARAGRAPH 2

1. edicts

2. elite

3. decamp

4. sweltering

PARAGRAPH 4

1. emergence

2. jeu de paume

3. unseemly

4. leisure

5. ensemble

6. exemplified

7. Gilded Age

PARAGRAPH 5

1. subtle

2. manual labor 

PARAGRAPH 7

1. stigma

PARAGRAPH 8

1. ushered

PARAGRAPH 9

1. Sanitation Department

PARAGRAPH 10

1. waxing hopeful

2. derelict streets

3. festering

4. fetid

5. aesthetic

PARAGRAPH 11

1. old wives’ tale 

2. bafflingly

PARAGRAPH 12

1. the time is nigh
   

2. declaration

1) How did the mass production of Henry Ford’s Model T in 1908 usher in a new era for New York City?     What made this so different from the way things had been before 1908?

2) Who is/was John Hertz? What is the Hertz company primarily known for today?

3) Who is/was Amy Vanderbilt? Why might people (especially women) have cared about her opinion?

4) Who is/was Coco Chanel?

5) Who is/was Gigi Hadid?

6) Who is Ladies Home Journal? Does it still exist?                                                                                                                                                                    

7) Who is Vogue? Does it still exist?