The Labor Day Rule

[Undertow]

I know most people wear ball hats at funerals and throw their feet up on the table at restaurants but I know there are still those few of us that try to live by SOME sort of antiquated, seemingly eccentric, rules.

I can't remember what the rules are for post-labor day dress but I was wondering if you all would like to post your local or personal expectations.

The most important two that come to my mind are:
1. no seersucker suits
2. no shorts (at least not as part of a business casual dress)

And I'm also wary about straw hats at this time as well (panamas, boaters, etc).

 

[Real Swell Gal]

Ladies aren't supposed to wear white shoes after Labor day.

 

[Paisley]

It's still hot here after Labor Day. Most Christmases, it's warm enough to wear a t-shirt; there are days in August when it's cold enough for a wool sweater. I just go by the weather.

 

[Paisley]

Manolo's take on White Shoes after Labor Day

The opinion of Manolo the Shoeblogger:

Yes, the thousand times, yes! You may wear the white shoes even into the fall.

And, each year, the Manolo gives the same justification, that whether or not one wears white shoes is entirely about suitability. If the weather is still warm, and your outfit would benefit from beautiful white shoes, then you should wear them.​

Read more here:

http://shoeblogs.com/2008/08/29/manolo-the-columnist-145/

 

[KittyT]

Yes, the thousand times, yes! You may wear the white shoes even into the fall.

And, each year, the Manolo gives the same justification, that whether or not one wears white shoes is entirely about suitability. If the weather is still warm, and your outfit would benefit from beautiful white shoes, then you should wear them.​

Glad to hear. I was secretly making plans to break the Labor Day white shoe rule at a wedding next weekend

 

[Paisley]

You rebel.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Long ago, straw hats and white suits were out after labor day. But the world has changed, our tolerance for heat has changed, and those rules were likely applied mainly in the northern US and Europe. I'm not expert, but that's what I've gathered.

The modern rules are these; dress comfortably, but dress well. If that means seersucker and straw on the 1st of October, so be it!

 

[Paisley]

I just avoid wearing shorts when it's snowing.

 

[Slim Portly]

Is a ball hat anything like an opera hat? I'd like to get one in case I ever attend a ball.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

The rule is white is only worn between Memorial Day and Labor Day. After that, you go with "winter white" which has a slight ivory cast to it or something like that. The exception is white dress shirts for men.

 

[warbird]

I know most people wear ball hats at funerals and throw their feet up on the table at restaurants but I know there are still those few of us that try to live by SOME sort of antiquated, seemingly eccentric, rules.

I can't remember what the rules are for post-labor day dress but I was wondering if you all would like to post your local or personal expectations.

The most important two that come to my mind are:
1. no seersucker suits
2. no shorts (at least not as part of a business casual dress)

And I'm also wary about straw hats at this time as well (panamas, boaters, etc).

It will be 90+ degrees here next week. I will wear seer sucker still until well into the fall. Until the heat breaks.

I would never, ever wear shorts for business casual, no matter the temp or time of year. Period.

I will wear straws until I can wear felt and not sweat to death. When do you stop wearing white? Well most white clothing is made for summer attire. So when it is too cold to wear summer clothes folks stop wearing white.

 

[Mike K.]

I am in south Florida - anything goes!!

 

[DerMann]

I'll retire my straw hats for the season, and the seersucker.

Indiana's weather is far more suitable for suits than Texas.

 

[MadelienneBlack]

As for ladies, I was always taught no white anything after Labor Day. Shoes, purses, dresses, hats, ect. Ivory was slightly more acceptable, but darker colors were supposed to be in season, apparently.

I never follow that rule though.

 

[Tomasso]

I am in south Florida - anything goes!!

True. Seersucker, linen and straw year round.

 

[bigshoe]

If I recall properly in 1816 the Navy Dept. Bureau of clothing authorized the issuance and wearing of white cotton clothing to enlisted men and for Officers wear between the dates of May 1 to Sept 30. Also for wear at any time betwen the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It just kind of stuck.
Tom

 

[MrNewportCustom]

If I recall properly in 1816 the Navy Dept. Bureau of clothing authorized the issuance and wearing of white cotton clothing to enlisted men and for Officers wear between the dates of May 1 to Sept 30. Also for wear at any time betwen the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. It just kind of stuck.
Tom

Interesting! Who'd've thought the Navy would be this fashion conscious?


Lee

 

[jamespowers]

I know most people wear ball hats at funerals and throw their feet up on the table at restaurants but I know there are still those few of us that try to live by SOME sort of antiquated, seemingly eccentric, rules.

I can't remember what the rules are for post-labor day dress but I was wondering if you all would like to post your local or personal expectations.

The most important two that come to my mind are:
1. no seersucker suits
2. no shorts (at least not as part of a business casual dress)

And I'm also wary about straw hats at this time as well (panamas, boaters, etc).

In that case, I'll wear my seersucker short suit with white bucks and a panama hat.
Seriously, this is California out here. We have good weather 9 months out of the year and I don't remember the bad months.

 

[Foofoogal]

Timely thread. There was a Etsy Treasury today along lines of "I will wear white after Labor Day."
Waiting for a hurricane in the South you wear the coolest thing available.
White is just flat cooler. Whoever made that rule a long time ago must of lived up North or something :eusa_doh:

 

[Bourbon Guy]

All your summer stuff gets put away on Labor Day. White shoes. Seersucker suits. Clear liquors. All of that stuff.

Folks in the south will say it is determined by the weather. Don't listen to them. No one cares about them anyway. They drink tonic all year because of the horrid southern bugs and other southern diseases.